After months of waiting and wondering if there would be a season amid the coronavirus pandemic, Valour FC learned their fate on Wednesday when the Canadian Premier League unveiled plans for their 2020 campaign.
The CPL will hold a tournament-style season in the hub city of Charlottetown, P.E.I. in what they’ve dubbed “The Island Games.” Valour FC will play a seven-game schedule where they will face every team once starting in just two weeks’ time, on Aug. 13.
“Let the games begin,” Valour FC general manager and head coach Rob Gale exclaimed.
“Exciting for everybody — the players, the coaches, ownership, fans.”
“It’s what we’ve been waiting for and looking forward to, and hoping that everything could be organized, and now we have a road map.”
READ MORE: Valour FC names midfielders Carreiro and Fordyce as new captains of Winnipeg team
The club was completely shut down for more than three months, but recently started practicing again in small groups. Valour FC will still be adding a few new players, and after the entire team’s COVID-19 tests came back negative, the squad is scheduled to hold their first full-contact training session on Thursday.
Valour FC is currently self-isolating as a team. Players and coaches will have to pass another coronavirus test before they can enter the bubble in P.E.I. and will need two more clear tests after they arrive before they can take to the pitch. Once the tournament begins, players in the bubble will be tested weekly.
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A short tournament probably won’t favour a team like Valour FC who had a lot of turnover on their roster over the winter, but Gale is still a fan of the format where the top four clubs will advance to a six-match group stage playoff.
“I think it’s a great way of doing it,” Gale said. “You get to play every team once, which is excellent.
“I think they’ve come up with a really interesting and exciting format that gives everybody a great chance. And it’ll be a sprint because of the number of days it’s going to be covered in.”
There’ll be no exhibition games and all the matches will be contested at UPEI Alumni Field behind closed doors in what the league calls “a sequestered environment.”
READ MORE: Canadian Premier League season will not start on time for 2020 season: commissioner
Leaving family behind for more than a month is certainly not the ideal situation, but it was really the only realistic solution for the fledgling league that is entering its second season.
“It’s a bit difficult obviously for some people that have kids especially,” Valour FC midfielder Dylan Carreiro said. “But we know we’re all looking forward to it. We’re all excited that there’s a tournament and we’re able to play some games, so there’s time where we have to sacrifice things, and this is a time where we sacrifice, and we make sure that we go there to not only be playing for Valour FC, but we go there to win games, and come back with the trophy.”
Valour FC finished fifth among the seven teams in the inaugural season with five wins, nine losses, and four draws. But the squad underwent major changes in the off-season.
“I think a lot of people will be surprised with the quality that we bring, and the results that we’re going to bring,” Carreiro said. “Many people from the outside have doubted us just because of how we were last year.
“They’ve done a great job in the off-season to bring in the right characters for this group.”
The team will head out to Charlottetown on Aug. 8.
The CPL’s full schedule will be released at a later date.
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