Pacific FC to host team from Jamaica at Starlight Stadium in international tournament

The buzz keeps getting louder for Vancouver Island’s only professional soccer team.

After capturing its first league championship last year, Pacific FC will represent Canada in an international competition that offers a path to compete with some of North America's elite soccer teams.

"This is where we always wanted to be as a club, as an organization," said Pacific FC head coach James Merriman.

"We want to continue to be competitive and be here."

By winning the Canadian Premier League championship in 2021, the Langford-based team has qualified for the CONCACAF League – a competition that will pit them against champion clubs from Central America and the Caribbean. Teams that do well in the CONCACAF League qualify for the CONCACAF Champions League, which includes teams from Major League Soccer and Mexico's LigaMX.

"Fourty-one countries in the CONCACAF region, and all the top clubs will qualify into the CONCACAF Champions League," said Merriman. "We've qualified for preliminary rounds, so we need to win games to continue to advance."

For their first test, Pacific FC will take on the winners of the Jamaican National Premier League, Waterhouse FC.

"They’re doing well in their league right now, you know, respectively, so we need to prepare for them," said Merriman. "We're going to go in wanting to win the game and wanting to continue to advance and get maximum experience from the competition."

The opening round was announced Wednesday evening, and now Pacific FC will travel to Jamaica for the first leg of the two-game series before hosting Waterhouse FC at Starlight Stadium in Langford in the second leg.

"To bring this level of soccer to the stadium here, Starlight Stadium, is actually pretty amazing," said Langford Mayor Stew Young. "I'm excited about it and, you know, (it's) well deserved. They’re playing so well. You know, PFC, right now, they’re one of the top teams in Canada, still, and they are going to play the top team in Jamaica, so this will be a great event to see how well we do on the world stage."

Pacific FC played its first matches in the Canadian Premier League, just four years ago.

After winning the championship in 2021, the team from Langford defeated Vancouver Whitecaps, who play in MLS, last fall.

With all of this momentum, the island team hopes to be an inspiration for the next generation of players.

"We have first-team players going down and working with young players. We have a lot of young players at the matches here now in the stadium, and they come and see a game. That lights a fire and they have that desire to want to be on the field one day as well," said Merriman.

The CONCACAF League is a second-tier international competition. It features 22 teams from 10 countries. This year, Pacific FC is the only Canadian team in the competition.

A date has not been finalized for its matchup at Starlight Stadium against Waterhouse FC, but the game is expected to take place between Aug. 2 and 4.