Valour FC
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| Full name | Valour Football Club | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Founded | May 6, 2017 | ||
| Dissolved | November 21, 2025 | ||
| Stadium | Princess Auto Stadium, Winnipeg | ||
| Capacity | 33,000 | ||
| Owner(s) | Winnipeg Football Club (community ownership) | ||
| President and CEO | Wade Miller | ||
| League | Canadian Premier League | ||
| 2025 | Regular season: 6th Playoffs: Did not qualify | ||
| Website | www | ||
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Valour FC was a Canadian professional soccer club in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The club competed in the Canadian Premier League from 2019 to 2025, playing its home matches at Princess Auto Stadium.
The team was community owned through the Winnipeg Football Club.
History
On May 6, 2017, Winnipeg was one of two cities accepted by the Canadian Soccer Association for professional club membership when the Canadian Premier League was unanimously approved. It was confirmed that Canadian Football League clubs the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the Hamilton Tiger-Cats were behind the ownership groups. Wade Miller, CEO of the Winnipeg Football Club, was named as the club's president.
In May 2018, it was reported that the club would be called Valour FC. On June 6, 2018, the club was officially unveiled as the fourth team to join the Canadian Premier League. As well as confirming its place in the league for the 2019 launch season, the club also revealed its crest, colours and branding. On June 26, the club named Rob Gale as the first head coach and general manager.
In the overall standings, Valour ranked 6th of 7 teams in the inaugural 2019 season, and then 6th of 8 teams in the pandemic-abridged 2020 season. In the 2021 season, Valour's home stadium IG Field hosted the league's centralized bubble where each team played their first eight games of the season behind closed doors. On September 23, 2021, while in 5th place, Valour FC sacked head coach Rob Gale and named Phillip Dos Santos as his replacement. Despite a late push, Valour remained in 5th place at the end of the season, missing the playoffs by one point.
In 2022, Valour finished with 37 points (their highest-ever point total) but still finished 5th in the league and missed the playoffs by nine points. Valour finished at or near the bottom of the league's standing for each of the next three seasons, failing to record more than 28 points (1.00 PPG) in each of them. The club was also unsuccessful in the Canadian Championship tournament during this time and in 2023, earned the unfortunate distinction of being the first professional team to be knocked out of the tournament by a semi-pro team.
Valour FC suspended operations following the 2025 season. While Wade Miller explained that not enough fans were attending games to justify continued investment by the Winnipeg Football Club, others, including Rob Gale, contended that the team had been mismanaged, citing limited investment, staffing, and community engagement. The Winnipeg Football Club later announced that Valour had cost $4.2 million over the course of its existence.
Stadium
The club played its home games at Princess Auto Stadium, a 33,234-seat Canadian football stadium. The stadium opened in 2013 on the University of Manitoba campus next to University Stadium. The stadium is also used by the Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the University of Manitoba Bisons football team.
Crest and colours
The club's identity was heavily linked to the story of Winnipeg's Valour Road, and named to recognize Corporal Leo Clarke, Sergeant-Major Frederick William Hall, and Lieutenant Robert Shankland, who all lived on the same street and received the Victoria Cross for acts of bravery during the First World War.
The letter "V" in the centre of the crest emulates a folded medal ribbon and also represents the meeting of the Red River and Assiniboine River in Winnipeg. The right side of the "V" creates a "W" for Winnipeg, and the circle under the "V" is in the shape of the Victoria Cross medal. The wheat at the top of the crest represents Manitoba's agricultural industry.
The official club colours were maroon, gold and black (branded by the club as "Valour maroon," "wheat gold," and "earth black"). These colours symbolize the ribbon of the Victoria Cross and the wheat fields and soil of the Canadian Prairies.
Youth
On August 8, 2018, Valour FC Elite Girls (formerly the Manitoba Blizzard) was founded to give girls in Winnipeg an opportunity to travel to college showcases in Canada and the United States, while getting educated on the recruiting process. The team was led by Head Coach Jim Zinko and Manager Trevor Kidd. Training began in the fall, while the Valour FC Elite Girls competition season ran from late November into April.
Club culture
The club's mascot leaned heavily on imagery of the Victoria Cross, being a lion named 'Vic'. He wore the club's colours on a t-shirt, shorts, and wristbands.[non-primary source needed]
Red River Rising Supporters group first met at Nicolino's Restaurant in January 2017, before a Winnipeg team was announced. The group met regularly in anticipation of an eventual Winnipeg team and now occupy section 144 at Princess Auto Stadium. The section was known as The Trench.
Players and staff
Head coaches
- As of November 21, 2025
| Coach | Nation | Tenure | Record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Rob Gale |  England |
June 26, 2018 – September 23, 2021 | 57 | 18 | 8 | 31 | 31.58 | |
| Phillip Dos Santos |  Canada |
September 23, 2021 – November 21, 2025 | 128 | 35 | 30 | 63 | 27.34 | |
Club captains
| Years | Name | Nation |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Jordan Murrell | Canada |
| 2019 | Skylar Thomas | Canada |
| 2020 | Dylan Carreiro | Canada |
| 2020–2022 | Daryl Fordyce |  Northern Ireland |
| 2021–2023 | Andrew Jean-Baptiste |  Haiti |
| 2024–2025 | Raphael Ohin |  Ghana |
Records
Year-by-year
| Season | League | Playoffs | CC | Continental | Average attendance |
Top goalscorer(s) | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div | League | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG | Pos. | Name | Goals | ||||||
| 2019 | 1 | CPL | 28 | 8 | 4 | 16 | 30 | 52 | –22 | 28 | 1.00 | 6th | DNQ | R2 | DNQ | 5,335 | Marco Bustos |
7 | |
| 2020 | CPL | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 9 | –1 | 8 | 1.14 | 6th | DNQ | N/A | Eight players | 1 | ||||
| 2021 | CPL | 28 | 10 | 5 | 13 | 38 | 36 | +2 | 35 | 1.25 | 5th | QF |  Moses Dyer |
9 | |||||
| 2022 | CPL | 28 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 36 | 34 | +2 | 37 | 1.32 | 5th | PR | 3,111 | Moses Dyer | 9 | ||||
| 2023 | CPL | 28 | 6 | 8 | 14 | 25 | 38 | –13 | 26 | 0.93 | 8th | PR | 3,220 | Diego Gutiérrez Walter Ponce Kian Williams | 4 | ||||
| 2024 | CPL | 28 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 31 | 42 | –11 | 28 | 1.00 | 8th | PR | 3,106 | Shaan Hundal Jordan Swibel | 7 | ||||
| 2025 | CPL | 28 | 7 | 5 | 16 | 35 | 62 | –27 | 26 | 0.93 | 6th | QF | 3,213 | Myles Morgan | 7 | ||||
1. Average attendance include statistics from league matches only.
2. Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in league season, league playoffs, Canadian Championship, CONCACAF League, and other competitive continental matches.
All-time most appearances
- As of December 31, 2025
| # | Name | Nation | Career | Appearances | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPL | Cup | Int'l | Total | ||||
| 1 | Raphael Ohin | Ghana |
2019–2025 | 101 | 7 | 0 | 108 |
| 2 | Diego Gutiérrez | Canada |
2019–2020, 2022–2023 | 79 | 3 | 0 | 82 |
| 3 | Andy Baquero |  Cuba |
2021–2023 | 74 | 2 | 0 | 76 |
| 4 | Federico Peña |  Trinidad and Tobago |
2019–2022 | 59 | 3 | 0 | 62 |
| Rocco Romeo | Canada |
2021–2022, 2025 | 56 | 6 | 0 | 62 | |
| 6 | Daryl Fordyce | Northern Ireland |
2020–2022 | 56 | 3 | 0 | 59 |
| 7 | Themi Antonoglou | Canada |
2024–2025 | 53 | 4 | 0 | 57 |
| Dante Campbell | Canada |
2020, 2023–2025 | 55 | 2 | 0 | 57 | |
| Moses Dyer | New Zealand |
2020–2022 | 54 | 3 | 0 | 57 | |
| 10 | Stefan Cebara | Canada |
2020–2022 | 54 | 2 | 0 | 56 |
| Diogo Ressurreição |  Portugal |
2024–2025 | 53 | 3 | 0 | 56 | |
All-time top scorers
- As of December 31, 2025
| # | Name | Nation | Career | Goals | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPL | Cup | Int'l | Total | ||||
| 1 | Moses Dyer | New Zealand |
2020–2022 | 19 | 0 | 0 | 19 |
| 2 | William Akio |  South Sudan |
2021–2022 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 10 |
| 3 | Shaan Hundal | Canada |
2020, 2024–2025 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| 4 | Marco Bustos | Canada |
2019 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 |
| Austin Ricci | Canada |
2020–2021 | 5 | 3 | 0 | 8 | |
| 6 | Myles Morgan | Canada |
2025 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Sean Rea | Canada |
2021–2022 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 7 | |
| Jordan Swibel | Australia |
2024 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 9 | Tyler Attardo | Canada |
2019 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| Matteo de Brienne | Canada |
2022–2023 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Michael Petrasso | Canada |
2019 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Walter Ponce | Chile |
2022–2023 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
| Kian Williams | England |
2023–2025 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 | |
References
- ↑ "Valour Football Club". Valour FC. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
- ↑ "Stewardship". valourfc.canpl.ca. Archived from the original on January 13, 2022. Retrieved January 12, 2022.
- ↑ O'Connor-Clarke, Charlie (May 6, 2017). "Canadian Premier League unanimously ratified by CSA". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on January 20, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ Friesen, Paul (May 12, 2017). "New soccer league could work here". Winnipeg Sun. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ Golby, Travis (May 7, 2017). "Winnipeg scores spot in Canadian pro soccer league". CBC News. Archived from the original on May 6, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
- ↑ "The CanPL Hub on Twitter". Twitter. May 18, 2018. Archived from the original on May 9, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ McIsaac, Greg (June 6, 2018). "Valour FC Joins Canadian Premier League". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 10, 2018.
- ↑ "Winnipeg entry in the Canadian Premier League to be called Valour FC". National Post. June 6, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Rob Gale named inaugural Head Coach & GM". Valour FC. June 26, 2018. Archived from the original on April 27, 2019. Retrieved June 26, 2018.
- ↑ Jaques, John (September 23, 2021). "Valour FC Fires Rob Gale, Names Phillip Dos Santos As New Head Coach". Northern Tribune. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved October 4, 2021.
- ↑ Alexandre Gangué-Ruzic (April 20, 2023). "MATCH ANALYSIS: TSS Rovers upset Valour FC 3-1 in magical CanChamp night at Swangard Stadium". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on April 24, 2023. Retrieved June 18, 2023.
- ↑ Allen, Taylor (November 21, 2025). "Valour FC closing its doors". Winnipeg Free Press. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ↑ Bernhardt, Darren (November 21, 2025). "Fans heartbroken, angry as Winnipeg's Valour FC announces suspension of operations". CBC News. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ↑ Tait, Ed (April 15, 2026). "WFC posts another record operating profit". Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Archived from the original on April 16, 2026. Retrieved April 16, 2026.
- ↑ "Stadium Profile". valourfc.canpl.ca. Valour FC. June 6, 2018. Archived from the original on April 3, 2019. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Investors Group Field costs balloon to $203.5M". CBC News. September 23, 2013. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Stadium History". Winnipeg Blue Bombers. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Winnipeg entry in the Canadian Premier League to be called Valour FC". Vancouver Courier. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 8, 2018.
- 1 2 "Emblem Inspiration". valourfc.canpl.ca. Valour FC. June 6, 2018. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Valour FC announced as fourth CanPL team". The CanPL Hub. June 6, 2018. Archived from the original on June 12, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
- ↑ "Valour FC Elite Girls". valourfc.canpl.ca. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved July 17, 2022.
- ↑ "Meet Valour FC's mascot". Valour FC. canpl.ca. Archived from the original on April 17, 2019. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
- ↑ Sawatzky, Mike (April 30, 2019). "Eager soccer fans will ensure Red River Rising all season long". Winnipeg Free Press. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- ↑ Sawatzky, Mike (May 4, 2019). "Soccer fans revved about Valour FC debut". Winnipeg Free Press. Archived from the original on July 15, 2019. Retrieved July 15, 2019.
- 1 2 "Valour FC names Jordan Murrell, Skylar Thomas as inaugural captains". canpl.com. Canadian Premier League. April 24, 2019. Archived from the original on September 3, 2022. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ↑ "Valour's Murrell apologizes for red card incident, steps down as captain". canpl.com. Canadian Premier League. August 7, 2019. Archived from the original on August 11, 2019. Retrieved August 11, 2019.
- ↑ "Valour FC parts ways with Canadian midfielder Dylan Carreiro". canpl.ca. Canadian Premier League. October 17, 2020. Archived from the original on April 15, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
- 1 2 "'My heart was pounding': Valour FC reveal Jean-Baptiste & Fordyce as 2021 captains". canpl.ca. Canadian Premier League. June 4, 2021. Archived from the original on June 11, 2021. Retrieved June 11, 2021.
- ↑ "Raphael Ohin named Captain for 2024 Season". Valour FC. April 9, 2024. Retrieved January 7, 2025.
- ↑ "Canadian Premier League". Canadian Premier League 2019 Standings. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved November 3, 2019.
- 1 2 "Canada - Valour FC - Results, fixtures, squad, statistics, photos, videos and news". Soccerway. Retrieved February 28, 2026.
External links
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