Toronto FC II is a Canadian professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, that competes in

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

, a third tier league of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Although sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by a system o ...

. It is the reserve team and minor league affiliate of

Toronto FC Toronto Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Toronto. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. The team plays its home matc ...

as well as in partnership with

Toronto FC Academy Toronto FC Academy, also known as TFC Academy, is the Youth system, youth academy and development system of Canadian Major League Soccer club Toronto FC, which competes in MLS Next. The academy has divisions from U14 to U19 and includes over 110 ...

History

Pre-history

Upon their entrance into

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

fielded their reserves in the

MLS Reserve League The MLS Reserve League was a association football, soccer league for the reserve teams of Major League Soccer with teams in both the United States and Canada. It was inaugurated on April 9, 2005, with the first official reserve game being a 2 ...

from 2007 to 2013. In 2014, Toronto FC entered into a one-year partnership with the

Wilmington Hammerheads Wilmington Hammerheads FC was a semi-professional American soccer team based in Wilmington, North Carolina. Founded in 1996, the team last competed in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid in 2017. Histor ...

of the USL to serve as their affiliate, with whom they would loan players to.

Formation

On November 20, 2014, Toronto FC announced the creation of a reserve team that would play in the third-tier

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

under the name Toronto FC II. The team began play in March 2015, playing at the then-newly constructed 3,500-seat stadium at the

Ontario Soccer Centre The Zanchin Automotive Soccer Centre, formerly known as The Soccer Centre, is a Canadian competition, training and education facility, focusing on growing the game of soccer. It is located in Vaughan, Ontario, 20 km north-west of downtown ...

Vaughan Vaughan ( ) (2022 population 344,412) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located in the Regional Municipality of York, just north of Toronto. Vaughan was the fastest-growing municipality in Canada between 1996 and 2006 with its population increa ...

, just north-northwest of Toronto. They played their first match on June 27, 2015, against

. From 2017, the USL was sanctioned as a second-tier league. On July 2, 2018, the team announced they would move down from the United Soccer League to

USL League One USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's association football, soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019 USL League One season, 2019. The United States soccer league system, Division III league is operated ...

for the league's first season in 2019. TFC II played in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

for the first SK Summer Soccer Series, which was hosted by the

Saskatchewan Selects The Saskatchewan Selects are an exhibition soccer team based on Saskatchewan that has played matches against other Canadian soccer teams. The team was created to establish a foundation for professional soccer in the province. History In March 2 ...

. The Selects defeated TFC II 2–0. In July 2020, the team withdrew from the

2020 USL League One season The 2020 USL League One season was the second season of USL League One. The regular season was scheduled to begin on March 27 and end on October 3. On March 13, it was announced the regular season start would be delayed to April 11 due to the CO ...

, due to travel restrictions caused by 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 ...

. They returned to the league in

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, beginning the season at the Grande Sports World training facility in

Casa Grande, Arizona Casa Grande (O'odham language, O'odham: ''Wainom Wo:g'') is a city in Pinal County, Arizona, Pinal County, approximately halfway between Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, Tucson, in the U.S. state of Arizona. According to the 2020 ...

, due to continued travel restrictions caused by the continuing pandemic. After playing their first three home games there, following three home games were played at Osceola Heritage Park in

Kissimmee, Florida Kissimmee ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Osceola County, Florida, Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a principal city of the Greater Orlando, O ...

. Toronto FC II ultimately resumed playing their home games in Toronto on July 30, 2021, when they hosted

Greenville Triumph SC Greenville Triumph SC is a professional association football, soccer team based in Greenville, South Carolina, United States. The club began play in USL League One in 2019. History The formation of USL D3 was first announced in April 2017, and ...

at the BMO Training Ground.

MLS Next Pro

The club announced on December 6, 2021, that it was joining the 21-team

for the inaugural 2022 season. In their debut season, they qualified for their first-ever playoff berth, after winning the Northeast Division. After defeating Philadelphia Union 2 in the Conference semi-finals, they were defeated by

Columbus Crew 2 Columbus Crew 2 is a professional soccer team based in Columbus, Ohio that competes in the MLS Next Pro league, the third division of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Colum ...

in extra time in the Conference finals.

Players and staff

Roster

Technical staff

Record

Coach History

Jason Bent Jason Andrew Bent (born March 8, 1977) is a Canadian former soccer player and current assistant coach for LA Galaxy. A midfielder, he played in Major League Soccer for the Colorado Rapids, 2. Bundesliga for FSV Zwickau and the Football League ...

(2015–2017) * Laurent Guyot (2018) * Michael Rabasca (2018–2019) * Mike Muñoz (2020–2021) *

Gianni Cimini Gianni Cimini (born July 7, 1983) is a Canadian soccer coach, who serves as head coach of Toronto FC II in MLS Next Pro. Playing career He played youth soccer with the Woodbridge Strikers and also played for the Team Ontario provincial team. ...

(2022–present)

Stadium

The expansion Toronto FC II hosted their games at a new stadium constructed at the

beginning with the first season in 2015. However, after the planned expansion of the OSC to 5,000 seats, which is a minimum requirement set by 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 ...

for the USL to be sanctioned as a division 2 league, did not materialize, the club announced that it would move its home games to

BMO Field BMO Field is an outdoor stadium located at Exhibition Place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Constructed on the former Exhibition Stadium site and first opened in 2007, it is the home field of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and Toronto Ar ...

and

Lamport Stadium Allan A. Lamport Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium on King Street West in the Liberty Village neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the practice facility for the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. It is also a part-t ...

beginning with the 2018 season. In 2018, the team used

Monarch Park Stadium Monarch Park Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the intersection of Hanson Street and Coxwell Avenue next to Monarch Park Collegiate. Monarch Park Stadium is used mostly for amateur soccer, basebal ...

for one game in May, relocated one game to Charlotte, and relocated another four games to Rochester's

Marina Auto Stadium Rochester Community Sports Complex Stadium, also called the "downtown soccer stadium", is a soccer-specific stadium in Rochester, New York within the Rochester Community Sports Complex. It is home to the Flower City Union of the National Premie ...

, while waiting on availability at

. With their drop to the division 3

for the 2019 season, the team moved their home games to

BMO Training Ground BMO Training Ground is the practice facility of Toronto FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) and its minor league reserve team Toronto FC II of MLS Next Pro, and the home of the TFC Academy of MLS Next. The facility, which opened in 2012 and featur ...

. On April 4, 2022, after the team left USL League One to join the newly formed

, Toronto FC II announced that

York Lions Stadium York Lions Stadium is an outdoor sports stadium on the Keele Campus of Toronto's York University in the former city of North York. It is home to the York Lions, the varsity teams of York University, the Toronto Arrows of Major League Rugby and ...

would serve as their new home stadium, while also playing 2 home games at

as a second match of a double header with their parent club,

References

External links

*
Official website
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