Countdown to Kickoff 2025: Vancouver Whitecaps FC

The /r/MLS subreddit has been running a series of posts about the “Countdown to Kickoff”, giving overviews of a MLS team’s previous season and their upcoming season. The MLS season just kicked off over the weekend and I noticed that no one had written one about the team I support, the Vancouver Whitecaps, so I took it upon myself to write one!

Basic info:

Full club name: Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Subreddit: r/WhitecapsFC

Location: Vancouver, BC Canada

Stadium: BC Place (22,120 for most games, expandable to 50,000+)

Head Coach: Jesper Sørensen (1st season)

Captain: Ryan Gauld

Owner: Jeff Mallett (Chairman), Greg Kerfoot, Steve Luczo, Steve Nash

Sporting Director: Axel Schuster

Reserve Team: Whitecaps FC 2

Kits:

• Primary: 2025 “The Peak”
• Secondary: 2024 “The 50”

Jersey Sponsor: Telus

Trophies:

• Canadian Championship (2015, 2022, 2023 and 2024)

Rivalries:

1. Cascadia Cup - A fan-created competition created in 2004 between the Vancouver Whitecaps, Portland Timbers, and Seattle Sounders. In the MLS era, it’s tied between Vancouver & Seattle for the most wins, seven each. Last year was a very tight race, with a tie on points and goal difference going down to. Goals are the deciding factor for Portland. This year’s Cascadia Cup is off to a great start, with the Whitecaps thrashing Portland 4-1 over the weekend. With Seattle & Vancouver only a few hour’s drive apart, they have a great away fan turnout - I’ll be down in Seattle for the September 27th match!
2. Canadian MLS Teams: Toronto FC & CF Montreal - Unlike most Western Conference teams, we have some guaranteed opposition in the Eastern Conference every year: Toronto and Montreal. Outside of MLS play, we can also face them in the Canadian Championship. We’ve won the Canadian Championship three years running so Toronto and Montreal are looking for any chance to take us down this year.
3. LAFC - A slowly budding rivalry! We’ve been knocked out of the playoffs by LAFC the last 2 years and played them in the Leagues Cup the previous year. When our former Goalkeeper Maxime Crépeau was with LAFC previously, the entire supporters section would boo whenever he picked up the ball. We’re desperately hoping to avoid LAFC in the first round of the playoffs this year.
4. Canadian Premier League Teams: Vancouver FC & Pacific FC - The Canadian version of the USL Championship has two teams in British Columbia, the same province as Vancouver. Confusingly, one is called Vancouver FC, despite playing in a city around 1 hour from BC Place called Langley. A Vancouver vs. Vancouver matchup hasn’t occurred yet in the Canadian Championship, but this may be the year! Pacific FC is located on Vancouver Island, a 1.5 hour ferry ride from Vancouver. We’ve faced them twice in the Canadian Championship, both 2023 and 2024. It’s our “Ferryside Derby”.
5. The Rest - We’ve got a chip on our shoulder from being generally forgotten by the greater MLS community. I’m unsure if it’s because we’re Canadian, the farthest Northwest team in MLS, we’ve always been a middle-of-the-pack team, or our name is last in every alphabetical list. We always feel we have something to prove against every team, particularly in the Western conference.

Current Roster

Predicted XIs

Primary Choice

Secondary Choice

Here’s a predicted lineup per GlassCityFC’s depth chart - plus some tweaks based on how we’ve played the last two games. He’s a prolific Whitecaps tweeter who has gotten many scoops and predicted/suggested a few signings, including Ryan Gauld. Sabbi & Nelson are the big unknown at the moment based on how well Nelson played on Sunday.

2024 Season in Review

• Final Standings: 8th in West, 14th overall, 13-8-13 record, 47 pts, 3 GD
• Playoffs: Wildcard vs. Portland (5-0), Round One exit to LAFC
• Attendance: 26,121

I didn’t write last year’s post, but many of their expectations were similar.

Last year, we made two big attacking signings: Fafa Picault and Damir Kreilach. Everyone expected Kreilach to make a difference on the team. Instead, he contributed almost nothing while Fafa Picault had the season of his career. Despite that, we’re stuck with Kreilach for another season while Fafa enjoys the sunshine in Miami.

Speaking of Miami, we had a home match against Inter Miami last season. It was the moment our front office had been waiting to sell as many season tickets and ticket bundles as possible. It worked! Our average home attendance went from 16,745 to 26,121!!! Then, when it came down to it, none of Messi & friends made the flight to Vancouver for a mid-week match on our challenging turf field. The front office handled it the best they could, but it was a rough week for the team.

It was a rollercoaster of a season. By the 6th round, we were 1st in the West, bounced around a bit, and ended up 4th in round 23. It looked like a top 4 finish was possible until we had a backslide for the last seven rounds of the season, ending up in 8th.

We had one big summer signing with Stuart Armstrong, who joined as a free-agent DP. He arrived out of fitness and had a very slow ramp-up period. We only got to see how competent he was for a few matches before we crashed out of the playoffs to LAFC.

We fired our coach in the off-season, lost one of our DPs, and our ownership group announced they were looking for a buyer for the team. It’s been eventful, to say the least.

Transfers Out:

• Ryan Raposo (DF) to Liaoning Tieren - A Canadian depth piece that served the Vancouver Whitecaps well. He had moments where he sparkled and showed lots of potential but never made it to our starting XI. He always had so much hustle and heart, never giving up on the ball. I’ll miss having him on the team.
• Alessandro Schöpf (MF) to Wolfsberger AC - One of the bigger whiffs by our recruitment over the last few years. Was on a large salary (for the Whitecaps, at least) and was never able to perform at the caliber we needed.
• Fafà Picault (FW) to Inter Miami CF - Sad to lose Fafa, but I hope he loves playing with Messi! He had a huge season with us, putting up career-best numbers, and fit perfectly into last year’s system.
• Joe Bendik (GK) to retirement - Only ever played half a match for us in a friendly against Wrexham. Was the backup to the backup to the backup. Won’t be missed.
• Levonte Johnson (FW) to Colorado Springs Switchbacks - Another Canadian depth piece that just never quite fit with the Whitecaps team. He didn’t have the finishing for an MLS-level team, and it was frustrating to watch play sometimes. The USL Championship seems like a great place for him to thrive.
• Déiber Caicedo (FW) to Atlético Junior - Caicedo spent 4 years with the Whitecaps, with 1 year of that on load to Atlético Junior, and he just never fully clicked with our system or team. He struggled for form and for starts with us and was never able to make that big of an impact. He seems to fit better at Atlético Junior, wishing him all the best.
• Stuart Armstrong (MF) to Sheffield Wednesday - The heartbreaking summer moment for Whitecaps fans, when it was announced that Stuart Armstrong was heading back to Europe. We had such high hopes for what the team could look like with Armstrong being fit and having great chemistry with Gauld. Sheffield Wednesday wanted him to help with their promotion push to the Premier League, which has not been going well - as of writing, they’re 12th in the Championship and well out of the playoff spots.

Transfers In:

• Jayden Nelson (FW) from Rosenborg - Nelson just had the game of his career on the weekend against Portland. 1g/3a outdoes his entire career contribution from his time at Toronto FC. Excited to see if he can keep this up and fit well with Gauld & White.
• Emmanuel Sabbi (FW) from Le Havre - If you had asked me 2 weeks ago who would be our most exciting signing of the year, I would have said Sabbi! Sadly, he’s been sidelined with an injury and has been outshone by Jayden Nelson. I’m looking forward to seeing how he works out once he’s fit.
• Adrian Zendejas (GK) from Skövde AIK - This one has been a bit of a head-scratcher. He takes up a senior roster spot while we already have a solid backup GK in Boehmer and have Max Anchor on our Whitecaps 2 roster if we’re really desperate. Boehmer was trusted in the Canadian Championship last year and ended up winning both the Best Young Canadian Player award and MVP of the tournament (George Gross Memorial Trophy). Hopefully he is on a low salary and is just a like for like replacement for Joe Bendik.
• Daniel Ríos (FW) from C.D. Guadalajara (Loan) - A proven striker with MLS experience to back up and challenge Brian White. That is precisely what we need, and I hope he means I won’t have to watch Damir Kreilach play too much for us this year.

Draft Picks

• Round 1 (15) - Tate Johnson from North Carolina Tar Heels, signed to a Generation Adidas contract
• Round 2 (45) - Nikola Djordjevic from Southern Methodist

Prognosis:

Last year was a mixed bag for us. At times, we looked like a team that could go the distance, but then it all fell apart dramatically.

A new coach, possible new owners, and a new DP or 2x U22? Anything could happen this year with the Whitecaps.

And with that, the three scenarios.

Best Case:

We win a Canadian Championship for the fourth year in a row. We make a massive summer signing. Gauld stays fit the entire year. We make it out of the Round of 16 in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. We make it out of the first round of the MLS playoffs by beating LAFC. Ryan Reynolds buys the Vancouver Whitecaps, and we get our “Welcome to Vancouver” docuseries.

Worst Case:

The Vancouver Whitecaps become the Las Vegas Whitecaps, and I’m forced to drive out to Langley to watch Vancouver FC play in the CPL. This would overshadow anything that could possibly happen on the pitch.

Reasonable Case:

A buyer for the Whitecaps is found who wants to keep them in Vancouver, and some stability returns to the club. We sneak into the MLS playoffs, probably by thrashing the Timbers in the play-in match again, but exit in the first round to LAFC. We’ll win a fourth Canadian Championship in a row against a very sad-looking Toronto FC side.

Concluding Remarks

This year could go in absolutely any direction for the Vancouver Whitecaps. A disappointing loss to Saprissa in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, followed by a trashing of Portland in the span of 4 days, personifies this perfectly.

Online Resources

Official Links: Website | Bluesky

Unofficial Links: The Third Sub | Cascadia Cup