Noah Cunningham is a rising star on the Canadian soccer scene.
The St. Albert Impact product and 2018 second team All-Canadian defender with the Alberta Golden Bears was selected by FC Edmonton with the 21st overall pick in the inaugural Canadian Premier League – U SPORTS draft.
“It’s a really good moment. I feel really proud to be able to be drafted by my hometown team and it makes it even sweeter that in a sense I’m staying home since I was developed in the FC Edmonton Academy for three years and a lot of who I am and what I’ve done is a credit to FC Edmonton and the U of A obviously for how they’ve treated me and what they've given me,” Cunningham said. "I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity.”
The CPL is a professional Tier 1 league and FC Edmonton is one of seven teams confirmed for the 2019 maiden season that’s expected to start in April.
The club-based CPL is unlike the franchise-based system used in Major League Soccer. The goal is to add more teams for eventual promotion and relegation within the expanded CPL structure.
The CPL is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and its mandate is to improve national soccer talent and the sport in Canada.
The partnership between CPL and U SPORTS allows top Canadian university players like Cunningham a chance to play professional soccer while continuing to maintain their education and university sports eligibility.
Selected players invited to CPL preseason camps have the opportunity to sign either a standard developmental contract for non-graduating student-athletes wishing to preserve their eligibility or a pro-contract for graduating seniors.
Cunningham, 20, is a third-year education student focused on becoming a high school teacher.
“It’s huge. It kind of gives us both options in a sense where we can pursue professional soccer but at the same time academics are really important as well obviously. You never know what can happen in a professional environment so if you have that fallback as your degree then you really get the best of both worlds. You can try and pursue both and then you always have something where you can fall back on it if you even need to fall back on it. It’s always nice to have that kind of safety net,” said Cunningham, a right centre-back who is training with the FC Edmonton U21 team in preparation for the preseason camp in early 2019.
FC Edmonton also picked two of Cunningham’s teammates on the Golden Bears – fifth-year goalkeeper Connor James, a first team All-Canadian, at seventh overall and forward Ajeej Sarkaria, second team All-Canadian, at eight overall – and they both attended the FC Edmonton Academy along with a very appreciative Cunningham.
“(FC Edmonton owner) Tom Fath is a huge part of that. He fully funds the whole academy from his own pocket. When you go there he pays for everything; top-class training facilities, equipment, trips that we go on so I’m really grateful that someone locally from the city is taking on that kind of responsibility for really helping kind of push youth players to stay in Edmonton to develop in Edmonton,” Cunningham said. “It’s the same thing when you’re in kind of that professional environment. Every day you’re going to get better. You’re going to try and push yourself because there is something that’s kind of a reward at the end of it. There’s a first team that you’re looking towards so it’s such a great opportunity. When I was there, there was a lot of those first team guys who would come down and show us this is what you need to do and this is how you’re going to do it. It’s really outstanding to have a professional environment so close to home.”
Cunningham’s journey to elite level status started in the St. Albert Soccer Association and his last team was the U16 Tier I Impact as a midfielder before switching to defence with the FC Edmonton Academy.
“I was very fortunate enough to have a coach in Jamie Rochat who supported everyone on that team and really helped everyone grow as a player but I think more important as a person. A lot of your best friends are made in your early years when you’re playing and he's obviously a big role model for someone like me. I think he coached me for seven or eight years by the time I moved on,” Cunningham said. “The whole organization is really a great way to really kind of push yourself but also just create those relationships and really develop yourself in a way so that you can push on from there once you do leave.”
Cunningham rose to prominence in his rookie season with the Golden Bears as the most valuable player at 2016 Canadian university championship. The fifth national title in team history and the first since 2006 was celebrated in the 1-0 victory over the UQAM Citadins of Montreal in Guelph, Ont.
“The most important thing for younger players is to be able to get game time so when you go to the Golden Bears you’re getting I think my first year it was like 16 games in two months so it really allows you to develop and learn how to play in game situations where in youth soccer maybe you’re only playing once or twice a week and you have the big break, you’re going into indoor soccer, so it’s a super competitive environment. Everyone there wants to win but again at the university level it's academics and soccer so you really have to develop those kind of skills on the field and off the field so it will allow you to A do well in school and if you don’t do well in school you’re not going to be able to play and B to then play and obviously you want to win as we did in my first year and things kind of went on from there,” said the 2017 first team All-Canada and the Canada West second team all-star in 2016 and first team all-star in 2017 and 2018.
Cunningham was asked to rank his top three accomplishments in soccer.
“Number one would be that national championship in 2016 with the U of A. That was a surreal moment when you win something that big in your first year. It’s something that really stands out.
“Second would be when I was called up to the national under–18 team (in 2014). We went to France and that was a big moment for me to be able to represent Canada.
“Third would be getting invited to the FC Edmonton Academy,” said Cunningham, who contributed to the academy’s 2014 provincial premier championship, along with Zach Rochat of St. Albert, in the first season under the St. Albert Impact label after FC Edmonton bought the Impact 1 team’s spot in premier before the start of the Edmonton District Soccer Association campaign.
The scouting report on Cunningham, according to the Sir George Simpson junior high and Bellerose high school alumnus, is: “I like to think I talk a lot so I like to organize people in front of me. I’m good in the air (at six-foot-two) and I like winning headers. I would also like to think I’m a good passer of the ball as well.”
