Victoria named Canada’s most passionate soccer city

With the dust settling after the FIFA World Cup, Victoria seems to have shown a particular passion for soccer during the tournament.

According to Betano, an online sports betting company, Victoria is Canada’s most passionate soccer city.

With a 69.9% net favourability among fans surveyed, the city ranked ahead of many of Canada’s larger metropolitan areas.

“Victoria’s position as Canada’s leading soccer city demonstrates that passion is not limited to major metropolitan centres,” the website read.

“Despite its smaller population, the city has developed a highly engaged soccer community supported by strong grassroots participation and a deep appreciation for the game.”

Fans in Victoria saw this passion firsthand, with many venues across the region seeing huge turnouts for Team Canada’s games, as well as for the final, semi-final, Round of 16 and Round of 32 matches.

Market Square downtown saw thousands show up for matches, and other venues including the Irish Times Pub, Langford Station, Boomtown, Herald Street Brew Works and other establishments in the Greater Victoria area also filled up with fans watching their favourite teams take to the pitch.

The website also broached Canadian fans’ interest in players, with Jonathan David coming out as the most popular player and Alphonso Davies being most Canadian fans’ favourite player.

Internationally, Messi was the most popular player among Canadians.

Now that the World Cup is over, it remains to be seen what the impact will be on support for local soccer organizations.

On Vancouver Island, the Pacific FC will take to the pitch on Friday, July 31st for the first time since the World Cup started, welcoming new coach Terry Dunfield with the hope that he can help turn the season around for the club. Dunfield was a professional player himself, and served as an analyst on TSN during the World Cup.

In Vancouver, the fate of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC is still in question as the team and fans try to secure a long-term future in the city.