Metro Vancouver's newest sports team kicks off this April
Metro Vancouver’s newest soccer team is ready for kickoff.
Vancouver FC, the Canadian Premier League’s latest expansion club, will play their inaugural match on April 14 when they visit Starlight Stadium in Langford to face 2021 CPL Champion Pacific FC.
The club, which joins the eight-team CPL, debuted its new logo and identity in November, featuring a V-shape design evoking a bald eagle, as the BC South Coast is home to the largest gathering spot for the animal in the world.
It’s here!!! The one we’ve been waiting for.
Our inaugural match, the rivalry begins!
đź—“ April 14th 2023
🏟 Starlight Stadium, Van Isle
⚽️ Pacific FC#LetsGo #DarkSide #VancouverFC pic.twitter.com/C5AXe5N2mA— Vancouver Football Club (@vanfootballclub) January 27, 2023
While the name may say Vancouver, the club will play its home matches at Willoughby Community Park in Langley, near the Langley Events Centre and home to the Vancouver Giants.
The opening match will be the first in the league’s newest rivalry, with several players and coaches taking the short ferry ride to join Vancouver FC after spending years with Pacific FC near Victoria.
Former Iranian National Team head coach Afshin Ghotbi is at the helm of Vancouver’s first season. The experienced manager will dive into Canadian soccer for the first time in his lengthy career. So far, the club has signed eight players, including former Pacific FC goalkeeper Callum Irving.
“It’s huge for Canadian soccer to have these games between teams that are in close proximity to one another,” Irving told CanPL.ca. “It [makes] fan travel much easier so you can have great away sections supporting the teams. It’s just a sense of pride of the line, I think you see it throughout world football, teams from the same area. There’s just something a little bit more special about those matches.”
The CPL is the top level of men’s soccer in Canada. It is FIFA’s sanctioned “tier one” league, putting the eight-team circuit on the same plain as England’s Premier League, Germany’s Bundesliga, and the USA’s Major League Soccer.
Outside of the CPL, the club will play in the Canadian Championship, potentially taking on the likes of Toronto FC, CF Montreal, and the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The full CPL schedule will be released on January 30.
Canadian Premier League Opening Weekend:
Friday, April 14: Vancouver FC at Pacific FC
Saturday, April 15: HFX Wanderers at Atletico Ottawa
Saturday, April 15: Cavalry FC (Calgary) at Forge (Hamilton)
Sunday, April 16: Valour FC (Winnipeg) at York United (Toronto)
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