Marcus Velado-Tsegaye Re-Signs With FC Edmonton

Canadian Premier League side FC Edmonton has exercised its option on 19-year-old striker Marcus Velado-Tsegaye ahead of the 2021 Canadian Premier League season.

The FC Edmonton Academy product remains highly-touted by Eddies brass, with the youngster having made some 22 appearances for the club so far (mostly as a substitute). His first professional goal came on his 18th birthday during the club’s spring season closer, with another goal coming this year at The Island Games.

The local athlete recently attended an El Salvador national team camp after being approached by scout Hugo Alvarado. While he also has ambitions with the Canada U-20 setup, he wanted to test the waters and see how La Seleccion compared.

Velado-Tsegaye is a product of the Canadian Premier League side’s own academy system, developing under Jeff Paulus and earning a professional contract ahead of the inaugural CPL season.

This year he made four appearances for the Eddies at The Island Games, bagging a long range goal against the Halifax Wanderers as his club went winless after seven matches. After the disappointing campaign, the youngster put his head down and focused on training:

Ever since we came back, we were all disappointed with how we did in The Island Games. We felt with the amount of work we did that we deserved more, but that’s the game. The first team has been training until the end of October when contracts ended, and all the first team players that are still here have been playing with the academy.

Marcus Velado-Tsegaye

FC Edmonton has now exercised options on three players for the upcoming season, all of whom are academy products: 20-year-old youngster Antony Caceres was announced just yesterday, while 19-year-old Chance Carter was confirmed last week.

According to an earlier CanPL article, both Easton Ongaro and Jeannot Esua have re-signed for the upcoming year as well, though we’ve seen players re-sign only to depart ahead of time before.

The Eddies are currently in the search for a new head coach, with former FC Cincinnati and Colorado Springs head coach Alan Koch now listed as a leading candidate. Club President Eric Newendorp recently told us that the new club gaffer appointment was still on track for a near-future announcement.

The Eddies will be hoping for a much-improved campaign after their winless bubble tournament, with Newendorp also focused on bringing success on the business side too: he has big plans to improve the atmosphere at Clarke Stadium, though he acknowledged the improvements on the pitch itself will lead to some significant roster turnover.

In the interim, the return of Marcus Velado-Tsegaye is a very positive one for the Alberta-based side. The teenager has developed well in his first two campaigns as a professional, and with El Salvador interested in potentially luring him away from the Canadian national team setup his stock appears well on the rise.

FC Edmonton did not disclose the financial details of Velado-Tsegaye’s contract.