Vancouver Whitecaps FC have won the Juan de Fuca Plate as the top club during the 2023 League1 BC season. The plate, awarded by supporters groups of soccer in British Columbia, is given to theclub whose teams accrue the greatest number of combined points across both the men’s and women’s divisions in League 1 BC regular season league play.
The Juan de Fuca Plate is expected to be officially presented at the League1 BC championship finals on August 5 at BC Place.
Whitecaps FC finished the season with 56 combined points - 34 in the women's division, and 22 in the men's division.
The Whitecaps FC Girls Elite Academy - the reigning League1 BC playoff champions - won the regular season title in the women's division and qualified for the League1 Canada Inter-Provincial Championship next month from August 11 & 13 at Willoughby Community Park in Langley. They will kick off the League1 BC playoffs against fourth place TSS Rovers at home this weekend (date and time TBA).
The Whitecaps FC Boys MLS Academy finished in third place and qualified for the League1 BC postseason for the first time in the league's two seasons. The 'Caps will also play TSS Rovers to start the playoffs this weekend (date and time TBA).
On the men's side, Victoria Highlanders FC won the regular season title in a thrilling finale and in the process qualified for the 2024 TELUS Canadian Championship.
Earlier this year, Whitecaps FC announced that $1 from every ticket at the 2023 Canadian Championship Final would be donated to League1 BC for hosting, split evenly towards the Inter-Provincial Championship and the next men's side to host in the Canadian Championship.
History of the Juan de Fuca Plate
In 2012 a group of football supporters in British Columbia banded together to purchase a trophy honouring the top semi-professional team in the province. The Juan de Fuca Plate was originally awarded “to spur interest across British Columbia in soccer at the semi-professional level, and to inspire good-natured rivalry between the competing cities.” The Plate was awarded to the BC-based team with the best head-to-head record against other BC-based teams in the USL PDL (later USL League 2).
Whitecaps FC won the Plate twice before in it's previous incarnation in the first two years, 2012 and 2013.
With the rise of League 1 BC, and after consulting with original donors, the supporters groups of current League 1 BC teams have agreed on a new format for the awarding of the trophy from 2022.
For more information, visit juandefucaplate.ca.
