For Timothy Fortier it began where all the best dreams do.
“The backyard,” said the 16-year-old TFC Academy midfielder. “Rainy days one-v-oneing my brother, a free for all.”
“Those were the best days for me – hours and hours after school, just smashing each other, kicking each other a lot,” he continued. “That's what I remember the most.”
His older brother Kristjan, who left the TFC Academy to attend Syracuse University last year, played a big role in drawing his little brother to the sport.
“I started playing soccer when I was five or six years old. I really got into it because my brother was into it,” Fortier explained. “I just loved to compete with him, so that's basically where it came from. We found it and fell in love with it.”
That passion needs to be honed. Both Fortier brothers were involved with Barcelona FC’s academy program in Toronto.
“I was at Barça Academy Toronto, it was their version of [La Masia] in Toronto,” Tim detailed. “And then COVID hit, [they shut down]. I was out of a team and that's when I joined TFC.”
Both made the move and watching each, that influence is apparent. There is a similarity in how they play: both deep-lying playmakers with a wide range of passing and the defensive awareness required in that part of the field.
Tim points to Kristjan as a primary influence.
“Definitely my brother, he'll watch some of my games, he'll give me little bits,” he said. “I'd go to tournaments, watch him play and pick up things every game, little things that add up, and try to incorporate them into your own game. Same with the coaches. There are influences from a lot of people.”
“I also really like to watch Barça,” added the teenager. “So the deep-lying playmaker, the [Frenkie] de Jong, the [Sergio] Busquets when I was younger, players like that – Xavi, [Andrés] Iniesta – that could pick up the ball and spray those diags [diagonal passes to spread the pitch or switch the play].”
One of the early rituals for all players joining the club is Academy Signing Day – Tim recalls his fondly.
“It's the start of a new chapter,” said Fortier, who arrived as a 13-year-old. “When I signed it was a feeling of ‘I succeeded, but the job is not finished – there's so much more to accomplish.’ It's a nice step – a step in the right direction, but there's definitely a lot more to accomplish and to not be satisfied.”
That is a sentiment one hears a lot from athletes: each achievement is a stepping stone along a larger path. Signing is just a transition from one stage to the next. The work carries on.
“You're developing a lot,” outlined Fortier of his progress through the age groups at the TFC Academy. “As a young player, I'm still not physically developed to where a professional would be. [The coaches] gradually increase the tactical knowledge, so U-13, U-14 you get a little bit, U-15 you’re getting a good base. And then U-16 you should have that good base and by U-17 or what now is U-18, you need that good base to perform and to beat other teams.”
Academy coaches use a variety of tools to convey that information.
“It's everything. Classroom stuff, looking at video, looking at your positioning after games,” detailed Fortier. “We have Hudl, it's a platform where you review games. You send clips to coaches, they send them back, they send their thoughts on it. You can look at your positioning, your positioning opposed to their team, positioning opposed to the ball, positioning opposed to your teammates.”
“It’s the process so that becomes subconscious. You're not really thinking about it, but you just do it,” he added. “That's the ultimate goal.”
There are a variety of milestones along the pathway.
“When I made the jump to playing up a year, that would be the big milestone for me, but there's all these little milestones you can hit,” highlighted the midfielder. “Say you're fighting for minutes and you get the starting job, that's a milestone right there. And then you want to get more and more minutes until you're a starter consistently.”
“There's all these little milestones along the road that ultimately will lead you to a bigger milestone,” he summarized. “It's more about the little goals and successes rather than the bigger one.”
Major events – the MLS NEXT Cup Playoffs, MLS NEXT Fest, the Generation adidas Cup – are inflection points along the journey.
“The U-15 GA Cup [in 2023],” recalled Fortier. “We made a run really far when I was with the ‘07s, that sticks out to me.”
“All these major tournaments I just love: you go down, you compete against the best kids in North America, it's awesome,” he continued. “That free kick [at the 2024 MLS NEXT Cup in Nashville] – yeah, it was a nice one, that one sticks out too.”
Fortier will be at the 2025 GA Cup with TFC. The tournament, held at the IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida, kicks off on April 12 with every team playing seven matches over the nine days of the competition.
The Toronto FC Academy will have teams competing in both the U-16 and U-18 age groups.
The U-16s were drawn into Group J alongside Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, and FC Tokyo of Japan.
They will face Tokyo in their opener on Saturday, April 12 at 12 pm, square off against Chicago in game two on Sunday, April 13 at 11:30 am, and then wrap up the group stage on Monday at 11:30 am against Colorado.
Tim and the U-18s are in Group I with the Houston Dynamo, Portland Timbers, and Palmeiras of Brazil.
They open the group stage against Palmeiras on Saturday before facing Houston in game two and Portland in game three on Sunday and Monday, respectively. All matches are scheduled for 4:30 pm.
A total of 40 teams will compete in each division, split into ten groups of four. The ten group winners plus the six best second-place finishers will advance to the championship bracket. Select matches will be streamed on the MLS YouTube page.
“It's an opportunity to showcase yourself and your abilities. You’ve got to enjoy the moment, but you have to take the moment too,” reminded Fortier. “You've got to know that you're good enough and know that people are watching – a lot of people watch these games.”
“You're there for a reason, so prove it,” he urged. “That's the mentality you’ve got to come in with.”
It’s been a busy year already for the 16-year-old.
In February he was one of five TFC Academy athletes with the Canadian side that qualified for the 2025 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar this November
Fortier called it “a phenomenal experience.”
“You're getting together with a bunch of kids who are just like you,” he continued. “Who just want to compete, want to win for their country, and want to get their country to a World Cup.”
Canada won all four of their matches, outscoring their opponents 28-2 to secure a berth in Qatar.
While Fortier is looking forward to that experience, he knows he has work to do before then.
“Definitely something you have circled on the calendar,” he said. “But there's little steps and little goals that you want to accomplish so when or if that moment comes then I'm ready to deliver.”
He then made his TFC II debut in MLS NEXT Pro, starting against Chicago Fire II in March.
“It was an awesome experience to play at that level, to see the next level, to see where I can improve,” reflected Fortier. “It was a reward, but it was a moment of growth, an opportunity to learn.”
Thousands of kilometres away from that backyard where it all began, he aims to bring all of that experience into the upcoming GA Cup.
“The first game is the big one,” he said. “If you win the first game in GA, it really sets you up for the rest. You win your first game, you're on pace to win the group, which is what you need to do to advance. If you lose the first game, it is really hard – really hard – to make it out.”
“So I need to make sure coming in that we are ready for the first game and we're ready to compete for the full 60-minute game,” he closed. “Make sure that everyone's ready to play their role, no matter how big or small it is.”
