-
History
The Voyageurs first appearance at a match came at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, on August 30, 1996, displaying two banners at Canada's match with Panama to kick off the 1998 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign. The group developed a strong online presence through the hard work of early members like Edmonton's Reza Khalili in an effort to help foster a pro-Canada support for our national teams when they played at home. The name "The Voyageurs" was chosen by Vancouver’s Martin Rose for being bilingual and for reflecting the difficult task ahead for supporters of Canadian soccer.
Throughout the years the Voyageurs presence at home games grew and famous Voyageurs banners like “Super Canucks” became a staple at Canada matches. Although the group was growing Canadian soccer still struggled through a difficult period and home games were few and far between, in a pre-social media world members of the group were able to show their appreciation to our players through initiatives like an annual Christmas card mailing to all Canadian pros abroad.
In the early 2000s without a domestic league no professional national championship the Voyageurs took matters into their own hands and through private member donations created and funded the Voyageurs Cup for Canada’s best men’s club team. Between 2002 and 2007 the trophy was awarded to the Canadian USL-1 (formerly the A-League) side finishing the regular season with the best record in intra-Canadian league matches. In 2008 Canada Soccer created a new Canadian Championship and the winner is now awarded the Voyageurs Cup. The trophy is still presented to the winning team every year by a member of the group.
As the Voyageurs numbers grew we continued supporting our men’s and women’s teams at games across the country as well as organizing trips to away games around the world and the game in Canada continued to grow alongside the Voyageurs. In recent years Canada has hosted the 2002 U-19 Women’s World Cup, the 2007 U-20 Men’s World Cup, the 2014 U-20 Women’s World Cup and the 2015 Women’s World Cup with loud Voyageurs sections leading the home crowds at every match. In 2019 Canada launched its own men’s professional league the Canadian Premier League, the first domestic pro league in Canada for more than twenty years. As we look towards hosting the Men’s World Cup in 2026 the Voyageurs are sure to be an essential part of the future of Canadian soccer.