Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which is a youth soccer club as part of their High Performance Program.
History
Vaughan Soccer Club was founded in 1982 as a youth soccer club under the name
Concord Jets. In 1986, they renamed to Vaughan SC. Since 1986, the club continued to grow and by 2012, became the second largest soccer club in York Region.
Men's semi-pro team
They added their semi-professional club, under the name Vaughan Azzurri, to play in League1 Ontario in the inaugural season in 2014,
originally playing out of McNaughton Park.
They won the inaugural League1 Ontario League Cup defeating
Sigma FC 2–1 in the final at
BMO Field.
They won their first league title in 2016, defeating
FC London in the playoff final.
This qualified them for the Inter-Provincial championship to face the champions of the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec champion CS Mont-Royal Outremont for the Canadian Division III title, where they lost over the two-legged fixture.
Since then, the Azzurri have won a league-tying two League1 Ontario Championships and a league-leading three L1 Cups.
During the 2018 season, they played a friendly against Italian professional Serie A club Frosinone Calcio, losing by a score of 2–1, although Vaughan managed to take an early 1–0 lead in the match.
From 2014 to 2018, the club was led by head coach Carmine Isacco. Following the 2018 season, Isacco left Vaughan to join the newly founded York9 FC as an assistant coach.
Having won the 2018 League1 Ontario Championship, the Azzurri were awarded a berth to the first qualifying round of 2019 Canadian Championship.
At the 2020 MLS SuperDraft, Vaughan had four of their players selected in the first round of the draft.
Women's semi-pro team
They added a women's club to participate in the inaugural 2015 season of the League1 Ontario women's division.
The women won the 2016 League Cup.
They finished first in the 2022 regular season, winning the Supporter's Trophy as regular season champions, but were defeated in the playoff semi-finals by
Alliance United.
In 2024, the women's B team won the first edition of the third tier League2 Ontario, earning promotion to the second tier League1 Ontario Championship.
Seasons
Men
|
| 2014 | League1 Ontario | 9 | 8–3–5 | 4th | – | Champions | did not qualify | |
| 2015 | 12 | 12–7–3 | 3rd | – | Quarter-finals | |
| 2016 | 16 | 17–4–1 | 1st, East (1st overall) | Champions | Champions | RU | |
| 2017 | 16 | 16–1–5 | 2nd, East (4th overall) | did not qualify | Runner-up | Ineligible | |
| 2018 | 17 | 10–1–5 | 5th | Champions | Champions | did not qualify | |
| 2019 | 16 | 12–1–2 | 2nd | Quarter-finals | – | R1 | |
| 2020 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | League1 Ontario | 15 | 11–1–0 | 1st, East (1st) | Semi-finals | – | did not qualify | |
| 2022 | 22 | 18–3–0 | 1st | Champions | – | |
| 2023 | 21 | 14–3–3 | 3rd | Semi-finals | – | R1 | |
| 2024 | League1 Ontario Premier | 12 | 14–7–1 | 2nd | – | Champions | did not qualify | |
|
Women
|
| 2015 | League1 Ontario | 7 | 10–5–3 | 3rd | – | Finalists | |
| 2016 | 9 | 8–5–3 | 4th | – | Champions | |
| 2017 | 11 | 12–3–5 | 2nd | – | Semi-finals | |
| 2018 | 13 | 8–0–4 | 3rd | Semi-finals | Semi-finals | |
| 2019 | 14 | 10–1–2 | 2nd | Semi-finals | – | |
| 2020 | Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic |
| 2021 | League1 Ontario | 7 | 6–2–4 | 3rd | Semi-finals | – | |
| 2022 | 20 | 15–3–1 | 1st | Finalists | – | |
| 2023 | 19 | 14–2–2 | 2nd | Semi-finals | – | |
| 2024 | League1 Ontario Premier | 10 | 6–7–5 | 5th | – | Quarter-finals | |
|
Honours
-
League1 Ontario Championship (3): 2016, 2018, 2022
-
L1 Cup (4): 2014, 2016, 2018, 2024
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
External links
