About
HIGH PERFORMANCE TRAINING FOR PLAYERS TAILORED TO OBTAINING SCHOLARSHIPS FROM D1 & D2 US SCHOOLS & CDN UNIVERSITIES
Toronto Blizzard Soccer Club
The Toronto Blizzard Soccer Club runs training programs that are directly tailored to US D1 & D2 schools as wel las Canadian Universities and Colleges. We prepare players to be equal to &/or better than the majority of ECNL Clubs. We run exhibition games and play 8-12, D1 schools annually. We train players at a higher intensity level than normal. Players learn a high level of tactical and physical awareness and are tested on a regular ongoing basis. Our program is specifically geared towards student athletes obtaining scholarship opportunities.
Vision
To provide every player in Ontario with a free education, be it in Canada or the US via the most credible soccer programs. One built upon the expertise, passion and discipline of our founding members and operated under competent and caring leadership.
History
Meet the Toronto Blizzard, the “father” of Toronto FC. The Forerunners to the Blizzard were the Toronto Metros who joined the NASL in 1971. The Toronto Blizzard were a professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada that played in the North American Soccer League and rostered some of soccer’s greatest players. From 1971 – 1975 the Toronto Metros played in the NASL out of Toronto Varsity Stadium. In 1975 the team was purchased for $250,000 by the Toronto Croatia of the National Soccer League (NSL), and the team became known as the Toronto Metros-Croatia. In the next season the club won the 1976 Soccer Bowl championship.
Although a successful season they struggled financially. Then the Global Television Network purchased the corporation on February 1, 1979 for $2.6 million. Following the purchase, Toronto Croatia returned to the NSL as a separate club and the team was renamed the Toronto Blizzard. Under the new ownership, attendances doubled and from 1979 to 1983 and the Blizzard played home games at Exhibition Stadium before returning to Varsity Stadium for their final season in 1984.
The team were the runners-up for the league championship in 1983, losing the Soccer Bowl to the Tulsa Roughnecks 2-0 in front of nearly 60, 000 people at Vancouver’s BC Place Stadium. They were runners-up again in 1984 when they lost to the Chicago Sting two games to none in a best of three championship series. The club was coached in these final two years by Bobby Houghton, assisted by Dave Turner. The Blizzard qualified for the play-offs on two other occasions, in 1979 and 1982, losing in the first round on both those occasions.
Prominent players included Clyde Best, Željko Bilecki, Jimmy Bone, Roberto Bettega, Drew Busby, David Byrne, Cliff Calvert, Tony Chursky, Pasquale De Luca, David Fairclough, Charlie Falzon, Colin Franks, George Gibbs, Jimmy Greenhoff, Steve Harris-Byrne, Graham Hatley, Paul Hammond, Paul James, Conny Karlsson, Victor Kodelja, Sam Lenarduzzi, Peter Lorimer, Ivan Lukacevic,Trevor McCallum, Colin Miller, Mike McLenaghen, Willie McVie, Alan Merrick, Charlie Mitchell, Juan Carlos Molina, Jan Möller, Francesco Morini, Jimmy Nicholl, Ace Ntsoelengoe, John Paskin, Rob Prentice, Randy Ragan, Neill Roberts, Malcolm Robertson, Peter Roe, Jomo Sono, Derek Spalding, Gordon Sweetzer, Blagoje Tamindžic, Jose Velasquez, Drago Vabec, and Bruce Wilson. Let’s not forget the Metros greats like the Black Panther Portuguese footballer Eusebio, Croatian striker Ivan Lukacevic, Ivan Grnja, and Brazilian Ivair Ferreira to name a few. In 2010, the 1976 Soccer Bowl winning team was inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame.