By the end of this year, Langford will be home to the largest indoor soccer training facility in B.C.
Pacific FC, the Island’s new professional Canadian Premier League soccer team, will own and operate and train at the new facility. It will also be used for community soccer programming to encourage and build soccer culture in the region.
“We’re trying to grow soccer on the Island,” said Pacific FC president Josh Simpson. “We want to build the culture of soccer and how do you do that? You get facilities like this one. It’s going to make soccer fun.”
At about 55,000 square feet, the facility will contain multiple artificial turf fields and will be operational year-round. It’s costing Pacific FC about $5 million to build and is projected to be complete by December.
Simpson noted that there are many similar structures in Europe and across Canada. He said they are very successful in promoting the sport.
The indoor facility in Surrey is comparable to the one that will come to Langford but is still smaller, Simpson said, at about 30,000 square feet.
When asked why the team decided to build in Langford, Simpson replied, “why not Langford?”
“The City of Langford is absolutely booming,” Simpson said, noting that he has received a lot of support for all Pacific FC endeavours from the city and Mayor Stew Young.
“We’re very excited about the new indoor training facility Pacific FC is building in Langford,” Young said. “Not only does this year-round venue add another artificial turf to our community, but it provides opportunities for youth, community groups and high performance teams to practice and compete at the next level no matter how bad the weather is.”
The practice facility will be located near Langford Lake, in the Kettle Creek Crescent area.
shalu.mehta
