Nanaimo United's men's team are preparing for a big pre-season test Wednesday when they host Pacific FC in Nanaimo. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

top flight soccer

‘Top opposition:’ Nanaimo United prepare for big pre-season test

Mar 18, 2025 | 5:00 PM

NANAIMO — With a new season still weeks away, the city’s semi-professional soccer team will see how they stack up against some of the country’s best players.

The newly renamed Nanaimo United, formerly Harbourside, will welcome Victoria’s Pacific FC for a pre-season game at q’unq’inuqwstuxw Stadium on Wednesday, March 19.

Hosting the Canadian Premier League club is a huge opportunity for head coach Kevin Lindo’s squad, and a chance for them to see where their preparation needs to focus ahead of the team’s third season in League 1 BC.

“Obviously top opposition, especially in BC and in our region. It’s going to be great for the community to see that level of football, and also to test ourselves. We haven’t got our squad fully back yet, it’s early days for us, but we’re happy to help Pacific FC with their prep, as their season is coming pretty quick.”

Kick-off is at 5:30 p.m. with entrance to the game by donation.

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Lindo’s men’s squad are looking to better their performance from a landmark season in 2024, where the team made the playoffs but ultimately fell in the semi-finals to TSS Rovers.

While not all the players due in the team this season have travelled out to Nanaimo, or finished commitments with their current teams, Lindo knows he will have some gaps to fill.

Gone for this season are two key anchors of the team’s offence last year, in Suka Behery and Vasilis Bagiopoulous.

“That’s just the nature of the business in League 1 to recruit and fill some gaps each year. We are getting some guys from the Victoria region…from the Highlanders program, so they’ve been super supportive, as UVic have as well, who have a really tremendous squad right now. We’ll have a good local cohort and then some top guys from the rest of Canada.”

Lindo added the challenge will be getting the team to gel in such a short space of time.

Their first regular season game is April 12, welcoming Evolution FC from Coquitlam.

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