My website is 30 (months, that is)!

Thirty months ago, in March of 2021, I launched my website, alfdeblasis.ca, with the hope of initiating a new direction in my career and establishing a reputation as a trusted and reliable consultant for groups and organizations seeking to enhance their media presence and increase their brand awareness.

Since then, I have worked with as many as 15 different organizations and written over 50 blogs on my website, describing my services, collaborations, achievements and personal anecdotes. My main ambition is to ensure my clients see a tangible return on their investment, whether it is from local or national media coverage, or from an uptick in community acknowledgment of their services and participation in their activities.

I’m excited for my clients when we achieve national media attention. That was the case most recently with Steve Nijjar, of Steve Nijjar Sports & Entertainment (SNSE), when his investment in Spanish soccer club Racing Madrid FC was the subject of nationally distributed feature articles in the Canadian Press as well as the Globe & Mail.

That was also the case with International FC (IFC) Academy, whose Pro ID player combine was featured recently in TLN TV Network’s halftime segments during national telecasts of Serie A Italian League soccer.

Having established a large network of mainstream and multilingual contacts in the media industry over my career, I’m confident I can deliver results for my clients through effective and persuasive media campaigns. Through my professional connections, I am able to tap into a wide spectrum of media outlets, from TV to radio to podcasts to print.

In addition to my regular blogs, my website also outlines some of the professional services I provide and offers examples and links to some of the projects I’ve collaborated on with my clients. If your company or service organization is starting a new initiative or considering a new venture and would like to share your story with a wider, more engaged audience, please contact me through my website. I will put my resources and all my years of experience at your disposal so we can achieve great results together!

Back in the Booth

It was good to be back in the OneSoccer commentary booth this past weekend, calling a Canadian Premier League game after a long absence. It was great to collaborate with ex-CANMNT defender and TFC captain Jimmy Brennan again as we watched a spirited affair between last year’s playoff finalists, Atletico Ottawa and Forge FC, that ended in a 0-0 stalemate.

No goals to call but plenty of scoring chances as the CPL regular season nears its conclusion with, incredibly, only 4 points separating 1st from 5th. So the league championship, and the resulting berth in the new Concacaf Champions Cup in 2024, is anyone’s for the taking. And all five teams will be jockeying for position in the newly-expanded playoffs for the North Star Shield.

If you haven’t already, check out the action on OneSoccer or the Fubo tv app. The next round of matches includes four games over three days this Labour Day weekend, beginning with a Saturday doubleheader featuring Pacific v Valour and Atletico v Cavalry. Hope to be on another call again soon!

Media Consultant, at your service

In the past year, in my role as a media consultant, I’ve helped several sports & entertainment enterprises achieve important objectives in terms of organizational profile, brand awareness and local and national media attention and coverage.

  • May-Sept. 2022 – Toronto Blizzard – helped promote the establishment of a new international grassroots partnership between the GTA scholarship program and German powerhouse club FC Bayern Munich (BayernBlizzard)
  • May-June 2023 – Steve Nijjar Sports & Entertainment – helped promote the Canadian entrepreneur’s acquisition and re-launch of a Spanish football club (Racing Madrid FC)
  • July-August 2023 – International FC – helped promote an organizational initiative (Summer Pro ID Camp) and helped to augment the academy’s profile and brand awareness

Combined, these three events reached dozens of media outlets across the Greater Toronto Area and the rest of Canada. I delivered a comprehensive multicultural media mix to all my clients, with coverage ranging from Toronto’s CityNews 680 to The National Post, from TLN TV to the Globe and Mail and many more media outlets in between.

I have built a vast network of media contacts over my 40-year career in the communications industry. I engage with them through media releases and advisories and I follow up with key individuals on a personal basis to determine their level of interest in pursuing a story. I commit the requisite time and effort to each one of my projects and I deliver results for my clients. 

If you’re looking to expose your organization to a greater audience and gain media awareness and attention through a mix of print, digital, electronic and social media, contact me at alfdeblasis@gmail.com. I am always open for new business!

Canada’s Women’s World Cup Team…Then & Now

As the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup is set to begin in Australia/New Zealand, my mind ventured back to the 1999 edition of the tournament in the USA, an event I was fortunate enough to have covered for the publication I was editing at the time, Inside Soccer Magazine.

Travelling across the Eastern Seaboard, I managed to watch six games in three cities in six days, following the progress of both the Canadian and US National Teams in the group stage.

The two nations went on divergent paths, with Canada tumbling out of the tournament, earning a single point from their three games, and outscored 12-3, while the Americans went on to capture the trophy in the final match vs China at a sold out Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, in the famous Brandi Chastain “sports bra game”.

Ironically, as I reviewed some of the articles I wrote at the time, many of the same issues impacting the Canadian team then are still present today, 24 years later. Poor preparation, a lack of continuity, underfunding, minimal resources. All of these themes were circulating within the Canadian camp at the time and, lo and behold, many of the same issues have been dogging the current Canadian squad in the run-up to this World Cup.

I remember being downcast and disappointed for the Canadian women as they walked off the field, many in tears, following their final group stage game at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, a 4-1 loss to Russia. That overall feeling of dejection among the players was quickly followed by a moment of controversy as star player Charmaine Hooper, in a media scrum after the match, ripped into the Canada Soccer administration for a lack of support and general indifference towards the women’s program.

That tirade led to significant change within the structure of the women’s game in Canada and laid the groundwork for a new era that spawned the likes of Christine Sinclair, Diana Matheson and Rhian Wilkinson, a new generation of Canadian heroines with mass appeal that achieved a fourth place finish at the next WWC in 2003. 

While the program suffered another dip in form almost a decade later, at the 2011 WWC, results since then, including the Olympic gold medal captured in Tokyo two years ago, have propelled Canada on an upward trajectory in women’s world football. 

Pre-tournament polls, however, don’t have Canada listed as one of the leading contenders to compete for the trophy this summer, which many of our women have used as a motivator in their preparation for this event.

I’m looking forward to watching Canada compete in this World Cup from afar as intently as I did when I was on the ground in the US in 1999. In spite of the off field distractions and the injuries that have affected the team, this is a Canadian side that I think can achieve great things at this tournament, and I’m excited to watch them perform once again on a global stage.

Media Consultation and Client Representation

One of the more rewarding aspects of working as a media consultant is having the ability to deliver multiple media exposures for clients and their respective businesses or projects. Last month, my client, a Canadian businessman, former soccer player and team owner, asked me to create a media campaign for his newly acquired lower tier Spanish football club, Racing Madrid, designed to attract awareness to the team, its brand and identity, as he sets a path to guide the club on an ascent towards the upper reaches of the Spanish football pyramid.  

Tapping into my network of media contacts, I was able to connect my client with several prominent Canadian sports journalists who were drawn to his story and took the time to conduct an interview with him. One such journalist was Neil Davidson, a veteran Canadian Press writer who contributes frequently on football. Neil’s article, published just last week, appeared in dozens of publications across Canada, including the National Post.

A variety of other media outlets, from radio station CHRY (Vibe 105) to Soccer 360 magazine, have shown interest in his story and plan to produce content in the days and weeks ahead.

It is certainly fulfilling and rewarding to be able to implement and execute a media campaign that provides your client with the type of media exposure that not only meets, but also exceeds their expectations. These outcomes stem from years of networking, researching, developing relationships and cultivating a level of trust and faith among my peers.

I‘m looking forward to continuing my relationship with the Racing Madrid brand and exploring new horizons as the club embarks on this journey within the Spanish football ecosystem and expands its footprint across Spain, the rest of Europe and the globe.

An Emerging New Leader of Canada’s National Women’s Soccer Team

I am absolutely thrilled and honoured that my article on Canada’s National Women’s Soccer Team star Julia Grosso has been selected as the cover story for the upcoming Summer 2023 issue of Panoram Italia magazine. This is my third contribution to the trilingual, nationally distributed, lifestyle magazine and the second to be chosen as a cover feature. 

I’d like to thank Associate Editor Pal Di Iulio and Managing Editor Gabriel Riel-Salvatore for once again entrusting me with an important assignment. Julia was the heroine of Canada’s Olympic victory two years ago in Tokyo and is one of the emerging new leaders of the team that will look to contend for the Women’s World Cup in Australia & New Zealand next month.

I spoke to Julia in early spring from her home in Torino, Italy, where she plays her club football for Juventus. She was an enjoyable subject to interview. She has a wonderfully positive disposition. She’s very thoughtful with her answers and embraces her part Italian origins wholeheartedly. Her talents as a footballer were rewarded this week when she was named the Serie A midfielder of the 2022/23 season in just her first full campaign. I’d like to extend a thank you to the Juventus Press Relations team, in particular Sara Ganapini, for coordinating the interview over zoom. 

As a sports broadcaster and journalist, I take a great deal of pride in assignments like this one and I try to provide the reader with unique insight and perspective on what shapes an athlete’s life both inside and outside of their sporting careers.

I hope you have an opportunity to read the article, whether in print or in its digital form, and I invite you to share your thoughts with me.

OneSoccer Offers an Action Packed Month of Canadian Soccer in April

The CANMNT’s Concacaf Nations League window that concluded Tuesday with Canada’s 4-1 defeat of Honduras at BMO Field unofficially kicked off the 2023 Canadian professional soccer season. On the heels of that 2-game set, OneSoccer will usher in an extremely busy month of April, with coverage of four separate competitions throughout the first full month of spring.

The non-stop action kicks off next Wednesday, April 5, with live coverage of the first leg of the Concacaf Champions League tie between Vancouver Whitecaps and LAFC.  OneSoccer will provide 21 live events throughout the month, including 12 Canadian Premier League games, 6 Canadian Championship matches and a friendly between CANWNT and France. 

Women’s International Friendly 18 May 2019 – Toronto, ON, CAN Canada Soccer by Martin Bayzl Joana Robles v Julia Grosso

That international match, a warm-up ahead of Canada’s trip to WWC ‘23 in Australia and New Zealand this summer, will share the spotlight with the 2nd leg of the VWFC-LAFC tie as both games are scheduled to be televised Tuesday, April 11.

Just four days later, the CPL returns for its fifth season on OneSoccer with a rare tripleheader, culminating with the first ever BC derby featuring Pacific FC playing host to the expansion club, Vancouver FC.

Then on April 18, the newly expanded Canadian Championship begins with six preliminary round games scheduled across three nights. I’m happy to announce that I’ll be making my season debut on OneSoccer that night, calling the match between the defending CPL champions Forge FC and PLSQ (Quebec provincial) titleholders FC Laval from Tim Horton’s Field in Hamilton.

Vying for your attention that same evening is another tantalizing cup tie as  League 1 Ontario champions Vaughan Azzurri visit MLS opponent CF Montreal at Stade Saputo.

The Voyageurs’ Cup competition culminates on Thursday, April 20 with an all-CPL contest between western rivals Pacific FC and Cavalry FC.

Just two days later, on Saturday, April 22, the CPL resumes with Matchday 2 featuring another tripleheader. The month of activity concludes the following weekend with Matchday 3 in the CPL featuring four games split evenly across the two days. 

Most of those games will feature pre-game, halftime and post-game studio coverage with a talented cast of regular on air contributors, led by award-winning host Andi Petrillo.

All that live game coverage will be enhanced by special events such as the Gold Cup Draw on April 14 and regular weekly programming like OneSoccer Today and the newly launched video podcast OneNation.

So if you’re a Canadian footy fan, and if you haven’t already done so, you’ll want to download the OneSoccer app to access all these games and live events. You simply can’t afford to miss a single match!

Check the website, onesoccer.ca, for exact dates and times of all the April events. 

Canadian Premier League to Open Fifth Season with New, Old Rivalries

For soccer fans around the world, the release of a fixture list, regardless of the league, sets off a chain reaction of interesting debates, speculation and travel itineraries as we all look ahead to a new season of competition.

Well, in just over two months’ time, the Canadian Premier League will kick off its fifth season with an enticing opening weekend of games that will feature an established rivalry between perennial CPL title contenders and a new clash of west coast teams featuring the expansion Vancouver FC club, based in Langley, BC.

The league today announced the four-game slate of matches that will kick off its 2023 season, to be played on the weekend of April 14-16, beginning with Vancouver FC’s visit to Vancouver Island to face Pacific FC on Friday, Apr. 14 at Starlight Stadium in Langford, BC.

The following day will feature a doubleheader, beginning with a clash between 2022 regular season champions Atletico Ottawa and a new-look Halifax Wanderers side from TD Place Stadium in the nation’s capital.

Still in Ontario, the second game of the doubleheader on Saturday, Apr. 15, brings together two longstanding rivals as three-time North Star Shield champions Forge FC play host to Tommy Wheeldon Jr.’s Cavalry FC at Tim Horton’s Field in Hamilton.

The weekend wraps up on Sunday, Apr. 16 with the third Ontario team, York United FC, welcoming Valour FC to York Lions Stadium in Toronto.

The CPL anticipated the announcement of the opening weekend of matches by revealing on Thursday a new anniversary logo that will commemorate the fifth season. On Monday, Jan. 30, the league will reveal the full 2023 schedule while on Tuesday, Jan. 31, the draw for the 2023 Canadian Championship will take place.

As has been the case since the league’s inception in 2019, all CPL and Canadian Championship games will be shown on OneSoccer, the dedicated channel operated by Mediapro Canada. I hope to have the honour of calling one of those four matches on opening weekend, as I look forward to collaborating with OneSoccer/Mediapro for a third consecutive year.

As the top tier of domestic football in Canada, the Canadian Premier League has carved out an important niche in this country as teams and players are gaining international attention. Several clubs have distinguished themselves with admirable performances in extra competitions like the Canadian Championship and the Concacaf League. Over the course of the first four seasons, many of its players have ascended to upper echelon leagues including Major League Soccer, the Scottish Premiership and the Swedish Allsvenskan (top division).

I’ll be counting down the hours until the full CPL schedule is revealed on Monday and I can’t wait to get started on describing all the action throughout the 2023 CPL season. Hope you’re along with me for the ride!

First 2023 Dates for Canadian Soccer Competition Revealed

I was excited to learn that the first competition of the 2023 Canadian domestic soccer calendar has been set as Canada Soccer today revealed dates for the 2023 Canadian Championship, featuring an unprecedented 14 clubs. The first round of the Voyageurs’ Cup competition involving 12 teams begins April 18. Last year’s champions Vancouver Whitecaps and runners up Toronto FC each earned a bye to the quarterfinals, which will be played in early May, followed by the semifinal phase later in the month. The final will be scheduled for some time in June. The winner moves on to represent Canada at a newly expanded CONCACAF Champions League in 2024.

As with all domestic competitions, the Canadian Championship will be broadcast live on Mediapro Canada’s streaming service OneSoccer, which begins its fifth season as the exclusive provider of Canadian domestic soccer action. In the previous four years, OneSoccer has covered over 530 games involving Canadian teams. In 2022, its YouTube channel drew over 8.8 million views, up 40% from 2021, while its Twitter page recorded nearly 40 million impressions, up a whopping 267% over 2021.

I’m very proud to be associated with Mediapro/OneSoccer and look forward to calling more Canadian Premier League and Canadian Championship matches in 2023, alongside some of the best soccer commentators and analysts in the business. We now look forward to the release of the 2023 CPL schedule in the days ahead.

#canada #soccer #championship #competition #dates #streaming

TBL Mid Season Podcast

Just released on YouTube: “The Blue Line Mid Season Podcast” with Mark Fera and myself as we break down the first half of the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 22/23 season. We cover a lot of ground over the 30 minutes, starting with the surprisingly efficient goaltending tandem of Samsonov and Murray, the rock solid defence that has had to overcome a slew of injuries, and the exceptional play of the Core Four forwards.

We also discuss our favourite first year player (Hint: he’s a Swede) and why we think Sheldon Keefe is a frontrunner for coach of the year.  We also consider the Leafs’ best game to date and look ahead to possible moves at the trade deadline. We wrap it all up with a lively Matthews-McDavid debate and talk a little Conor Bedard too!

It’s all on the latest TBL video out now as a full-length podcast on YouTube. View it here and check our other socials for bite-size clips. Much more content coming between now and the end of the NHL season. Hit like and subscribe so you don’t miss a single video!