Vaughan Azzurri


Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in League1 Ontario. 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.
They added their semi-professional club, under the name Vaughan Azzurri, to play in League1 Ontario in the inaugural season in 2014. 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.
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 York 9 FC as an assistant coach. In spring 2019, it was announced that previous First Team assistant coach and U21 head coach Patrice Gheisar would take over First Team operations.
Having won the 2018 League1 Ontario Championship, the Azzurri were awarded a berth to the first qualifying round of 2019 Canadian Championship. They played HFX Wanderers FC of the Canadian Premier League in a two-legged series and hosted their home match at the Ontario Soccer Centre. Vaughan Azzurri drew 3–3 on aggregate but failed to advance on away goals.
At the 2020 MLS SuperDraft, Vaughan had four of their players selected in the draft.
They added a women's club to participate in the inaugural 2015 women's season.

First team squad

Front office and technical staff

NamePosition
Patrice GheisarHead coach
Anthony VadoriAssistant coach
Francesco VescioStrength and conditioning coach
Tony De PalmaManager

Seasons

Men
SeasonLeagueTeamsRankPlayoffsLeague CupCanadian ChampionshipRef
2014League1 Ontario98–3–54th–Champions–
2015League1 Ontario1212–7–33rd–Quarter-finals–
2016League1 Ontario1617–4–11st, Eastern ChampionsChampions–
2017League1 Ontario1616–1–52nd, Eastern Did not qualifyRunner-up–
2018League1 Ontario1710–1–55thChampionsChampionsDid not qualify
2019League1 Ontario1612–1–22ndQuarter-finals–First qualifying round

Women
SeasonLeagueTeamsRankPlayoffsLeague CupRef
2015League1 Ontario710–5–33rd–Finalists
2016League1 Ontario98–5–34th–Champions
2017League1 Ontario1112–3–52nd–Semi-finals
2018League1 Ontario138–0–43rdSemi-finalsSemi-finals
2019League1 Ontario1410–1–22ndSemi-finals–

Honours