Written by:Charlie O'Connor-Clarke

Canada Soccer announced Friday a 23-player men's U-20 national team squad that will play a pair of friendlies later this month against Costa Rica.

The team will take on Los Ticos' U-20 side on both Dec. 18 and 21 in Alajuela.

Four Canadian Premier League players were included in the group: Inter Toronto's Shola Jimoh, Atlético Ottawa's Sergei Kozlovskiy, Vancouver FC's Emrick Fotsing and Zayne Bruno of Forge FC.

Also in the squad is former Inter Toronto player Marsel Bibishkov, now with Slava Sofia.

Eight of the players in this U-20 squad were part of Canada's team for the FIFA U-17 World Cup last month.

This group of players, primarily drawn from the 2007 age group, will begin preparations for the 2026 Concacaf U-20 qualifiers in February, where they'll attempt to book their ticket to the Concacaf U-20 Championship.

The 2026 Concacaf U-20 Championship, set to be played next summer, will serve as qualifiers for both the 2027 FIFA U-20 World Cup and the 2028 Olympic Games.

Canada's full U-20 squad for this window is as follows:

GK - Nathaniel Abraham, University of Louisville
FW - Marsel Bibishkov, Slava Sofia
MF - George Booth, Reading FC
FW - Evan Brown, SSV Ulm 1846
MF - Zayne Bruno, Forge FC
DF - Sahil Deo, Vancouver Whitecaps FC
MF - Emrick Fotsing, Vancouver FC
DF - Aleksandr Guboglo, CF Montréal
FW - Shola Jimoh, Inter Toronto FC
MF - Dylan Judelson, Orlando SC
MF - Kevin Khan, Feyenoord Rotterdam
DF - Sergei Kozlovskiy, Atlético Ottawa
FW - Lucas Lima, CD Chaves
DF - Kilian Michelbach, FC Ingolstadt 04
DF - Josh-Duc Nteziryayo, CF Montréal
FW - Joshua Nugent, Toronto FC
FW - Van Parker, Real Salt Lake
GK - Jonathan Ransom, Atlanta United
GK - James Rhodes, LA Galaxy
DF - Omar Robbana, Vermont University
DF - Felix Samson, CF Montréal
MF - Valter Sedin, Hammarby IF
DF - Max Vogele, IF Brommapojkarna