Tofa Fakunle is currently the assistant General Manager at Canadian Premier League cub, Cavalry FC.
Before this current role, he was the football operations manager at the same club, and then before that, a professional player.
Based in Calgary, Cavalry FC are one of 8 teams that compete in CPL, which is a relatively new league, having only started in 2019. The league is the only professional league in Canada, which offers a lot of potential to grow, especially with the World Cup arriving in 2026.
In this conversation we speak about how Tofa has to look after and manage the clubs’ budgets, the rules set by the leagues around squad building, and how Tofa and his team source players, for free, from all over the World.
We touch on data, the MLS, and a bit more on the overall football landscape within Canada.
Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:28 - Tofa joins and gives some background
3:47 – Transitioning from player to front office, roles & responsibilities
7:55 – Transfer window and season timeline
10:41 – Access to data and spending rules
14:56 – Recruiting players from around the World
18:26 – The landscape of football in Canada & North America
24:25 – Cavalry FC squad profile
28:18 – Rules around building a roster
31:57 – Networking and working with agents
33:38 – Team culture
35:40 – Trading players for profit, thinking long-term
42:59 – Future thoughts on soccer in Canada
46:24 – Summary and wrap up
You can also see more of Chris chatting to analytics professionals over on his podcast too, right here: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisgill_UK
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Tofa Fakunle is currently the assistant General Manager at Canadian Premier League cub, Cavalry FC.
Before this current role, he was the football operations manager at the same club, and then before that, a professional player.
Based in Calgary, Cavalry FC are one of 8 teams that compete in CPL, which is a relatively new league, having only started in 2019. The league is the only professional league in Canada, which offers a lot of potential to grow, especially with the World Cup arriving in 2026.
In this conversation we speak about how Tofa has to look after and manage the clubs’ budgets, the rules set by the leagues around squad building, and how Tofa and his team source players, for free, from all over the World.
We touch on data, the MLS, and a bit more on the overall football landscape within Canada.
Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:28 - Tofa joins and gives some background
3:47 – Transitioning from player to front office, roles & responsibilities
7:55 – Transfer window and season timeline
10:41 – Access to data and spending rules
14:56 – Recruiting players from around the World
18:26 – The landscape of football in Canada & North America
24:25 – Cavalry FC squad profile
28:18 – Rules around building a roster
31:57 – Networking and working with agents
33:38 – Team culture
35:40 – Trading players for profit, thinking long-term
42:59 – Future thoughts on soccer in Canada
46:24 – Summary and wrap up
You can also see more of Chris chatting to analytics professionals over on his podcast too, right here: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisgill_UK
Episode 44: David Sumpter, Uppsala University and Twelve Football
Analytics FC Podcast
37 minutes 1 second
3 years ago
Episode 44: David Sumpter, Uppsala University and Twelve Football
This month, we spoke to David Sumpter. David is Professor of Applied Mathematics at Uppsala University, the author of a number of books about data analytics, and the co-founder of football analytics company, Twelve Football. He also works for Hammarby in the Swedish Allsvenskan.
In the course of the conversation, David talked at length about the use of tracking data within football analysis, the industry’s shift towards more bespoke modelling and the impact of big data on football itself.
You can follow David on Twitter @Soccermatics and Twelve Football @twelve_football.
We’ll be back next month with another interesting guest, but until then, make sure you subscribe to this podcast, rate and review it, and check out all the content that is going out from Analytics FC on our Twitter account @analyticsfc.
Analytics FC Podcast
Tofa Fakunle is currently the assistant General Manager at Canadian Premier League cub, Cavalry FC.
Before this current role, he was the football operations manager at the same club, and then before that, a professional player.
Based in Calgary, Cavalry FC are one of 8 teams that compete in CPL, which is a relatively new league, having only started in 2019. The league is the only professional league in Canada, which offers a lot of potential to grow, especially with the World Cup arriving in 2026.
In this conversation we speak about how Tofa has to look after and manage the clubs’ budgets, the rules set by the leagues around squad building, and how Tofa and his team source players, for free, from all over the World.
We touch on data, the MLS, and a bit more on the overall football landscape within Canada.
Timestamps
0:00 – Introduction
1:28 - Tofa joins and gives some background
3:47 – Transitioning from player to front office, roles & responsibilities
7:55 – Transfer window and season timeline
10:41 – Access to data and spending rules
14:56 – Recruiting players from around the World
18:26 – The landscape of football in Canada & North America
24:25 – Cavalry FC squad profile
28:18 – Rules around building a roster
31:57 – Networking and working with agents
33:38 – Team culture
35:40 – Trading players for profit, thinking long-term
42:59 – Future thoughts on soccer in Canada
46:24 – Summary and wrap up
You can also see more of Chris chatting to analytics professionals over on his podcast too, right here: https://www.youtube.com/@chrisgill_UK
