Harbourside FC will play under the Nanaimo United FC banner in 2025, their third season in the semi-pro League1 BC. (Nanaimo United FC)

By Alex Rawnsley

rebranding

Name change coming for Nanaimo semi-pro soccer franchise

Feb 9, 2025 | 6:26 AM

NANAIMO — After two years playing as Harbourside FC, the central Island’s semi-pro soccer team is undergoing a new, albeit very familiar, re-brand.

Both the men’s and women’s squads will play under the Nanaimo United FC umbrella for the 2025 League1 BC season, an on-field reflection of the off-field organization of the club from its inaugural season in 2023.

Executive Director Jason Coates told NanaimoNewsNOW they’d wanted the club to be called Nanaimo United FC from the outset, but branding restrictions in 2023, which have since lifted, prevented the move.

“The purpose of League One is to provide those opportunities for those youth to senior development steps so going from high performance, youth, to provincial, national teams, professional teams, and so that won’t change.”

Coates said being able to link a new program, like the former Harbourside FC, with a club featuring over 120 years of history helps with “bringing everything in line” and reflects how the team has been run from the beginning.

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Nanaimo won’t be the only new face, or newly named team in the league this year.

Rivers FC have undertaken a similar re-brand and will play as Kamloops United FC, while expansion teams Langley United and Evolution FC from Coquitlam will play their first games this season.

The first league games are expected in late April or early May, with a full schedule due to be released soon.

Home games are played at q’unq’inuqwstuxw Stadium in Nanaimo.

Both the men’s and women’s teams have high hopes after the men made their playoff debut in 2024, while the women narrowly missed a place in the finals the year prior.

“Recruiting has been strong,” Coates said. “We are the only team on the Island again for the second year, which gives us a little bit of an advantage in terms of looking at players from farther down the island, whether it’s Victoria, or Cowichan, so that gives us a great pool of players to pick from.”

He said expressions of interest come in from across B.C., Canada and even from players internationally, but the focus is on working with and developing as many local area players as possible.

“We want to strive to be in that top half the table every year, and now that the men’s and the women’s winners are ported into a North American Championship…it’s an exciting aspiration. Teams from Nanaimo are directly connected to continental championships.”

United’s coaching staff will remain consistent for a third year with Kevin Lindo leading the men’s team and Bobbie Taylor on the bench for the women.

Daragh Fitzgerald serves as technical lead for both teams.

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