Teams, tales and tips – a football fan's guide to Vancouver
While Toronto considers itself as the soccer capital of Canada, events have transpired to shift that honour to the Pacific coast, and Vancouver. What should have been a routine win over Qatar in the group stage for the co-hosts turned into the most emotive drama of the group phase of the World Cup, when a horrendous tackle broke the leg of popular Canadian midfielder Ismaël Koné had the squad gather around their injured teammate and the crowd rally behind him.
Among them was prime minister Mark Carney, resplendent in his Canada away top, the so-called Black Ice shirt in honour of the frozen north where les Rouges played vital fixtures in raucous smaller stadiums in the winter of 2021-22 to qualify for the World Cup.
While Vancouver has become a rallying point for the Canadian soccer phenomenon, a potential path to unprecedented progress in the World Cup being mapped out at BC Place, this dynamic, diverse metropolis is by no means the frozen north.
The name of Vancouver Whitecaps echoes through each major era of soccer in North America, from NASL to MLS. It was coined by a one-armed sporting hero inspired by the view as he drove over the spectacular Lions Gate Bridge, the Lions being the snow-topped mountain peaks beckoning to northbound traffic heading into British Columbia.
While names of sports teams and franchises change with the wind in North America, baffling and frustrating Europeans, the one chosen by Denny Veitch on that sunny Sixties’ afternoon has stuck for 70 years. Whitecaps won the NASL title in 1979, welcomed later England star Peter Beardsley and joined MLS in 2011, alongside West Coast rivals Portland Timbers.
Recently, a Whitecaps side starring Thomas Müller claimed an MLS Cup runners-up spot, 20,000-plus gathering at BC Place to watch the action in faraway Florida, an MLS record for a watch party. Nevertheless, in the run-up to the World Cup, all was not well in Vancouver – the club makes the least stadium revenue of all 30 in MLS and there has been strong talk of a move to Las Vegas. How that now stands given this is a city gripped by soccer fever remains to be seen.
Vancouver’s Fan Fest takes place in the PNE Grounds at Hastings Park during the whole tournament.
Getting HERE
Arriving in town and city transport
Vancouver International Airport is 7.5 miles (12km) southwest of Downtown Vancouver, on Sea Island. It has its own station, YVR Airport, at the terminus of the Canada Line, part of the SkyTrain network built for the 1986 Expo. This runs every 7mins to Yaletown-Roundhouse (nearest BC Place), Vancouver City Centre and adjacent Waterfront 20-25mins away in Fare Zone 1, through two Fare Zones (C$4.55 cash or contactless, C$3.75 with a reloadable Compass Card, C$6 refundable deposit). Journeys from YVR Airport incur an additional C$5 AddFare charge. Vancouver Taxi (+1 604-871-1111) should charge around C$40 from the airport to the city center.
A journey within Fare Zone 1 is C$3.15/C$2.55 with a Compass Card, an all-zone DayPass is C$11.25. Tickets and Compass Cards are available at vending machines at all SkyTrain stations. The SkyTrain consists of three lines – Stadium-Chinatown Station on the Expo Line is the nearest to the East side of BC Place. You can also access the stadium by Aquabus (C$7.75/Day Pass C$19) along Vancouver’s waterfront, alighting at Plaza of Nations.
Where to Drink
The best pubs and bars for football fans
A 15-minute walk away at the corner of Granville and Smithe Streets, Dublin Calling is where main Whitecaps supporters’ group the Southsiders gather on match days, at ‘Vancouver’s Sports Headquarters’. The March to the Match sets off from here, before turning into Robson Street and up to BC Place.
Those here after the game can take in the action on 15 screens, order domestic or premium beers by the pitcher, and lay into wings, burgers or fish & chips. For the World Cup, you can book a table here. Open until 3am on weekend nights, 1-2am through the week,
Near Waterfront Station on W Cordova Street, Lions Pub plays up its Brit credentials, even down to the Scotch eggs and cottage pie on the menu. Screens show sports over the bar counter and around the dark-wood interior. Happy hour runs daily 2-5pm. Towards Waterfront Station, Malones Taphouse dates back to 1998, and offers 38 craft beers on draft, with tap takeovers and long happy hours on a daily basis. TV sports, too.
A few blocks down W Pender Street, the other side of Stadium-Chinatown Station from BC Place, Pint Public House welcomes sports fans with screens, beers and wings six days a week from 3pm, the banter going on until 3am on weekends. Another Edmonton enterprise, the Vancouver branch of this nationwide chain opened on St Patrick’s Day 2012, timed almost exactly around Whitecaps moving into nearby BC Place. Fans have been coming here since. Extended opening hours for the World Cup, until 4am Fri-Sat nights, midnight for the other five days.
West of the city in the University Endowment Lands, Browns Crafthouse UBC attracts a student crowd for numerous ales, casual pub food and TV sports – there’s another branch of this local chain on Main Street.
