By Matthew Gourlie

After months of waiting, the Canadian Premier League made another substantial announcement as they introduced David Clanachan as their first commissioner and chairman.

David Clanachan is the first commissioner of the Canadian Premier League. photo by Darren Goldstein/DSG Photo courtesy of the CPL

Clanachan, 56, has is a Tim Hortons executive, having worked his entire career at the iconic Canadian chain.

“It’s an absolute honour to have been selected as commissioner of the CPL and to lead the ground-breaking team that ushers in this exciting new era of Canadian professional soccer across the country,” Clanachan said in a press release. “Soccer is a lifelong passion of mine – as I know it is for countless Canadians – and the CPL will not only fuel Canada’s love for soccer, but it will also cultivate a new generation of players, coaches, officials and business leaders.”

The Canadian men’s professional soccer league is set to debut in the spring of 2019.

The Canadian Soccer Association confirmed Winnipeg and Hamilton as founding cities at their AGM on May 6. Clanachan will oversee all aspects of the CPL. The league said his “first order of business will be to award official CPL clubs in key Canadian communities from coast to coast.”

Clanachan hails from Burlington, Ont. — where he still plays soccer weekly in the local men’s league — and began working with Tim Hortons when he was 14.

He became president and chief operating office of Tim Hortons Canada in 2014 and then became the chairman of  Restaurant Brands International, Canada following the 2014 merger of Tim Hortons and Burger King.

While Canadian soccer fans eagerly await news of which teams will kickoff in 2019, CPL employee Roy Nasrallah was visiting Calgary Foothills Wednesday as he begins a 30-day cross-country road trip. Nasrallah is the former marketing director of Nike Middle East.