York United Signs Canada U-20 Prospect Theo Afework

York United needed another domestic U-21 player on the books to hit the league’s requirement of three of them whilst Ronan Kratt was out on loan, and today the Nine Stripes delivered on that replacement.

Enter Canada U-20 prospect Theo Afework, who arrives on a two-year deal with an option for a further year.

The 19-year-old striker is back in Canada and donning green-and-blue following a stint in Germany with FC Nurnburg at the U-19 level – ironically, a pretty similar situation to how Kratt first came to the club.

Afework had been with the side since last year, helping the U-19 team finish second and reach playoffs. This season had a hot start for Afework too, with the forward bagging a last-gasp winner for them in a DFB Pokal Der Junioren match against RB Leipzig, though they’d be later knocked out by Hertha Berlin.

The teenage striker was born in Calgary and developed with the Calgary Rangers SC, also suiting up for the Calgary Blizzard and Calgary Foothills before joining the Whitecaps FC Academy. He proved to be quite prolific there, while also making two appearances for Canada at the U-15 level.

More recently, he cracked the provisional Canada U-20 roster ahead of last year’s Concacaf Men’s Under-20 Championship, though he wasn’t part of the final squad.

Again, like Kratt.

“He’s performed very well in Germany and, in many ways, he’s plotting a similar course to Ronan Kratt in coming back to Canada and the CPL having played at a good level overseas,” added Club President Angus McNab.

Afework joins Eleias Himaras and Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy as the club’s contingent of domestic U-21 talents.

The current York United FC roster can be seen here.