Ottawa South United

Ottawa South United (OSU) is a youth focused amateur soccer club in Ottawa, Ontario. OSU is one of the largest community based sporting clubs in Canada and is well known for their high performance development programs and individual player and team achievements.

The club was founded as a youth soccer club in 2003 through a merger between Osgoode – Rideau Soccer Association (founded in 1972) and South Nepean United (founded in 1980). The merger was made possible by the efforts of the founding President of the club, Bill Michalopulos and additional founding members, including: Stephen Campbell, Rene Braendli, Lorne Leech, Peter McGann, and John Harrison. Ottawa South United for recreational soccer purposes services the geographical areas of: Barrhaven, Manotick, Riverside South, Findlay Creek, Greely, Osgoode and Kars. The club also offers high performance development programming and play via it’s Force Academy whose teams play at the regional and provincial level. The Force Academy program serves as the club’s competitive program, drawing players from across the City of Ottawa, Eastern Ontario and Western Quebec. OSU was the first club in the Ottawa area to be recognized by Ontario Soccer with the Gold Award for Club Excellence, where clubs are assessed on technical, operational and governance criteria Additionally, OSU is also a founding member of the Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) and one of the first 39 clubs in Canada to be granted a National Youth Club License. Since 2003, over 300 graduates of the club have gone on to play university or college soccer across North America. OSU alumni and youth players have also been selected to play at the professional level and also represent various national programs. Notable players include: Kris Twardek, Isabella Hanisch, Jon Viscosi, Clarissa Larisey, Tony Mikael, and Kayza Massey. Additionally, multiple youth players have been identified and transferred into Canada’s professional youth academies including: Vancouver Whitecaps, Toronto FC and CF Montreal. OSU has maintained professional affiliations and alliances which have served to optimize the club’s development and reach. These alliances have included: The Dallas Texans, Everton FC, Vancouver Whitecaps and most recently Atletico Ottawa.

George Nelms Sports Park in Manotick serves as the main hub for OSU soccer activities and features 6 fields.

In 2017, the club joined League1 Ontario, a Division III league, fielding a team in the men's division,[2] using the club's nickname, OSU Force.[3] They defeated Aurora FC in their inaugural match on April 29, 2017 by a score of 3–1.[4] In 2019, they added a team in the League1 Ontario women's division.[5]

For the 2020 season, the club moved both its male and female teams to the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec, a league on the same pyramid level as L1O, but located in the province of Quebec, in a move sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association.[6] While previously, the Ontario-based Ottawa Fury Academy had played in the Quebec-based league, this move represented the first time League1 Ontario and PLSQ have transferred a club between organizations.[7] The move to play in a different province was approved to ease travel for both OSU and the other League1 Ontario clubs, as Ottawa was located closer to the Quebec clubs than any of the other Ontario teams.[8] Due to restrictions put in place by the Government of Ontario as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, OSU had to play home games in Quebec during the 2020 PLSQ season[9] and required an exemption from the Ontario Soccer Association to be eligible to participate making them the only Ontario-based club who was able to play competitive fixtures in 2020.[10] OSU was able to strengthen their roster for 2020 due to travel restrictions put in place as a result of the pandemic. Several players who were to play for teams in the United States instead joined Ottawa's team, resulting in only two players returning from the 2019 team that finished last in L1O.[11] Their first season in the PLSQ was interrupted by the pandemic and cancelled before its conclusion, with standings to be determined based on points per game earned in matches up to that date.[12] The male team ultimately finished in second place behind AS Blainville, following a 3–2 loss to Blainville, which was their only loss of the season, in the final match of the season before the cancellation, in which Blainville scored the winning goal in the final minute of the match.[13][14] Midway through the 2021 season, the men's team was forced to withdraw from the league due to government restrictions and cross-border difficulties (the women had already completed their season), with their played matches removed from the rankings (they had a record of 1-2-7 at the time, sitting in 9th place).[15]

The following players have either played at the professional or international level, either before or after playing for the semi-professional team: