For nearly three years, a group of Edmonton children have hustled to raise tens of thousands of dollars to attend a once-in-a-lifetime soccer tournament in the United States.
But now, just days before the U-11 team was set to leave, most of that money is gone and so is the coach.
“These kids, nine and 10-year-old kids, for the last two-and-a-half years have done hundreds of bottle drives and sold thousands of boxes of World’s Finest chocolates,” said father Adam Scorgie. “We’ve done pub nights. We’ve done all these things.
The Selects Football Club U11 tier 1 boy’s soccer team was set to participate in the Las Vegas Mayor’s Cup International Showcase this upcoming weekend, Feb. 15-17.
Scorgie said it would have been a chance for the kids to see if they were serious about pursuing professional soccer and interact with teams from all over.
“Lots of scouts, if you want to go get an NCAA contract,” he explained.
The team of 20 boys, plus about 25 to 30 family members, were set to fly to Las Vegas. Some had booked rental cars and other non-refundable extra activities while in Nevada. The team was supposed to meet at the Edmonton airport on Friday morning but this past Monday night, the entire plan fell apart.
Scorgie had talked to his wife about double-checking to make sure all the plans were in place when it came to flights, hotels, tournament registration and such. He said he got home from his son’s jujitsu class on Monday to find his wife — the team’s manager and assistant coach — in tears.
“She’s bawling and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’ She’s like, ‘He didn’t book anything,’” he said.
Scorgie said the team had raised around $60,000 to attend the tournament, plus some parents had put extra money into the bank account to cover extra the cost of flights for extra family members — but when the bank account was checked, Scorgie said just under $40,000 was gone.
He said parents are still going through records to determine exactly how much money is now missing.
The Edmonton dad explained the coach was to be responsible for all the flights, hotel rooms and everything else to do with the tournament. When parents did more digging, he said they found out nothing was ever booked.
“I thought maybe he was lazy and didn’t get it done,” Scorgie said.
It’s not known for sure what happened to the money but Scorgie said the head coach, who had been with the team for a few years, is now nowhere to be found.
“The police have called, the league has called, my wife — we’ve all called him. We’ve called him from private numbers. We’ve tried all kinds of things to get in touch with him.
Global News is not naming the coach, as we have been unable to contact him for comment.
Scorgie said attending the tournament in Vegas was proposed by the coach three years ago, triggering all the fundraising work to make it happen.
What makes the situation even more strange: the team had a practice on Sunday and Scorgie said everything seemed normal.
“That’s the bizarre part. He coached them on Sunday for practice. We had our final game last Wednesday — the team did incredibly well,” he said, adding the team finished second in their division this year.
“That’s why this whole thing of going to Vegas didn’t seem that outlandish because they’ve got five underagers and they still finish second in the league. They’re very talented team.”
His son Beckham Scorgie has been playing soccer for four years and was looking forward to the big trip.
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“We’ve been raising money for, like, a long time, and I feel like we deserve to go to Vegas,” Beckham said.
In the meantime, the team has received an outpouring of support.
“Everybody’s been reaching out — even rival teams are like, ‘We’re going to put money together. That’s horrendous. I can’t believe this happened to you.’ And the parent group for this team is truly amazing. We’ve all really come together and said, ‘Well, these kids worked their butts off. They deserve it. Let’s come together,’” Scorgie said.
The team has launched a GoFundMe to try and raise new funds to attend a tournament in the future, as it’s too late to attend this year’s Mayor’s Cup. As of Wednesday evening, it had raised over $19,000.
The president of the Mayor’s Cup has also already told the Selects their US$1,500 entry fee will be waived for the 2026 tournament.
“So we’re either going to take them to Minnesota this summer or we’ll go to Vegas next year,” Scorgie said.
A bar in downtown Edmonton is also going to hold a fundraiser for the team. Greta Bar posted to their Instagram they will hold an event on Family Day (Feb. 18), from noon to 5 p.m. Tickets will be $30 and includes gaming in their arcade, food, face painting and more.
The Edmonton Police Service said it received a complaint of fraud related to a youth sports team on Monday and officers are investigating. No charges have been laid.
The program director for the Selects Football Club said they were made aware of the situation late Tuesday but were unable to comment due to the ongoing police investigation. The club has also taken down the coach off their staffing list.
Global News attempted to track down the coach to hear his side of the story, but have been unable to reach him.
