Alvarez, Duke, Vrioni and Pearce will not be returning to CF Montreal

After a miserable season, CF Montreal is parting ways with Fernando Alvarez, Bryce Duke, Giacomo Vrioni and other players. (Peter McCabe, Christopher Katsarov, Graham Hughes/The Canadian Press)

Two days after ending a miserable Major League Soccer season with a 3-0 defeat to FC Cincinnati, relegating them to 13th place in the Eastern Conference standings, CF Montreal made several announcements regarding its roster.

The team, led by interim head coach Marco Donadel, announced that it has not exercised the option provided in the contracts of defender Fernando Alvarez, midfielder Bryce Duke and forward Giacomo Vrioni.

In addition, the Montreal club has negotiated an agreement to terminate defender Tom Pearce’s contract.

The Bleu-blanc-noir also announced that it has exercised the options defenders Brandan Craig and Luca Petrasso’s contracts, as well as the option in midfielder Matty Longstaff’s contract, for the 2026 season.

It has also granted a two-season contract extension to Quebec goalkeeper Sébastian Breza, which includes two-year options for 2028 and 2029.

For his part, Montreal native Alessandro Biello, who is currently on loan to the Halifax Wanderers until the end of the Canadian Premier League season, will learn his future with CF Montreal “upon his return from loan.”

Goalkeepers Breza, Emil Gazdov (on loan), Thomas Gillier and Jonathan Sirois, defenders Dawid Bugaj, Brandan Craig, Aleksandr Guboglo, Bode Hidalgo, Jahkeele Marshall-Rutty (on loan), Efrain Morales and Jalen Neal, midfielders Olger Escobar, Ivan Jaime, Fabian Herbers, Longstaff, Victor Loturi, Mahala Opoku, Samuel Piette, Dante Sealy and Hennadii Synchuk, as well as forwards Matias Coccaro (on loan), Owen Graham-Roache, Prince Owusu and Sunusi Ibrahim are all under contract with CF Montreal for the 2026 season.

CF Montreal will review its season on Tuesday and Wednesday at Saputo Stadium.

The players will be the first to appear on Tuesday, while Donadel and Senior Director of Recruitment and Sports Methodology Luca Saputo will speak with members of the media Wedensday.

The club will take the opportunity to present the Giuseppe Saputo Trophy, awarded to CF Montreal’s Most Valuable Player, the Defensive Player of the Year Trophy, and the Jason Di Tullio Trophy, awarded to the player who best embodies the spirit of “La Grinta” (passion and determination).

This report by The Canadian Press was first published in French on Oct. 20, 2025.