An Edmonton soccer coach pleaded guilty to fraud and forgery on Friday for taking more than $37,000 from his team meant to pay for an international tournament. Randy Knodel was the head coach of the Edmonton Selects Football Club from September 2022 and February 2025. According to court documents, Knodel suggested the team fundraise to compete in the Las Vegas Mayor’s Cup from Feb. 15-17, 2025, shortly after taking over the team. The team spent the next two-and-a-half years fundraising, including bottle drives, selling chocolates, pub nights, and contributions from parents. Money from the fundraising events went into an account controlled by Knodel and team manager Lauren Scorgie. The documents show Knodel volunteered to oversee the bookings and major purchases from the trips, saying he would use his credit card and have the team reimburse him. Fake airline receipt and flight schedule On Nov. 28, 2024, Knodel texted Scourgie a document he said was a receipt from Flair Airlines, saying he had paid $15,000 as a deposit for flights for the team. According to the agreed statement of facts, that document was a forgery and Knodel had not paid any money to Flair Airlines. Between July 19, 2024, and Feb. 1, 2025, Knodel deposited two cheques drawn from the team’s account and made nine e-transfers from the account to himself, court documents show. Knodel told Scorgie and other team management members that the money was to reimburse the expenses he had laid out for plane tickets, a van rental, and tournament fees, the agreed statement of facts says. The dates and amounts of the cheques and transfers were as follows: According to the agreed statement of facts, the total amount of money taken from the team account by Knodel was $37,135.12. In January and early February of 2025 Scorgie and Knodel had several text exchanges about the tournament that are detailed in the agreed statement of facts. On Jan. 22, Knodel told Scourgie that he needed an extra day to get the team’s passport information to Flair. On Jan. 28, Scorgie sent a message to Knodel asking him to confirm that the team was properly registered for the tournament, as someone had found a document online that didn’t list the team’s participation. Knodel responded, “Yes I did. We are.” On Feb. 2, Scorgie asked Knodel what the flight schedule was so she could distribute it to parents. Knodel responded the next day with flight times, despite the fact that no flights had been booked. Ultimately, the agreed statement of facts says Knodel had not bought any plane tickets, rented any vans, or paid any tournament fees, but had taken $37,135.12 from the team for himself. Selects win gold in Las Vegas Scorgie spoke to CTV News Edmonton after Knodel’s guilty plea on Friday. “We’re really relieved as a team by the guilty plea today. Obviously, we feel that that’s a good step forward,” she said. “We’re just hoping his sentencing sends a clear message that crimes against children and families won’t be tolerated.” Scorgie, who is a parent of a child on the team, said it’s hard to describe how heartbroken the players were when they thought they wouldn’t be able to play in the tournament. “It was really hard to explain to them because they’re 10-year-old kids, and they’ve been looking forward to this,” she said. “They were out there pounding pavement on the streets, selling chocolates, bottle drives, pub nights. So for them, it was devastating.” After it became clear that there was not enough money left for the team to participate in the tournament, Scorgie says they turned to Edmontonians, launching a GoFundMe. “The Edmonton community stepped up huge. I think they really felt bad for the kids, and they just backed us up, jumped on board,” she said. The GoFundMe raised enough for the team to go to the October version of the tournament, which the Selects won. “They went undefeated. Their hearts were just all in it, all that extra work and fundraising and the disappointment of everything. They really were enamored by the Edmonton community stepping up for them, and they just wanted to bring home the gold for everybody. So they did that. It was really cool.” Scorgie says there are a lot of scouts that attend the Las Vegas tournament, so it was a good opportunity for the young players to get exposure, but she says the kids also learned an unplanned lesson. “They’ve taken away a sense of stick whatever happens in life. Find your group. Stick together, persevere forward, don’t just look at the negatives of what happened. How can you move forward? How can you be better? And just take away the goods from those situations.” A sentencing hearing for Knodel will be held in February. With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson
