Latest News

Read about Langley United’s journey to the Men’s Division title in their inaugural League1 BC season.

Langley United were crowned League1 BC Men’s Division champions in dramatic style on the final day of the season, needing a stoppage-time penalty to take the title.

Langley were entering the competition for the first time this year having been announced as an expansion team for the 2025 season, 99 years after the club had been founded.

On January 22nd they announced their first L1 player, Brody Thomas, MVP from the Fraser Valley Soccer League. The signing would prove to be crucial as Thomas would score ten goals in L1BC, including three against title rivals TSS Rovers and a crucial finish on the final day of the campaign.

Thomas’s tally also made him the team’s top scorer and second in the division overall, but despite five of those strikes coming in the first four games, Langley still endured a shaky start with just six points from that period.

But they soon clicked into gear, winning their next five fixtures back-to-back. By the mid-point of the season they had already beaten reigning champions TSS Rovers twice – at home in a dominant 3-0 performance, and away with a strong 3-1 win after an early setback.

The eventual title winners would soon find themselves quickly losing ground to their rivals as they won only one of their next five games, drawing with Burnaby and Evolution before losing a seven-goal thriller to Altitude, which was their only defeat of the season after May 5.

TSS and Langley both won their penultimate games, the former saved by a second-half Ivan Mejia brace to beat Nanaimo United 2-1, and Langley, kicking off an hour later, would secure themselves a chance at the title with a 2-0 win over Kamloops United.

Heading into the final matchday TSS Rovers sat on 32 points with a goal difference of 22, Langley following behind on 30 points and six behind on goal difference.

TSS played first, needing a win to confirm their title or a tie to leave Langley needing a miracle, and they got off to an electric start.

Koji Poon pounced on a loose pass and directed the ball into the middle where Lowell Wright picked the ball up, made space for himself and fired far out of the Kamloops goalkeeper’s reach to open the scoring.

Kamloops would tie the game 15 minutes later when a well-placed ball down the left-hand side was cut back for Lachlan Will to calmly slot into the goal.

It would go from bad to worse for TSS as minutes later an excellent pass left them exposed. Avi Alemu reacted quickest but could only stop the attack with a foul and was sent off, leaving the title defenders down to 10 players for the remaining 62 minutes.

The game was held at 1-1 until the 84th minute when Daniel Sagno dribbled into the box, skipped past a player and slipped the ball across for Charlie Stewart to grab the three points for Kamloops.

Langley still needed a win to take the championship and they were travelling to Thunderbird Stadium to play Vancouver Whitecaps Academy.

Brody Thomas drew first blood as he cut into the box and scored with an excellently placed driven shot to put one hand on the trophy. The excitement was short-lived, however, as a minute and a half after the restart, an in-swinging corner was met by the powerful head of the leaping Charlie Rodgers to tie the game at 1-1.

The score wouldn’t change until eight minutes after the break when a wonderful through ball left Ryder Sewell to knock the ball past Matheus De Souza to take the lead for Whitecaps.

A triple Langley substitution followed in a last attempt to rejuvenate the team and within two minutes it had paid off. Moments after being subbed on, Axl De Vries scored a header to leave 30 minutes plus injury time to find a winner.

The hosts held strong though, and Langley were running out of options five minutes into stoppage time when another substitute, Michael Ajagbe, was brought down inside the box. The ensuing penalty was dispatched by Amir Ghasemi and Langley United were crowned champions of League1 British Columbia on their first attempt.

The win not only brings silverware but also earns Langley their spot in the 2026 TELUS Canadian Championship, a chance to face professional outfits from the Canadian Premier League or Major League Soccer.

An extraordinary end to the year to wrap up an incredible debut season, and the club will certainly be looking to continue this form as they head into their next century.