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Ontario Soccer announces Dairy Farmers of Ontario as newest Premier Partner

By Staff, 04/20/22, 9:45AM EDT

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Under the banner of its innovative MilkUP brand, DFO will collaborate with Ontario Soccer to exclusively present the MilkUP Ontario Cup

Play. Inspire. Unite. 

Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO), the marketing group representing Ontario dairy farmers and the largest sector of Ontario agriculture, has expanded its collaboration with Ontario Soccer to become the newest Premier Partner of the provincial organization and the exclusive title partner of the prestigious Ontario Cup Provincial Championships.

The MilkUP Ontario Cup, the Provincial Soccer Championship for the LTPD Soccer for Life Stream, is the largest Club competition of its kind in Canada. One of the oldest sporting events in the country, Ontario Soccer’s Ontario Cup was first staged in 1901. The MilkUP Ontario Cup 2022 will mark the 106th year of the competition and celebrate the arrival of DFO as the newest title partner.

By presenting the MilkUP Ontario Cup, DFO further strengthens its youth soccer engagement . This step will serve to further expand and enhance the scope of the MilkUP Ontario Soccer Future Leaders Program, originally launched in 2021 and provide many more vibrant opportunities for additional youth leadership development.

“We’re excited to partner with Ontario Soccer as a Premier Partner and present the MilkUP Ontario Cup 2022, supporting youth soccer while driving awareness of the benefits of milk in a healthy and active lifestyle,” said Cheryl Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Dairy Farmers of Ontario.” MilkUP Ontario Soccer Future Leaders Program aims to celebrate, recognize and develop young athletes to realize their untapped potential. Collaborating with Ontario Soccer will bring positive outcomes to youth sports across the province and install values of hard work and dedication to these future leaders - values Ontario producers know a lot about.”

“Over 165,000 players safely returned to play on pitches across Ontario last year while in the pandemic. As new partners in 2021, DFO inspired our community and provided pivotal support to celebrate, recognize and develop an outstanding group of young leaders, whose resilience, leadership, selflessness and civic pride represented the very best of our beautiful game,” said Johnny Misley, Chief Executive Officer, Ontario Soccer.

“Buoyed by the Gold Medal triumph of our Canadian Women’s Olympic Team and the World Cup Qualifying Success of our Canadian Men’s Team, the partnership investment by DFO will go a long way to launch our next generation of youth soccer leaders in Ontario on their own path to success on our journey to upcoming world events and beyond.  We are deeply grateful to a tremendous organization like DFO for their unwavering commitment to supporting the development of our members,” he added.

Created to support the education and development of Youth leaders within Ontario Soccer, the MilkUP Ontario Soccer Future Leaders Program takes a holistic approach to leadership recognition and development, with an emphasis on growth. The program is based on three pillars of celebration, recognition and development to support Youth leaders in Ontario. 

Ontario Soccer is thrilled with the continued support DFO will bring to Youth leadership development.

If you have any further questions, please contact Bjorn Osieck, Director Business Operations.

About Ontario Soccer

Founded in 1901, Ontario Soccer is comprised of more than 550 Clubs servicing over 24,000 teams with 380,000 registered players, 70,000 coaches and managers, and 9,500 match officials, as well as countless volunteers, parents and supporters comprising a direct, multi-cultural community of over 1,000,000 Ontarians.

Ontario Soccer develops and delivers exceptional and sustainable programs and services throughout Ontario with the mission of providing leadership and support for the advancement of soccer in collaboration and cooperation with our membership, partners and other stakeholders. Ontario Soccer also operates the Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) - the province’s premier standards based youth development program and proudly supports Canada Soccer’s National Teams, the Canadian Premier League and Toronto FC.

An overall goal of Ontario Soccer is to assist with the equitable development of soccer as a healthy lifestyle choice, provide a talented pathway for players to excel and encourage inclusive community involvement at all levels.

About Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO)

www.milk.org

DFO is the marketing group for the largest sector of Ontario agriculture and is proudly owned and operated by Ontario’s dairy farming families.

DFO has committed to multi-year partnerships with key Ontario sports organizations, including Ontario Basketball, the Ottawa Senators, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE) which includes the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC, Toronto Marlies, and Raptors 905, to work together to make sports more accessible for young Ontario athletes. In addition to promoting the proven benefits of milk, the partnerships will focus on advancing grassroots and community sports initiatives and developing new sporting events and opportunities for youth at the community level.