The Talented Pathway was created to provide opportunities for the top players in the province to develop and advance. The basis for the program is the Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) launched in 2014 at the U13 level. In each successive year, OPDL will add an age group. The standard licensing cycle for organizations wishing to operate an OPDL program is every two years. The OPDL is the primary avenue within the Talented Pathway model for players to be detected into future Provincial Screening Competitions which can then lead to Provincial Team opportunities. For those players who are not competing within the OPDL, they may enter into the Player Talented Pathway via Talent on Location Days by following the Player Recommendation Process outlined below.

It is also recommended that players, coaches, parents and guardians familiarize themselves with Information Bulletin I2024- and additional resources below.

Ontario Soccer has reviewed the execution of the 2025 Program and will align with the below dates for the 2026 Provincial Xcel recommendation process.  All age groups reflect the 2026 Provincial Xcel Teams

The recommending coach will be required to complete the Coach Information page and provide their NCCP and Ontario Soccer registration numbers to verify their coaching certification level and status. If no NCCP number (i.e. foreign license) is available, please provide a scanned copy of the Coaching Certificate as outlined on the page.

The recommending coach, will then be directed to provide a link to a full, unedited match in which the player participated via a file sharing service of their choice (ensure the link is accessible to others). The video must be available for download and submitted along with the corresponding gamesheet (identifying the player’s name & shirt number), and their positions played in the match. This video will be professionally tagged and analyzed by Major Sports Analysis (MSA), as the preferred Ontario Soccer Match Video Analysis Service Provider, with a report containing performance related statistics for each recommended player being generated in the process and confidentially provided to Ontario Soccer.

To further support the submission, the coach will then download and complete the appropriate player evaluation form for each individual player being recommended. This form, used in the Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) for Player Assessments, can be found online by clicking here. Once completed, the document must be uploaded as prompted on the relevant page.

The Recommending coach should have the following available:

• Player’s name
• Player’s date of birth
• Player’s OSCAR-Ontario Soccer number
• Player’s Email(s) contact

To submit a report to be analyzed, a recommending coach will be prompted to pay a fee of $75 per player per video. Please note, that coaches can submit additional videos for a single player through a second unique submission, as well as recommend multiple players through a single video submission at the per player cost noted above for each video analysis (up to 4 players). Players and the recommending coach, as part of their fee, will receive their match report as provided by the Video Analysis Service Provider, MSA.

The recommending coach is to submit the completed online package by, or before, the closing date listed above for the player's respective age group via the online submission form found here 

For more in-depth details on the recommendation process, please review the documents below on the Talented Player identification Summary and match Standards Recording Guide (Updated July 2024).