Calgary Foothills WFC is a Canadian soccer club based in

Calgary Calgary () is a major city in the Canadian province of Alberta. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806 making it the third-largest city and fifth-largest metropolitan area in C ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

that currently plays in

United Women's Soccer United Women's Soccer (UWS) is a national pro-am Women's association football, women's Association football, soccer league in the United States. The league was founded in 2015 as a response to the dual problems of disorganization in the Women's ...

and

League1 Alberta League1 Alberta (L1AB) is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Alberta, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Alberta Soccer Association as a third division pro–am league in the Canadi ...

. The club was founded as a youth club in 1972 and in 2017 as a UWS franchise. The team is the women's team of

Calgary Foothills FC Calgary Foothills Football Club is a Canadian soccer club based in Calgary, Alberta, that competes in League1 Alberta (L1AB). The club was founded as a youth club in 1972 and joined as a USL2 franchise in 2015. The team plays its home games at ...

History

The Calgary Foothills Soccer Club was founded in 1972 as a youth soccer club. In 2014, the club formed a men's semi-pro side to play in the US-based

Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

to begin play in 2015. In 2015, the club formed a women's side, playing a season of exhibition matches in 2015, with the aim to compete in the

USL W-League USL W-League may refer to: * USL W League * USL W-League (1995–2015) The USL W-League was a North American amateur women's soccer developmental organization. The league was a semi-professional, open league, giving college players the oppor ...

beginning in 2016. However, the W-League unexpectedly folded after the 2015 season, leaving the club without a league to play in. In 2015, they played a series of 7 friendlies, including a 1–0 victory over the W-League West-leading

Seattle Sounders Women Sound Football Club is an American women's soccer team in the Women's Premier Soccer League. Sound FC play its home games at Starfire Sports Stadium in Tukwila, Washington, six miles south of downtown Seattle. The team was founded in 2000 as ...

. The club planned to switch to the UWS for 2016, but those plans were put on hold after the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (; branded as Canada Soccer) is the governing body for soccer in Canada. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the international, professional, a ...

denied the applications of the

Laval Comets The Laval Comets () was a Canadian women's soccer team established in 2006 in the city of Laval, Quebec, Canada, a northern suburb of Montreal. The team was a member of the W-League, the second tier of women’s soccer in the United States and ...

and Quebec Dynamo for the 2016 UWS. The following year in 2017, they did manage to join the UWS, becoming the first Canadian team in the US-based league, after receiving their sanctioning from the CSA,

Alberta Soccer Association The Alberta Soccer Association (ASA) is the governing body for soccer in the Canadian province of Alberta. The association was formed in 1911 as the ''Alberta Football Association''. The ASA is a member of the national governing body, the Cana ...

, and the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

. The club's inaugural UWS game was played on May 26, 2017, against Real Salt Lake Women, with Foothills suffering a 3–0 defeat. The club finished their inaugural season coming in second place in the West Conference. In

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

, the Foothills won their first West Conference title, advancing to the league playoffs where they lost in the semi-finals. In

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, they repeated as West Division Champions, earning a berth in the Final Four tournament for the second year, as well as earning the right to host the tournament at

Mount Royal University Mount Royal University (MRU) is a public university in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Originally “Mount Royal College,” Mount Royal University was granted university status in 2009 by the provincial government. The university has an average class s ...

field. After defeating the Lancaster Inferno in the semifinals, Foothills would lose the 2019 UWS Championship 1–0 to LA Galaxy OC in front of over 1000 fans. In June 2020, the UWS would announce the cancellation of the 2020 season due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

and as such, Calgary Foothills would not play that season. They returned to action in 2021, with a match against a new Canadian expansion franchise from Edmonton, SASA Impact FC, in the first all-Canadian UWS match. In the 2022 season they would win all 10 of their regular season games, before eventually losing to Chicago Mustangs in the 2022 UWS Finals. In 2021, the club became part of a group looking to create a new Canadian pro-am women's league. In 2022, it was announced that the club would be, alongside

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

, one of eight teams in a new Canadian women's pro-league started by former national team player

Diana Matheson Diana Beverly Matheson (born April 6, 1984) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played for the Canada national team from 2003 to 2020 and multiple professional women's teams over the course of her career. She is best known for ...

. The league will debut in 2025 as the

Northern Super League The Northern Super League (NSL; ) is a Canada soccer league system#Women, top-division professional women's association football, women's soccer league in Canada. The league is owned and operated by Project 8 Sports, Inc., and includes six team ...

with six teams. In 2023, they added a second team to play in

, while also continuing to play in United Women's Soccer.

Supporters' Groups

The Foot Soldiers were founded in February 2015 with the intention of bringing a passionate atmosphere to Calgary Foothills FC games.

Seasons

First team Second team

Women

References

{{Soccer in Calgary Foothills WFC United Women's Soccer teams League1 Alberta clubs Association football clubs established in 2015 2015 establishments in Alberta