Phil Ionadi

Phil Ionadi is a retired Canadian soccer player and head coach who played in the Canadian Soccer League, Canadian National Soccer League, USL A-League, Canadian Professional Soccer League, and National Professional Soccer League. He is currently the President of the Canadian Academy of Futbol.

Ionadi began his professional career with the North York Rockets of the Canadian Soccer League. After the demise of North York he signed with Toronto Italia of the Canadian National Soccer League.He added a Treble to his resume by winning the Regular League Championship, domestic cup, and the Playoff Championship. In 1997, he signed with the Toronto Supra making his debut on June 29, 1997 in a Cup match against London City. During his tenure with the Supra he assisted in reaching the postseason by making the playoff finals match, but unfortunately were defeated by St. Catharines Wolves.

The following year he signed a contract with the Toronto Lynx in the USL A-League a second tier team in the Canadian soccer pyramid system, but was released from his contract midway through the season. For the remainder of the year he signed with the Glen Shields Sun Devils of the Canadian Professional Soccer League. In 1999, he signed with the Toronto Lynx rivals the Montreal Impact, and played an indoor season with the Impact. The following year he played an outdoor season with Montreal while playing indoor with the Toronto Thunderhawks.

Ionadi returned to the CPSL in 2001 with the newly expansion franchise the Brampton Hitmen, where he served as the team captain during his tenure with the club. His greatest success with the club came in the 2003 season where he managed to score 12 goals, and secure a playoff berth for the club by finishing second in their division. In the postseason Brampton defeated the Vaughan Shooters to secure the teams first CPSL Championship. At the CPSL awards ceremony he was awarded the Canadian Soccer League MVP Award. On May 19, 2005 Ionadi was signed by the Oakville Blue Devils a newly expansion franchise club and was named team captain. He led Oakville to the finals of the CSL Cup, where they defeated the Vaughan Shooters to a score of 2-1 making the club the first expansion franchise to win the CPSL Cup in their debut season.

In 2006, Oakville head coach Duncan Wilde signed with the Toronto Lynx, and Ionadi retired from competitive soccer to make the transition to head coach of the Blue Devils.In his debut season he won the National Division title, but Oakville were eliminated in the early stages of the postseason. On April 10, 2008 he was appointed Director of Business Operations for the Brampton Lions. In 2013, he served on the CSL Board of Directors as the Director for Youth, and on October 27, 2014 Ionadi was awarded the Harry Paul Gauss Memorial Award .

Player

Brampton Hitmen

• CPSL Championship: 1

2003

Oakville Blue Devils

• CPSL Championship: 1

2005

Individual

• Canadian Soccer League MVP Award: 2003

Managerial

Oakville Blue Devils

• Canadian Soccer League National Division: 1

2006