Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club 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 March 18, 2009, and began play in 2011 as the 17th team to enter Major League Soccer while replacing the USSF Division 2 team of the same name in the city, making them a phoenix club and the third to carry the Whitecaps name. The club has been owned and managed by the same group since their USSF days. In the 2012 season, the team became the first Canadian team to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Whitecaps have won three Canadian Championships, in 2015, 2022 and 2023. Vancouver also competes against longtime Pacific Northwest rivals Seattle and Portland in the Cascadia Cup, a fan-created trophy awarded based on MLS regular season results. Notable former Whitecaps players include former American international Jay DeMerit, the club's first player and captain; Camilo Sanvezzo, the 2013 MLS Golden Boot winner; and current Canadian international Alphonso Davies, a homegrown player. History An ownership group in Vancouver were granted the seventeenth Major League Soccer franchise on March 18, 2009, by MLS Commissioner Don Garber. While no name was provided at the Vancouver announcement, over a year later the club confirmed it would keep the Whitecaps name. The team sold the first 5,000 season ticket deposits 48 hours after they became available to the public. Remaining season tickets were made available to season ticket holders for the USSF 2 Whitecaps before becoming available to non-season ticket holders.