Vancouver FC made club history on Thursday with their first-ever pick in the CPL-U SPORTS Draft. The 2023 expansion side had the first and second overall picks in this year’s draft, selecting centre-back Anthony White of the University of Toronto first overall, and Toronto Metropolitan University striker Ameer Kinani second.

White joins Gabriel Bitar (Cavalry FC), Cory Bent (HFX Wanderers), Thomas Gardner (FC Edmonton) and José Cunha (Atlético Ottawa) as players selected first overall in the CPL-U SPORTS Draft.

“Leading up to the draft, a couple of days before, it was a lot of anticipation, a lot of nerves of course, but I guess in the end it kind of, for a lack of a better word, paid off,” White told CanPL.ca with a huge smile. “I know all of the hard work I did in the summer with League1 TSS, I want to thank Will Cromack my coach there for helping to develop me, my coach Ilya Orlov at U of T this past season, and yeah I’m just still buzzing.”

The 19-year-old central defender made 11 starts for U of T this past season, tied for the team lead. But while he plays his collegiate soccer in Ontario, White is a local talent for Vancouver FC, born in Port Moody, British Columbia and having played for Coquitlam Metro Ford Soccer Club.

He spent this past summer playing for TSS Rovers in League1 BC. He helped Rovers win the 2022 League1 BC championship, starting the final which the club won on penalty kicks against Varsity FC.

“It’s very difficult to find in the football market left-footed central defenders,” Vancouver FC manager Afshin Ghotbi told CanPL.ca. “He’s a very young, talented left-footed central defender that has travelled the world; he’s very intelligent and he’s very ambitious, he wants to really reach his goals as a football player at the highest level. After watching his videos and meeting him over a video chat I was very impressed with him as a young man, so we’ve made him one of our two choices.”

In a position usually reserved for older and more experienced players, White got a chance to play significant minutes right away in his first season at U of T. While it took him a bit of time to adjust, Varsity Blues’ head coach Ilya Orlov said by the end of his first collegiate season White was excellent. After the confidence boost of winning a championship in League1 BC, he came back even better for year two.

“He’s had another really good season at the University of Toronto,” said Orlov, “I think he’s got a very bright future ahead of him and I think he can make the jump to the next level.”

White comes from a talented soccer family as his older brother Nik, also a defender, was his teammate this past summer at Rovers. Nik plays his collegiate soccer for Harvard in the NCAA.

The younger White also has experience in multiple top footballing environments, having trained with the likes of Dinamo Zagreb in Croatia and FC Nurnberg in Germany.

Speaking of international experience, Vancouver FC’s second-overall pick, Kinani, has plenty as well. The 21-year-old striker spent a season with FC Cartagena in the Spanish Segunda Division. He has also represented Iraq at the U-19 Asian Cup and was recently called up to the Canadian national futsal team for a camp in Montréal.

Kinani thrived this past summer in his first season in League1 Ontario, finishing fourth in the league in goals with 17 as a member of ProStars FC.

“He’s goal dangerous all the time,” said Ghotbi. “With and without the ball he’s always running behind the defence and he’s creating havoc because of his pace and because of his nose for the goal. He’s coming into the right positions at the right moments.”

While the goals are what will always make headlines for a striker like Kinani, his university coach at TMU, Filip Prostran, is quick to point out that there is much more to his game than just goalscoring.

“One thing that goes overlooked in his game is that he is a great facilitator as well,” said Prostran. “You see his game, and you see him always scoring, and [he] did so well in League1. His final pass is also excellent as well, he is not your typical selfish number nine who will always shoot and always just kind of take that chance for himself. He does a great job facilitating.”

While his on-field ability jumped off the screen when Ghotbi and Vancouver were initially scouting him, it was speaking to the player that really drove home his character.

“We spoke with him and I was so impressed with his maturity, he was so articulate explaining about his life, his challenges, all the hardships that he faced in his life, and what he’s done in his life and wants to do with the game,” said Ghotbi.

“The fact that he’s living his father’s dream; he had to live with his family for 10 years without his dad in Canada, he had to kind of man up and be the father figure in his family in Canada, I was really touched by his story. I’m really hoping that he will succeed, and from seeing him on video, and by talking to him, my gut says that there’s someone very special in Ameer.”

That “gut feeling” comes with years of draft experience. While this is Ghotbi, and Vancouver FC’s, first CPL-U SPORTS Draft, the 58-year-old participated in the MLS SuperDraft during his time as an assistant coach with the LA Galaxy from 2004 to 2005.

“I really believe in this process, that there are many good players in colleges and universities both in Canada and the United States, so we felt that we should do our due diligence in exploring those options,” said Ghotbi.

How big of a role White and Kinani end up playing in Vancouver FC’s inaugural season remains to be seen. But every indication is that they will be important pieces in the club’s ongoing roster construction.