League1 British Columbia

League1 British Columbia (L1BC) is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in British Columbia, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the BC Soccer Association as a Division III Pro-Am league in the Canadian soccer league system.

League1 British Columbia

Organising body	BC Soccer Association
Founded	October 5, 2021; 3 years ago (2021-10-05)
First season	2022
Country	Canada
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of clubs	9 (men's) 9 (women's)
Level on pyramid	3
Domestic cup(s)	Canadian Championship (men) Interprovincial Championship (women)
Current champions	Langley United (men) Altitude FC (women) (2025)
Current Juan de Fuca Plate	Altitude FC (2025)
Most championships	TSS Rovers FC (2, men), Vancouver Whitecaps Girls Elite (3, women)
Most Juan de Fuca Plates	Whitecaps FC Academy (3)
Broadcaster(s)	Telus TV
Website	league1bc.ca
Current: 2025 League1 BC season

In the Canadian soccer league system, the men's division is behind the Canadian Premier League (CPL). It is part of League1 Canada, the national third tier with regional division, with L1BC equaivalent to Ligue1 Québec (L1QC), League1 Ontario (L1ON), and League1 Alberta (L1AB). The men's league champion qualifies for the Canadian Championship, the domestic cup championship, for the following season.

The semi-professional league was created to fill in the gap between the top amateur leagues in the province, such as the Pacific Coast Soccer League, Fraser Valley Soccer League, Vancouver Island Soccer League and Vancouver Metro Soccer League, with the professional top tier Canadian Premier League.^[1][2]

History

BC Soccer originally looked into the possibility of starting a "Regional Tier 3" league in their 2016 Strategic Plan,^[3] with the goal of beginning in 2018 with eight teams.^[4] However, nothing came to fruition due to insufficient interest from clubs.^[5][6] In June 2019, they announced their intention to begin play in 2021 with at least six clubs.^[7] Teams would need to commit for three years minimum and field teams in both the male and female divisions.^[5] The proposed league would be open to professional clubs fielding reserve sides, provided they are not branded with "Reserves" or "U-23" in their team name.^[8][9]

In January 2021, the league was rumoured to be launching later that year with six or eight teams, including a development team from the Major League Soccer club Vancouver Whitecaps FC.^[10] On October 5, 2021, the league was officially announced by BC Soccer to begin play in May 2022.^[11][12] The inaugural league began on May 22, with the Championship Final occurring on August 1 (British Columbia Day), with seven clubs participating in the first season.^[13][14] It was announced that with the creation of the league, the Juan de Fuca Plate, which was previously awarded to the top BC-based Premier Development League team in head-to-head matches, would now be awarded to the League1 BC club that accrued the greatest number of points across both the men's and women's divisions in an aggregate table.^[15][16] In addition, a cedar trophy was created to be awarded to both the men's and women's division champions.^[17] In November 2022, it was confirmed that the league winner would qualify for the following season's Canadian Championship, the national cup tournament.^[18] For the 2023 season, the league announced its first expansion club (Harbourside FC) bringing the league up to eight clubs.^[19]

On December 1, 2023, Canadian Soccer Business acquired L1BC from BC Soccer. CSB have owned League1 Ontario since 2018 and now oversee the day-to-day operations of both leagues.^[20] For the 2024 season, another expansion club joined, however, two original clubs withdrew from the league, bringing the total back to seven. For 2025, two additional clubs joined, bringing the league to nine clubs.^[21]

Competition format

The L1BC regular season lasts approximately four months, from early April to late July. Teams play each other team home and away for a total of 16 matches in 2025. The regular season champion and runner-up advance to a single match final where the winner is crowned finals champion.

Results

By year

League1 BC trophy winners

Season	Teams	Men's division		Women's division		Juan de Fuca Plate
		League champions	Regular season winner	League champions	Regular season winner
2022	7	TSS Rovers FC	Varsity FC	Whitecaps FC Girls Elite	Varsity FC	Varsity FC
2023	8	Whitecaps FC Academy	Victoria Highlanders FC	Whitecaps FC Girls Elite	Whitecaps FC Girls Elite	Whitecaps FC Academy
2024	7	TSS Rovers FC	TSS Rovers FC	Whitecaps FC Girls Elite	Whitecaps FC Girls Elite	Whitecaps FC Academy
2025	9	Langley United		Altitude FC		Altitude FC

By club

Titles won by L1BC clubs

Club	Combined				Men			Women
	LC	RS	IP	Total	LC	RS	Total	LC	RS	IP	Total
Whitecaps FC Academy	4	2	1	7	1	–	1	3	2	1	6
Varsity FC	–	2	–	2	–	1	1	–	1	–	1
TSS Rovers FC	2	1	–	3	2	1	3	–	–	–	–
Victoria Highlanders FC	–	1	–	1	–	1	1	–	–	–	–

Note: This table only includes titles within the League1 Canada system.

Clubs

Current teams

Nine teams are members of the league, of which six are based in Greater Vancouver, one on Vancouver Island, and one in the province's interior. All teams compete in both the men's and women's divisions of the league.^[22]

Team	City	Stadium	First season
Altitude FC	North Vancouver	Kinsmen Field South	2022
Burnaby FC	Burnaby	Burnaby Lake Sports Complex West	2024
Evolution FC	Coquitlam	Percy Perry Stadium	2025
Langley United	Langley	Willoughby Community Park	2025
Kamloops United FC[a]	Kamloops	Hillside Stadium	2022
Nanaimo United FC[b]	Nanaimo	Nanaimo District Secondary School	2023
TSS Rovers FC	Burnaby	Swangard Stadium	2022
Unity FC	Surrey	Cloverdale Athletic Park	2022
Whitecaps FC Academy	Vancouver (UBC Campus)[c]	Thunderbird Stadium	2022

1. Kamloops United FC was known as Rivers FC from 2022 to 2024
2. Nanaimo United FC was known as Harbourside FC from 2023 to 2024
3. Based on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The campus is part of the unincorporated Metro Vancouver Electoral Area A and is located just west of the City of Vancouver proper.

Nanaimo

Kamloops

Metro Vancouver

Location of teams for the 2025 League1 BC season.
Current teams
See Metro Vancouver inset

Whitecaps

TSS Rovers

Altitude

Burnaby FC

Evolution

Langley

Unity

Location of Men's Division teams in Metro Vancouver for the 2025 League1 British Columbia season.
Current team

Timeline

Former teams

Team	City	Stadium	First season	Last season
Nautsa’mawt FC[a]	UBC Campus[b]	Thunderbird Stadium	2022	2023
Victoria Highlanders FC	Saanich	Centennial Stadium	2022	2023

1. Nautsa’mawt FC was known as Varsity FC in 2022
2. Based on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The campus is part of the unincorporated Metro Vancouver Electoral Area A and is located just west of the City of Vancouver proper.

L1BC clubs in other competitions

Men Season Club Competition Result Record 2022 No competition held 2023 TSS Rovers FC Canadian Championship Quarter-finals 1–0–1 2024 TSS Rovers FC[a] Canadian Championship Preliminary round 0–1–0 2025 TSS Rovers FC Canadian Championship Preliminary round 0–0–1 2026 Langley United Canadian Championship TBD – Victoria Highlanders FC originally qualified but withdrew before the tournament began.

Women Season Club Competition Result Record 2022 Varsity FC Interprovincial Championship 4th 0–1–1[a] 2023 Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Blue Stars/FIFA Youth Cup W 1–3–1[b] Inter-provincial Championship W 2–0–0 Unity FC Inter-provincial Championship 3rd 1–0–1 2024 Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Inter-provincial Championship W 1–1–0[c] The 1 draw was a penalty shoot-out loss. The 3 draws include 2 penalty shoot-out wins in the knockout stages. The 1 draw was a penalty shoot-out win.

See also

• Canada portal
• Soccer portal

• Canadian soccer league system
• League1 Canada