TRANSFER TRACKER STATUS: Signing
The Vancouver Whitecaps have signed academy duo Matteo Campagna and Kamron Habibullah to Homegrown contracts, the club announced Friday.
Campagna, 16, has progressed through the club's youth academy system since joining as a 13-year-old in 2017, spending three seasons playing with the club's US Soccer Developmental Academy, where he made a total of 53 appearances for Vancouver's U-15 and U-17 sides. The club lists him as both a midfielder and defender.
Habibullah, 17, spent the duration of preseason with the first team after recently being a part of the Whitecaps FC U-23 team. The midfielder/forward first joined the Whitecaps FC BMO Academy System as a 12-year-old in 2016. Over three seasons playing in the U.S. Soccer Development Academy from U-16 to U-19, Habibullah amassed 21 goals in 58 appearances.
The pair are the 23rd and 24th all-time academy products to sign with the Whitecaps' first team and represent two of seven British Columbians currently on Vancouver's first-team roster.
"Kamron and Matteo are both young players with promising upside; however, this is only the beginning for them,” Whitecaps sporting director Axel Schuster said in Friday's release. “They showed up to preseason humble, focused and concentrated. They know that the hard work continues and they need to push themselves to their highest level. We will continue to support them in all aspects of their development, and we believe that they have the ability to earn meaningful minutes in the future.”
Habibullah represented Canada’s U-17 men’s national team in 2019, scoring three goals during qualifying and then starting twice and making three appearances later that year at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Brazil. Campagna was called up to represented Canada at the 2019 Concacaf U-15 Boys Championship, making four starts while playing in all five matches.
