For Laurent Ciman, the city of Montreal has become home over the last 10 years.
The 40-year-old former Belgian national team defender and his family have fallen in love with the city since he first played for CF Montreal in 2015. Now, in 2026, he is fully rooted in the Quebecois soccer community — which made FC Supra du Québec the perfect fit for him.
Ciman has joined the Canadian Premier League's newest club as an assistant coach for their inaugural season, which means he'll be stepping back into the technical area alongside head coach Nick Razzaghi to offer his expertise to a fully Quebecois squad.
Coming with him to FC Supra is Ciman's wealth of experience. He'll be a familiar face to most Canadian soccer fans from his playing days; he was the MLS Defender of the Year in 2015 with CF Montreal, and an Eastern Conference champion with Toronto FC in 2019.
On the international stage, Ciman was a regular in the Belgium squad, joining them at the 2014 FIFA World Cup as well as at UEFA Euro 2016.
"I've had a lot of coaches, and I have a lot of colleagues in Europe that played at the highest level," Ciman told CPLSoccer.com. "I learned a lot, and now it's time for me to give that to the young Quebecois players and the staff also — it's a young staff."
The coaching game is also not knew to Ciman, who was an assistant with CF Montreal for four seasons, leaving at the end of 2024. He also runs his own academy in the local area, which he'll balance with his duties at FC Supra.
Having been embedded in the local soccer scene now for a few years, Ciman was particularly excited by the project at Supra. As a club focused on being "for here, from here," they're committed to leveraging as much local talent as possible.
"For me, it's really important," Ciman said. "Because a majority of the clubs, they try to take some guys from around the world. But why? If you have talent here, if you have the guys that can do the job, they have a good opportunity."
He added: "We're on the same page. It's a new club, we need to build everything."
Ciman pointed out that, prior to FC Supra's arrival, CF Montreal was the only professional option in Quebec. Now that Supra are on the scene — and committed to developing Quebecois talent specifically at the pro level — the door is open to far more players in the province.
"At the end, it's what you do on the pitch, what you do about the team spirit, and then we'll see," Ciman said.
"I'm there to give to the staff what I've done before, and my experience can help the team."
Ciman will begin working with Supra in training starting on Wednesday, and he'll have just under a month to work with the squad before they kick off their first season.
All eyes will be on the CPL's newcomers, who begin their campaign April 11 at Pacific FC before playing their first ever home opener at Montreal's CEPSUM Stadium on Sunday, April 19.
