Another Winnipegger has jumped on board with the cities new professional soccer team.
Valour FC announced the signing of Ali Musse to a multi-year contract on Thursday. He’s the fifth homegrown player to join the club.
“It’s something that you obviously grow up dreaming about, playing professional soccer,” Musse said. “But to do it in your hometown is just something amazing.”
Musse, 23, returns to Winnipeg after he played the last three seasons for Calgary Foothills FC, who the midfielder helped to win the Premier Development League championship in 2018. He scored a pair of goals in the final to help clinch the championship.
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Musse was a member of both the provincial under-14 and under-16 teams. He first joined WSA Winnipeg in 2010, and played three seasons for the PDL club. In 2014, he headed west where he joined the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency program with their under-18 squad.
WATCH: Winnipeg professional soccer club signs homegrown talent (December 2018)
Musse said he had other offers, but his relationship with Valour FC general manager and head coach Rob Gale goes back over a decade.
“I had another opportunity in Edmonton,” Musse said.
“I just have full trust in Rob, in what he’s building out here.”
Musse first played for Gale when he was only 10 years old.
“Probably the first time that I really thought that he was going to turn the screw on his career, and we went to Costa Rica. It was my first time as the under-18 national team coach,” Gale said.
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“Robby has one of the highest soccer IQs from a coach that I’ve worked with,” Musse said. “I just feel he knows a lot about the game, obviously, and he has so much to give to the city and to the fans here.”
Valour FC opens their inaugural training camp on March 5.