MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact announced Tuesday the nomination of Patrick Leduc as director of the Impact Academy.
Leduc therefore leaves his position of administrative director of soccer operations to focus solely on the Academy and the Scouting and Development Centre (CIP), a high-level development program launched in 2019 that brings us directly to participating amateur clubs, all while building relationships with different clubs across the province and its federation, Soccer Québec.
Given the club’s philosophy and priorities, focused on identifying and developing young players, Leduc will report directly to sporting director Olivier Renard, who already ensures a close link between the first team and the Academy in regard to identifying and developing our young talent. One of the Academy’s new objectives, under Leduc, will be to deepen our network of identifying young talent beyond the metropolitan region and even outside of Quebec.
“The Academy is here to stay, and the objective of our restructuring is to continue to improve,” said Olivier Renard. “Patrick enters this role with lots of experience and after having accomplished good work with the club. We certainly do not want to diminish our desire of developing our young talent. We would like to thank Philippe for his enormous contribution to the club in the last 10 years.”
Former club player from 2000 to 2011, Patrick Leduc returned to the Impact on December 6, 2018, as an administrative director of the club’s soccer operations. As part of his functions, he already supervised the Academy’s programs and budgets.
“I’m excited to face this new challenge,” said Patrick Leduc. “We are lucky to have a solid foundation in place at the Academy thanks to everyone who has been through it since its inception. I am confident that together, we can bring the Academy and the club to new successes.”
Holder of a Canada Soccer B License, he most recently served as a performance analyst with the U20 Canadian national men’s team’s technical staff. Patrick Leduc was also head coach of the Canadian team during the Danone Nations Cup, from 2016 to 2018, assistant coach for the U20 Canadian national women’s team in 2013, and head coach for Les Québécois during the Tournoi des Peuples et Nations in Marseille the same year.
He was also a senior coach for the Association régionale de soccer de la Rive-Sud from 2008 to 2011, serving most notably as Director of sports-études at Collège Français, as well as director of the Centre de développement régional.
Last Friday, the Montreal Impact had to proceed with layoffs in certain departments within the organization, which included the departures of Philippe Eullaffroy and Owen Braun, who was a goalkeeper coach at the Academy.
