It was a winning weekend of soccer for Surrey FC on home turf from Sept. 19 to 22.
Newton Athletic Park played host to the 2024 edition of the regional Masters tournaments for men’s and women’s amateur clubs. The annual Canada Soccer-backed competition features men’s over-35 and women’s over-30 clubs from across Canada at two locations each September.
In Surrey, four men's teams battled for the Western Canadian championship, while six teams shot for the women's title.
In the end, host Surrey FC Pegasus won the men's championship with a 2-0 victory over Team Saskatchewan in Sunday's final, while Team Alberta (Edmonton Angels Scottish FC) won it all on the women's side.
"We allowed just one goal in our three round-robin games," noted Sim Sumra, president of Surrey FC. "Our first game against Manitoba, we won 5-1, then we beat Alberta, Calgary, 3-0. Then it just happened to be that Saskatchewan and us met in the final, I guess you could call it a final. We'd both won our round-robin games prior to that, so whoever won that game would win the tournament."
On the other side of the country, men's provincial winners from Ontario, Québec, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland & Labrador played their tournament in St. John’s.
The Masters soccer tournaments have been held for a couple of decades, Sumra noted, "but there was nobody to host it this year. So we reached out to Canada Soccer back in June or July.
"Our masters team was supposed to be at nationals but we hadn't heard anything about the tournament happening," Sumra continued. "Canada Soccer got back to us saying nobody had stepped up to host it so there won't be a tournament, so we talked about it and said, 'We'll host it.' It turned out great, with probably close to 600, 700 people watching the men's final game yesterday (Sept. 22), which was great."
Now Surrey FC looks ahead to hosting the adult national soccer championships at Newton Athletic Park from Oct. 9-14. Officially known as the Toyota National Championships, the two tournaments will feature top amateur teams from across Canada battling for the men's Challenge Trophy and the women's Jubilee Trophy.
B.C. will be repped by four teams including Surrey United FC and Coquitlam Metro-Ford (women) and Vancouver United FC and Coquitlam Metro-Ford (men). Look for schedules and other tournament details on canadasoccer.com/events/toyota-national-championships.
"Both events promise to bring an incredible atmosphere and a community of passionate soccer fans to our area," raved Sarb Lidder, with Surrey FC. "We’d love for you to join us and experience these exciting competitions as our club proudly showcases the pinnacle of amateur soccer."
This year marks the 100th edition of Canada Soccer’s national amateur competitions since first inaugurated in 1913. In Newton, the 16 teams will play 36 matches.
"We hosted the adult tournaments seven years ago, so it's been awhile," Sumra noted. "We have a great relationship with Canada Soccer and have hosted their tournaments here before, including the U-17s a couple years ago and the masters nationals.
"We had the one tournament cancelled last-minute during COVID," he added. "And just a head's up, we've put in a bid for the 2026 U17s, and we'll be finding out shortly if we're hosting that as well. Canada Soccer absolutely loves the facility (Newton Athletic Park), and so do the teams that play there. Having those nine fields, the quality of those fields and the location, that's very desirable. Our partnership with Sport Surrey, they just find a really good match. We're thankful for that and all the help the city provides us to host these kinds of big tournaments."
Canada Soccer’s Toyota National Championships are hosted every October across six divisions in three venues. Elsewhere this fall, the U-17 Cup competition for boys and girls will be played in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, and the U-15 Cup competition for boys and girls is in Quinte West, Ontario.
The U-17 boys tournament will see Surrey BC Tigers FC compete for a national championship starting Oct. 9. Nine years ago, the team "embarked on their journey with a dream and a determination to excel in the game of soccer," according to a post on the fundraising website gofundme.com, where more than $22,000 has been raised to send the team to Nova Scotia.
The Tigers won the Provincial A Cup in 2023 and again in 2024, "proving their tenacity and consistency on the field." Manager Swarnjit Grewal has guided the team for nearly a decade. Coached by Patrick Adamczewski, the players are Angad Gill, Gursehaj Sandhu, Humaid Abbasi, Sahej Hayer, Joshua Masilya (captain), Andrew Sarkodie, Justin Mann, Jagjot Bathal, Alejandro Carrilo, Navjot Gill, Shivnesh Pillay, Pritish Bagga, Jaiten Grewal, Aman Nagra, Alessandro Campanile, Verdhaan Sidhu, Aryan Madani, Armaan Cheema and Bhavanveer Sekhon.
