Jeyhan Bhindi On The Canadian Premier League And Coaching In The US | OneFootball

It has been a stellar start to life for Union Omaha. Having won the domestic double in their first-ever full season in 2021, Omaha finished atop the 2023 USL League One standings, only to lose on penalties to Charlotte Independence in the semifinals. 2024 would see them win both the Shield and the Championship, establishing themselves once again as the league’s top dogs. It’s precisely these superb performances which convinced Jeyhan Bhindi to make the move south and join Omaha in January.

Born in Ottawa, Canada, to a Turkish mother and a Ugandan father, Bhindi began playing soccer in a men’s amateur league before eventually hanging up his boots at 21 and pursuing his coaching dreams. He split his time between working his 9-5 HVAC job with working on a volunteer basis for Ottawa Fury, serving on the coaching staff for the boys’ U-17 and U-19 sides as well as the girls’ U-19 side, as well as an interim video analyst/opposition scout for the first team. He departed in 2017 to work as a remote video analyst for USL side Austin Bold, before deciding to start a new career in the burgeoning Canadian Premier League with FC Edmonton. After one year in Edmonton as an assistant coach/video analyst, Bhindi made the move to Winnipeg, where he spent three seasons as an assistant coach and video analyst for Valour, before deciding to head south of the border to join Union Omaha.

“There were talks of this Canadian Premier League starting to form, and in 2019, the league started when I was doing video analysis for USL side Austin Bold. I was just waiting for my chance to get into the Canadian Premier League, and still coaching in my city,” Bhindi tells WFi.

“In 2021, I got my first assistant coaching job in the Canadian Premier League through a coach who went to Edmonton, and who wanted to build an all-Canadian staff. He heard about me through other people, and we started to speak, and he said, ‘Jay, I would like you to join my staff.’ I was 29, and that was my first professional assistant coaching role in the Canadian Premier League, so I stayed in Edmonton for one season.

“At the end of the season, a coach I worked for at Ottawa [Philip Dos Santos], who I became very close with, got a head coaching job at Valour and called me, saying: ‘Jay, I’m looking to bring one of my own people, and you know the league. The club has allowed me to bring one staff member, and I would like to bring you.’ He was a big mentor for me, life-wise, not just coaching-wise, so I didn’t think twice, I went right away.”

But whilst Bhindi has remained put in North America for his entire life, he hasn’t locked himself away from the rest of the world. He’s conducted coaching internships with Turkish clubs Manisaspor, Beşiktaş, Fenerbahçe and Fatih Karagümrük, where he has utilized his fluency in Turkish, whilst he’s also completed internships with Portuguese clubs Académica de Coimbra, Porto, and Vitória F.C. And after receiving a UEFA A License, a UEFA B License, and a UEFA C License, he has cleared the hurdles for a potential move to Europe.

“I did four years and 120 games in the Canadian Premier League, and throughout that whole journey, I was going through my UEFA coaching licenses, because I wanted to go down that stream since it’s globally recognized. I wanted to do something that I could go anywhere in the world, and they’ll know what it is and will respect it, because it’s the highest regard. I just finished completing my UEFA licenses at the end of 2024. I wanted to expand my horizons again and try something new. I had already worked with Philip for three years in Winnipeg and two in Ottawa, so I wanted to get out of my comfort zone and work with a different head coach.”

Today, Bhindi is applying his coaching skills in Omaha under the watchful eye of interim coach Vincenzo Candela. At 34 years of age, he is following in the footsteps of many other Canadians like Cyle Larin and Tesho Akindele, who made a name for themselves in American soccer, and he is seeking the first trophy of his professional coaching career.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work under four different head coaches in my career. All have different leadership styles, different ways of coaching, and this has helped me grow as a coach. This opportunity came in Omaha, Nebraska, with the USL Champions, who were looking for an experienced assistant coach, someone different. I had a lot of conversations with the head coach around Christmas time and New Year’s, and he liked what I could bring to the table. In 2025, here I am as an assistant coach in the U.S. I wanted to get into the U.S. market because it’s growing like crazy and I wanted to expand my network, show who I am and what I bring as a coach, and for people to get to know me.”