Another player who cooperates with the EFCB is England midfielder Owen Hargreaves. It's very difficult for Owen to visit the club right now because of his tight schedule. But he has answered a few questions about how he started to play football and what advice he would give to young players.

My father was a semi-professional player. When I was a kid we always went to see him play and it was the greatest thing for my brothers and me to meet him after the game in the dressing room. It was a great atmosphere. So I decided to become a football player myself, despite the fact that nobody in Canada believed that this was possible. I never had any idols or role models because there were none in Canada. Having an English family, though, meant that I was very much in touch with the game. Otherwise I would have probably ended up as an ice hockey player.

I found it very difficult at first. I didn't speak any German and didn't have any friends. I felt homesick. What I still miss is the space. In Europe everything is very dense. In Canada there is no problem with parking, for example, as the roads are wide. We have a lot of open space and if you are used to that, you will find it quite different here at first.

Believe in yourself!

Find out more about Owen: www.owenhargreaves.de

There are still only a handful of Canadian football players who have left the shores of their home country to play professional football in Europe. The most successful of them is probably Tottenham Hotspurs new signing Paul Stalteri, who played for the German Bundesliga team Werder Bremen until last year. Winning the German League title and the German Cup and having played in the Champions League, is a great achievement for any player - but especially so for a Canadian who was born in Etobicoke and raised in Ontario. And although the days of playing for the Brampton Rebels and winning the Ontario Cup are long gone, Paul Stalteri can look back at his beginnings with pride.

I started when I was 6 years old and my first club was the Brampton Rebels. When I was 13, I joined the Malton Bullets. My fondest memories of my youth club career are of the days with the Malton Bull ets. Between 1990 and 1995 we won two National Championships, 5 Ontario Cups and various other League and Cup titles.  Making my way through the youth system in Canada, I met fellow current national team players like Jason Bent, Robbie Aristodemo and Marco Reda.

Youth Soccer is fairly well organized in Canada.  Soccer currently has the highest registration numbers of any sport in the country.  More kids play soccer than hockey!  There are many different levels, starting with the leagues in the cities. As you improve you are given the opportunity to play on a regional team that competes over longer distances.  We also have provincial teams that serve as a stepping stone to the national team programme. We do not currently have a national league; however we do have teams such as the Toronto Lynx, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps which play in the A-League.

I came to Europe because the level of competition seen in European football is currently not available within the North American borders.  Leaving Canada was an opportunity to play the sport that I love on the highest level, probably the highest in the world. 

I always tell young players to work hard in school and work hard on the pitch. Dedication is the most important quality that any young player can have. Through that dedication, kids also need to enjoy what they are doing. Even if someone doesn't end up playing a sport professionally, the friendships and memories we have in our youth from playing sports are irreplaceable.

More information about the player on: www.paulstalteri.com