Oakville_Blue_Devils_FC

Blue Devils FC

Blue Devils FC

Ontario amateur soccer club


Blue Devils Football Club (formerly known as Oakville Blue Devils FC) is a semi-professional soccer club based in Oakville, Ontario. The senior men's and women's teams currently compete in League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions.[2][3]

Quick Facts Full name, Founded ...

History

Past teams of same name

logo of the original Oakville Blue Devils

The original Oakville Blue Devils was a member team of the Oakville Soccer Club. The team was built, coached and developed by Phil Iafrati (1947–2013),[4] where they won the U19 provincial and national championships in 1998.[5] As the Devils reached the end of the youth soccer circuit that season, Iafrati restarted the program with the a U9 program Oakville Blue Stars in 1999.[6]

In 2005, the second edition of the Blue Devils were formed when the Scarborough-based Metro Lions of the Canadian Professional Soccer League relocated to Oakville and adopted the Blue Devils name,[5] coached by Duncan Wilde.[7] They won the 2005 season defeating Vaughan Shooters in the final.[8] In 2006, Wilde left to manage the Toronto Lynx, which resulted in a mass exodus of players not returning. [9] The club was relocated in 2007 and became Brampton United, bringing to an end the period of the Oakville Blue Devils history.[4]

Revival

Club logo from 2015 to 2020

In 2015, the club was founded to play in the semi-professional League1 Ontario, named after the original team from prior years.[4] The Toronto Lynx men's senior team was incorporated into the Oakville team[10] and in late 2017, the teams merged completely under Oakville's umbrella.[11] In their inaugural L1O season, they were crowned league champions and qualified for the Inter-Provincial Cup against the champion of the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec to determine the Canadian Division III champion, where they defeated CS Mont-Royal Outremont to win the title.[12] In 2017, they won their second title, defeating Woodbridge Strikers in the Championship final on penalty kicks.[13]

In 2018, the team played in the Canadian Championship for the first time where they lost in the first qualifying round against 2017 PLSQ champion AS Blainville.[14][15][16][17] Later, during the 2018 season, they played a friendly against Italian professional Serie A club Frosinone Calcio, losing by a score of 2–0.[18][19][20]

Also in 2018, the club added a team in the women's division of League1 Ontario, beginning in the 2018 season.[21][22] In their second season, the women advanced to the Championship Final, where they were defeated by FC London.[23] In 2021, the women once again finished as runner-ups after being defeated in the finals by the Woodbridge Strikers.[23]

In 2020, the club merged with GPS Academy and was renamed to Blue Devils FC.[24] The men finished as runner-ups in both 2021 and 2022, being defeated in the Championship Finals by Guelph United FC and Vaughan Azzurri, respectively.[23]

Front office and technical Staff

As of July 18, 2018[25]
More information Name, Position ...

Squad

As of 16 April 2023[26]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

More information No., Pos. ...

Seasons

More information Season, League ...
More information Season, League ...

Honours

Notable players

The following players have either played at the professional or international level, either before or after playing for the League1 Ontario team:

Men

Women


References

  1. "Steven Caldwell Joins Oakville Blue Devils FC To Help Guide Club into the Future". Oakville Blue Devils FC. Archived from the original on October 24, 2019. Retrieved October 24, 2019.
  2. "Oakville Blue Devils's official website". Oakville Blue Devils. Oakville Blue Devils. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  3. "About". Oakville Blue Devils. Oakville Blue Devils. Retrieved April 1, 2018.
  4. Kuiperij, Jon (January 30, 2015). "League1 Ontario men's soccer loop welcomes Oakville Blue Devils". Oakville Beaver.
  5. Kuiperij, Jon (September 19, 2013). "Iafrati, Phil (Died)". Oakville Beaver. Oakville Images.
  6. "Canadian Professional Soccer League - Clubs". December 25, 2005. Archived from the original on December 25, 2005. Retrieved June 6, 2016.
  7. Kuiperij, Jon (October 12, 2005). "Blue Devils' Gamble pays off in CPSL final" (PDF). Oakville Beaver.
  8. Crawford, Colin (February 29, 2016). "Toronto's Soccer History: 1987 - Present". Toronto FC. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  9. "Toronto Lynx Soccer Club". Archived from the original on March 7, 2018. Retrieved March 6, 2018.
  10. Chenoix, Éric (May 30, 2018). "À la Découverte du Oakville Blue Devils FC" [Discovering Oakville Blue Devils FC]. PLSQ (in French).
  11. "About the Canadian Championship". Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2017.
  12. Garbutt, Herb (October 22, 2017). "Oakville Blue Devils reclaim League1 title with dramatic penalty-kick victory". Oakville Beaver. Retrieved April 6, 2018.
  13. "Frosinone Calcio is Here in Canada". Molisana Imports. July 18, 2018.
  14. "Tournée Canada/USA, il programma delle Amichevolu" [Tournée Canada/USA, the friends' program]. Frosinone Calcio (in Italian). July 17, 2018.
  15. Baldwin, Dan (April 27, 2018). "League 1 Ontario 2018 Preview". Northern Starting XI.
  16. "GPS Academy to Merge with Blue Devils FC". Blue Devils FC. October 1, 2020.
  17. "About Us". Oakville Blue Devils. Retrieved July 18, 2018.
  18. "Blue Devils FC". League 1 Ontario.

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