Two Scrosoppi FC Youngsters Turn Pro In Portugal
By It hasn’t taken League1 Ontario side Scrosoppi FC long to utilize the pipeline between itself and the Portuguese club it had purchased over the summer.
The club announced that centre-back Nathaniel Susnik and defensive midfielder Ethan Raulino have both inked U-19 professional contracts with Sport Clube Vianense, who operate in the lower tiers of Portuguese football.
Club owner Gary Raulino had purchased Sport Clube Vianense on July 1, adding 114 years of sporting history into the semi-professional club’s talent pipeline. Scrosoppi FC declared that both teams will operate as twin clubs, with the two youth prospects now making history as the first to traverse the pipeline between them.
While both players spent the season with the Scrosoppi FC U-21 team (and finished undefeated), both appeared for the first team in the 2022 League1 Ontario season. Susnik helped his side to a clean sheet in his debut appearance against Burlington SC, while Raulino made three appearances for the first team and five for the reserves.
With League1 Ontario has established itself as a strong pathway to professional football in domestic circles, it’s interesting to see Scrosoppi FC generate another pipeline through the acquisition of a foreign club.
Last season saw the club finish twelfth in league standings, just one spot above the cutoff line for teams that will be placed into the second division come 2024 when the league splits into multiple tiers.
With the 2023 League1 Ontario season approaching and the club hoping to set itself up to land in League1 Ontario’s top flight, Scrosoppi FC has recently announced the high-profile acquisitions of Tomasz Skublak and Joshua Paredes.