Pacific Football Club is a Canadian professional

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

Greater Victoria Greater Victoria (also known as the Greater Victoria Region) is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the southern tip of Vancouver Island. It is usually defined as the thirteen municipalities of the Capital Regional District (CRD) ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The club competes in the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

, playing home matches at Starlight Stadium located in Langford.

History

On May 5, 2018, "Port City FC" was one of four groups accepted by the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ...

for professional club membership, along with groups that would become

Cavalry FC Cavalry Football Club, is a Canadian professional soccer club based in the Calgary metropolitan region of Alberta. The club competes at the top of the Canadian soccer league system in the Canadian Premier League, and plays their home matches a ...

HFX Wanderers HFX Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as HFX Wanderers, and spoken as Halifax Wanderers, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of the Canadian soccer le ...

, and York9. Port City was the only one of the four that was not identified with a specific city, and represented an as-of-yet undetermined location in British Columbia. The group was expected to launch a team in either

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, British Columbia. Former professional player

Rob Friend Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

, who grew up in British Columbia, was pictured as a representative of the region. On June 1, the

granted the Port City ownership group a club on

Vancouver Island Vancouver Island is an island in the northeastern Pacific Ocean and part of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of British Columbia. The island is in length, in width at its widest point, and in total area, while are o ...

. Pacific FC was officially unveiled on July 20 as the seventh team to join the

. As well as confirming its place in the league for the 2019 launch season, the club also revealed its crest, colours and branding. Former

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international

Michael Silberbauer Michael Silberbauer (born 7 July 1981) is a Danish football manager and former professional player. He is currently the manager of FC Utrecht in the Dutch Eredivisie. Silberbauer played more than a 100 games for each Danish club Aalborg BK an ...

was announced as the first head coach on August 20. They played their first competitive game on April 28, 2019, defeating visitors

1–0 with Hendrik Starostzik scoring the only goal and

Mark Village Mark Village (born November 25, 1991) is a Canadian soccer coach and former player who currently serves as the goalkeepers coach for Vancouver FC in the Canadian Premier League. Early life Village played youth soccer with the Abbotsford Marine ...

keeping a clean sheet. The club parted ways with Silberbauer on October 18, 2019, and announced then-assistant coach James Merriman as interim head coach. On August 26, 2021, they were matched against

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

opposition for the first time, being drawn against provincial opponents

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...

in the quarterfinals of the Canadian Championship. Although underdogs, they defeated the Whitecaps 4–3, becoming the second CPL club to eliminate an MLS club in the competition. On December 5, Pacific FC won its first Canadian Premier League title after defeating defending champions

Forge FC Forge FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadian soccer. The club plays its home matches at Tim Hortons Field. Forge FC joined the CPL in 2019 as ...

1–0 in the 2021 CPL Final at

Tim Hortons Field Tim Hortons Field, nicknamed "The Donut Box", is a multi-purpose stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Built as a replacement for Ivor Wynne Stadium, Tim Hortons Field is primarily used for Canadian football and association fo ...

. In doing so they became the second team to have been crowned Canadian Premier League champions.

Stadium

The club plays its home games at Starlight Stadium. The city of Langford planned to increase the capacity from 1,718 to 8,000, but a

utility pole A utility pole is a column or post typically made out of wood used to support overhead power lines and various other public utilities, such as electrical cable, optical fiber, fiber optic cable, and related equipment such as Distribution transfor ...

located on the north side of the stadium has prevented any upgrades on that side. By extending the existing south stand and adding seating behind both goals as well as new standing room on the north side, the capacity was increased to 6,200 for the 2019 season.

Crest and colours

The club's branding is designed to represent

. The team's crest is the shape of a

Douglas fir The Douglas fir (''Pseudotsuga menziesii'') is an evergreen conifer species in the pine family, Pinaceae. It is native to western North America and is also known as Douglas-fir, Douglas spruce, Oregon pine, and Columbian pine. There are three va ...

, a tree native to Vancouver Island, split into two segments, with the right side forming the shape of the island. The tree is bordered by the ocean and includes a single chevron to represent a wave of the ocean and a 'V' that can stand for Victoria, victory and Vancouver Island. The secondary logo is a

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of diff ...

with a

trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...

, meant to represent the strength and courage of the island, as well as the weather attributed to the Pacific Ocean. The logo also includes the motto of the coat of arms of the city of Victoria, which is the Latin phrase ''Semper Liber'', which translates to "Forever Free". The official club colours are purple, teal, and white (branded by the club as "starfish purple", "lagoon blue", and "lighthouse white"). These colours symbolize the native ''

Pisaster ochraceus ''Pisaster ochraceus'', generally known as the purple sea star, ochre sea star, or ochre starfish, is a common seastar found among the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Identified as a keystone species, ''P. ochraceus'' is considered an important indi ...

'' sea star, the Pacific Ocean, and the region's lighthouses.

Club culture

Supporters

The first supporters group to show support for a Vancouver Island team to join the Canadian Premier League was the Lake Side Buoys, an existing group who followed the

Victoria Highlanders Victoria Highlanders FC is a Canadian soccer team based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The club was founded in 2008 and currently play in the League1 British Columbia. The team had played in the American USL League Two from 2009 to 20 ...

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

. A second supporters group, called Torcida Oranizada Pacific (TOP) has also emerged.

Rivalries

Cavalry FC–Pacific FC rivalry Pacific FC met

for the first time in the

in the final fixture of the 2019 Spring Season, winning 3–1 at

Westhills Stadium Starlight Stadium (formerly Westhills Stadium) is a 6,000 seat multi-purpose stadium in Langford, British Columbia, Canada. It is used by Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League for soccer, by Rugby Canada for various events, and by the Wests ...

in an intense match which saw three players sent-off. Pacific FC and Cavalry FC's rivalry intensified during the 2021 season where they met eight times across three Canadian competitions (

, CPL Playoffs, and the Canadian Championship). This rivalry is also fueled by a pre-existing cultural rivalry between each team's respective province:

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

and

Honours

**Champions:

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Players and staff

Roster

Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth.

Out on loan

Staff

Head coaches

Club captains

Team records

Year-by-year

1. Average attendance include statistics from league matches only.
2. Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in league season, league playoffs, Canadian Championship,

CONCACAF League The CONCACAF League was an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF as its second-tier continental competition. It was announced on 8 May 2017. The competition uses a knockout cup format with each round having two le ...

, and other competitive continental matches.

International competition

: ''Scores and results list Pacific FC's goal tally first.''

Player records

Most career goals

Note: Bold indicates active player

Most career appearances

Note: Bold indicates active player

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = background:#00b7bd; color:#ffffff; border: 2px solid #582c83; , list1 = {{Pacific FC squad {{Canadian Premier League {{British Columbia Sports {{Victoria Sports {{Soccer in Victoria Association football clubs established in 2018 Canadian Premier League teams Sports teams in Victoria, British Columbia Soccer clubs in British Columbia 2018 establishments in British Columbia