Football Canada has invited 40 players to its Junior National Team for the 2016 International Federation of American Football (IFAF) U19 World Championship in Harbin, China. A roster of 45-players will represent Canada as they look to dethrone defending gold medalist, Team USA.
Canada and the U.S. have met in each of the first three IFAF U19 World Championship finals, with Canada winning gold at the 2012 worlds in Austin, Texas.
Canada upset the USA 23-17 in 2012
The team is led by head coach Warren Craney who served as defensive coordinator under head coaches Glen Constantin (2009) and Noel Thorpe (2012) prior to taking over, as head coach, in 2013. The program’s longest-serving coach is looking to end his term as national team head coach with a strong showing in China.
“We head into China with the goal of bringing a gold medal back home to Canadian soil,” Craney said. “As a coaching staff, we’ve used the International Bowl series against the U.S. national teams as an opportunity to prepare, evaluate and select the top identified players to go on and represent our nation on the world stage.”
“This tournament and its competition keeps improving each cycle and we look forward to representing our great football nation in China.”
Team Canada is tentatively scheduled to begin training camp in China the week of June 20.