Brantford Galaxy Soccer Club was a semi-professional Canadian
soccer
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
club based in
Brantford,
Ontario, Canada, with their home venue located in
Hamilton, Ontario at the Heritage Field Turf. The club competes in the
Canadian Soccer League
The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...
, a league not sanctioned by a
FIFA
FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...
-recognized body. The Galaxy were formed in 2010 as an expansion franchise. In their first season Brantford recorded a milestone by becoming the first expansion franchise in CSL history to claim a
CSL Championship in their debut season. After their championship season the club faced several problems ranging from change of ownership, to philosophical differences within team management, and to a lack of commitment from feeder clubs resulting in the team missing the postseason in two straight years.
The ownership in 2013 decided to take a year of absence in order to regroup. In late 2014, former head coach Tomo Dančetović spearheaded the relaunching of the club by acquiring the name and franchise rights from the old ownership, and the Galaxy returned to the league to participate in the 2015 season. In 2021, they merged with
Hamilton City SC
Hamilton City 1 Soccer Club was a Canadian soccer team founded in 2016 that played in the Canadian Soccer League, and played their home games at Cardinal Newman Secondary School multi-sport athletic field in the community of Stoney Creek, Hamilt ...
to form
BGH City FC.
History
Brantford Galaxy SC was announced as an expansion franchise in the Canadian Soccer League's
2010 season on February 24, 2010. Bosko Borjan, Gerry Crnic along with European investors were primarily responsible for returning professional soccer to the city since the 1930s/1940s where several Brantford clubs competed in the
Canadian National Soccer League. Lions Park located at Steve Brown Sports Complex was announced as the Galaxy's home venue after receiving CSL approval.
Lazo Džepina
Lazo Džepina (; born October 27, 1966) is a Croatian Serb businessman, football manager, and former player.
His playing career initially began with Dinara, and later in the First League of FR Yugoslavia with Rad. He received his first piece of si ...
was appointed the club's first head coach and assembled a roster with a majority of imports from Europe with several local talent. The notable acquisitions for the 2010 season were
Miodrag Anđelković
Miodrag Anđelković (Serbian Cyrillic: Миодраг Анђелковић; born 7 February 1977) is a Serbian former professional footballer who played as a striker, and a football manager.
A journeyman, Anđelković represented 21 clubs from ...
,
Ranko Golijanin
Ranko Golijanin ( sr-Cyrl, Ранко Голијанин; born January 18, 1975) is a retired professional Association football, footballer who played in the First League of FR Yugoslavia, Segunda División, USL A-League, and the Canadian Soccer L ...
,
Patrick Gerhardt,
Patryk Misik,
Haris Fazlagić
Haris Fazlagić (born April 5, 1987) is a former Bosnian-Herzegovinian footballer who played as a midfielder.
Club career
Early career
Fazlagić played at the youth level with Zeljeznicar.
In late 2010, he played abroad in the Canadian So ...
,
Nenad Begović
Nenad Begović (; born January 6, 1980) is a Serbian former football player who played in the First League of Serbia and Montenegro, Second League of Serbia and Montenegro, Ligue 1, Kazakhstan Premier League, Russian Premier League, Azerbaijan Pre ...
,
Dražen Gović
Dražen Gović (29 April 1981 – 16 February 2022) was a Croatian professional footballer who played as a midfielder.
Club career
Gović began his career in 2000 with NK Mosor in the Croatian Second Football League. In 2002, he played in th ...
,
Zoran Roglić, Drazen Vukovic, and Marco Giusti was named the club captain.
Brantford made their debut on May 16, 2010 in a well-attended crowd against
Portugal FC which resulted in a 3-3 draw with goals coming from Golijanin, Andelkovic, and Vukovic. Brantford clinched a postseason berth by finishing seventh in the overall standings and recording the third best offensive record. In the first round of the playoffs their opponents were the
Serbian White Eagles, and advanced to the semi-finals by defeating the White Eagles by a score of 1-0 with the lone goal from Zvonko Bakula. In the second round the Galaxy faced Portugal FC and won the match by a score of 5-3 with Golijanin recording a hat trick, and the rest coming from Andelkovic, and Kyle Grootenboer. In the
CSL Championship final at the
Centennial Park Stadium in
Toronto, the club faced
Hamilton Croatia, and with goals coming from Fazlagic, and Golijanin the Galaxy claimed their first championship by a score of 3-0. At the conclusion of the season, Jesse Castillo received the CSL Reserve Division Goalkeeper of the Year award.

In preparations for the 2011 season, Brantford's feeder club the Brantford Inter-City Soccer club announced that it will change its name to the Brantford Galaxy Youth Soccer Club in an effort to further align it with the CSL club. After the departure of several key players, head coach Džepina brought in imports from the former Yugoslavian countries, and appointed Golijanin as the team captain. His notable signings included Chilean international
Cristián Gómez,
Rade Novković,
Dalibor Mitrović,
Saša Vidović,
Vladimir Markotić
Vladimir Markotić (born June 17, 1980) is a Croats of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Croat retired Goalkeeper (association football), goalkeeper who played in the Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatian First Football League, Second ...
, and
Ferid Idrizovic. On July 9, 2011, after a string of poor performances, Džepina was sacked as head coach to be replaced by assistant coach Tomo Dančetović. Dančetović managed to achieve better results, but unfortunately the Galaxy failed to clinch the final postseason berth by finishing ninth in the overall standings.
The following season, Brantford saw a change in the ownership with Borjan and Crnic becoming sole owners after losing their European backers resulting in a smaller budget, and further reliance on community support. The organization hired the services of Ron Davidson a CSL Coach of the Year with Hamilton Croatia in 2010. Davidson reduced the amount of European imports by signing several local and
Greater Toronto Area
The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the City of Toronto and the regional municipalities of Durham, Halton, Peel, and York. In total, the region contains 25 urban, suburban, and rural municipalities. The Greater T ...
players. The notable additions to the roster were
Dave Simpson,
Preston Corporal
Preston Corporal (born March 9, 1987) is a Liberian former footballer who played in the Liberian Premier League, Malaysian Super League, National Football League, National Premier League, and the Canadian Soccer League.
Playing career
Corporal ...
,
Logan Alexander
Logan Blake Alexander (born June 10, 1986) is a Bermudian international footballer who played in the Bermudian Premier Division, Major Indoor Soccer League, USL Premier Development League, and the Canadian Soccer League.
Club career
Alexander ...
,
Jeremy Shepherd
Jeremy Shepherd (born April 8, 1985) is a Canadian former soccer player who played as a forward.
Club career
Youth career
Shepherd began playing at the youth level with the Toronto Lynx Jrs in their inaugural season in the Super Y-League in ...
, Melford James Jr, and Damion Scott. Midway through the season, Davidson managed an 8-3 record and a fourth-place position, but despite his impressive run he was sacked from his position due to ideological differences with the club's administration. In protest to the dismissal, the Galaxy lost eight players who were in solidarity with Davidson. Tomo Dančetović was once more appointed to the position on an interim basis with Golijanin returning to serve as assistant coach. Disaster struck Brantford as they lost seven of their remaining matches and tied one and failed for the second straight season in securing a postseason berth by finishing thirteenth in the standings.
On April 1, 2013, Brantford announced a year of absence in order to regroup. On December 30, 2014, with Brantford's franchise rights about to expire Tomo Dančetović assisted with volunteers Andrew Pilkington and Jim Turnbull acquired the name and franchise rights from the old ownership and reinstated the club for the 2015 season. Dančetović brought in several imports from Europe and domestic players which included
Luka Bešenić,
Haris Redžepi,
Stefan Vukovic
Stefan Vukovic (born March 18, 1993) is a Canadian former soccer player and assistant coach for Hamilton City SC in the Canadian Soccer League.
Career Club career
Vukovic began his career in 2009 with the Serbian White Eagles of the Canadian Soc ...
,
Zdenko Jurčević,
Dejan Ristić
Dejan Ristić ( sr-cyr, Дејан Ристић; born 6 March 1978) is a Serbian football midfielder who played as a midfielder.
Career
Ristić began his career in 2001 with FK Zvezdara in the Second League of FR Yugoslavia. During his time in ...
,
Aleksa Marković, and
Boris Miličić
Boris Miličić (Serbian Cyrillic: Борис Миличић; born April 4, 1979) is a Serbian footballer who plays with Brantford Galaxy in the Canadian Soccer League.
Playing career
Miličić played with FK Mladost Apatin, FK Hajduk Kula, FK ...
. On October 4, 2015, the Galaxy faced
Milton SC the final match of the season. The game was significant because the victor would secure the final postseason berth, unfortunately for Brantford they suffered a 4-3 defeat. At the CSL awards banquet, Brantford's reserve team won several awards like Nikola Miokovic winning the CSL Golden Boot, Arsenije Japalak the MVP, Namanjar Sudar the Defender of the Year, and Zach Kingma with the Rookie of the Year award.
In preparations for the 2016 season, Dančetović retained the majority of the roster with
Bojan Stepanović,
Krum Bibishkov, and
Nenad Nikolić as the notable additions to the roster. Throughout the regular season, Brantford clinched their first postseason berth since the 2010 season by finishing seventh in the standings. Their opponents in the playoffs were
FC Ukraine United, but were eliminated by a score of 3–0.
Ahead of the 2021 season, they merged with
Hamilton City SC
Hamilton City 1 Soccer Club was a Canadian soccer team founded in 2016 that played in the Canadian Soccer League, and played their home games at Cardinal Newman Secondary School multi-sport athletic field in the community of Stoney Creek, Hamilt ...
to form
BGH City FC.
Players
First Division roster
Head coaches
Honours
*
Givova CSL Championship: 1
**
2010
File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...
Seasons
See also
*
2018 Brantford Galaxy season
*
2017 Brantford Galaxy season
References
External links
*
{{Ontario Sports
Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) teams
Association football clubs established in 2010
Soccer clubs in Ontario
Sport in Brantford
2010 establishments in Ontario