Episode 56: Tofa Fakunle, Cavalry FC

Tofa Fakunle is currently the assistant General Manager at Canadian Premier League cub, Cavalry FC. Before this current role, he was the football operations manager at the same club, and then before that, a professional player. Based in Calgary, Cavalry FC are one of 8 teams that compete in CPL, which is a relatively new league, having only started in 2019. The league is the only professional league in Canada, which offers a lot of potential to grow, especially with the World Cup arriving in 2026. In this conversation we speak about how Tofa has to look after and manage the clubs’ budgets, the rules set by the leagues around squad building, and how Tofa and his team source players, for free, from all over the World. We touch on data, the MLS, and a bit more on the overall football landscape within Canada. Timestamps 0:00 – Introduction 1:28 - Tofa joins and gives some background 3:47 – Transitioning from player to front office, roles & responsibilities 7:55 – Transfer window and season timeline 10:41 – Access to data and spending rules 14:56 – Recruiting players from around the World 18:26 – The landscape of football in Canada & North America 24:25 – Cavalry FC squad profile 28:18 – Rules around building a roster 31:57 – Networking and working with agents 33:38 – Team culture 35:40 – Trading players for profit, thinking long-term 42:59 – Future thoughts on soccer in Canada 46:24 – Summary and wrap up You can also see more of Chris chatting to analytics professionals over on his podcast too, right here: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisgill_UK