Vancouver Whitecaps supporters travel deep for Concacaf Champions Cup final | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

It’s a very, very good time to be a Vancouver Whitecaps FC supporter.

The surprising, inspiring ‘Caps sit atop the Western Conference table, having gone 15 matches unbeaten across all competitions. And on Sunday they will vie for the continent’s top honor in the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup final against Cruz Azul in Mexico City (9 pm ET | FS1, OneSoccer; TUDN, ViX), after turning heads across North America and beyond with both the quality and bravery of their play to this point.

It promises to be one of the biggest matches in an overarching history that dates back to 1974, when the first iteration of the Whitecaps took the pitch in the old NASL, and upwards of 800 fans are making the lengthy trip – a five-and-a-half-hour flight of nearly 2,500 miles/4,000 kilometers – from British Columbia to CDMX to witness it in person.

“The feeling around the team right now, it's really one that I've never experienced in my 15 years supporting the Whitecaps, and it's created some incredible memories,” Tobyn Rootman, president of the Vancouver Albion supporters’ group, told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday.

“It's going to be an incredible experience,” he said of Sunday’s final. “The away end is going to be bumping, probably the biggest away end that I've ever been in for a ‘Caps away game, and with a lot of my close friends there. No matter the result, incredibly proud of how far this team has come, and the way they've let us believe in them and what they can accomplish.”

Away days

This weekend’s away day contingent will be more than twice as large as the substantial group that jetted to South Florida for the CCC semifinal clash with Inter Miami, many of them on a plane chartered by the club. Many thousands more will be following closely from back home, with VWFC’s official watch party outside BC Place having quickly reached its full ticketed capacity of 2,500.

“I can't even describe it. I've been on away days all across the US and Canada, and the feeling in Miami was probably the best away day I have ever been on,” said Rootman.

“There was just something so special about being with so many people who have followed this team for such a long time, so many people who were waiting for success like this, were waiting for a team that they felt represented who they are as supporters and how much they love the club. And being there with all the other supporters and players’ families in Miami, it was worth every penny, and I'm sure Mexico City will be as well.”

Deep connections

Rootman has rooted for VWFC for basically his entire life. He was just four years old when his father took him to the Whitecaps’ final match at Swangard Stadium, their home before joining MLS in 2011. After many ensuing years as a season-ticket holder, he co-founded Albion, a youth-led SG with the mission of making supporter culture accessible to younger fans, in 2021.

Rootman and many of the club’s other hardcore supporters have endured some lean years in VWFC’s MLS history. The ‘Caps have generally tended to run closer to the bottom of the standings than the top during that period, and they weathered a scandal surrounding the club's women's team several years back.

The collective vibe was fairly downcast even just a few months ago. Over the winter Vancouver transferred Designated Player Stuart Armstrong to Europe after a vanishingly short stint, parted ways with popular head coach Vanni Sartini and announced the club was being put up for sale. All of that, combined with what appeared to be only modest improvements to the roster, prompted pessimism in many quarters.

The grit and grace of these cardiac ‘Caps, led by new head coach Jesper Sørensen, has brought on a sudden and most welcome sea change.

“Going into the season, it wasn't a high mood amongst the fan base – and they've suffered a lot over the years,” explained Michael McColl, who has covered the Whitecaps for many years via Away From The Numbers, a longtime website and podcast. “They've seen their Cascadian rivals win MLS Cups. They've seen Seattle win the Champions Cup, and they already feel Vancouver's like a third wheel in the Cascadia derby; we’re a third wheel in the Canadian derby.

“So it was a tough offseason, but this has reignited the fan base,” he added. “The supporters' groups are actually going to training on Friday morning, and they're going to give the players a sendoff before the flight to Mexico late in the day, and they've been invited to other training sessions. It definitely really increased the bond. Supporters feel attached to the club now.”

Dreaming big

That connection was epitomized by a tifo unfurled in BC Place’s south end before kickoff of the first leg vs. Miami declaring, ‘You allowed us to dream again. 3 games to go. Give 'em hell, boys’ – a message that breakout midfielder Sebastian Berhalter later revealed nearly drove him to tears.

“The relationship between the club and supporters is also at an all-time high,” said Rootman.

“There have been times at this club where there was damage there, and I just want to shout out the front office. Obviously, the players have played a big part. When you have a positive feeling around the club and the team’s successful, that helps. But the front office has really embraced us as supporters and worked really hard to mend that relationship and create what right now is an incredibly strong bond.”

Sunday’s opponents are LIGA MX heavyweights, with a squad valued at €82.3 million (nearly US $93 million) by Transfermarkt.com and a sizable home-field advantage in CDMX’s lung-burning high altitude.

Yet Vancouver and their huge traveling party have built enormous belief on this unlikely run, in which they’ve dispatched Deportivo Saprissa, CF Monterrey, Pumas UNAM (via an epic late series winner at the very same Estadio Olímpico Universitario that’s hosting the final) and Miami – more than enough for them to dare to dream of one more epic ConcaChampions night.

“We all feel we're in this together,” said McColl. “If you'd said six months ago that this is 90 minutes away, you wouldn't have believed it. You'd have thought it was crazy. I don't think anyone would have believed it. And now we're going into this – as fans, as media, as players – thinking we're going to win this. We know we're the underdogs, but we feel we can go and win it.”

Vancouver Whitecaps: Is this the best CCC run ever?