What the players are wearing is the first and most obvious thing onlookers notice in team sports. It is referred to overall as a uniform, with the top called a jersey in most North American sports, but known as kit in soccer. The other difference is that North American pro clubs in other sports have the team logo as most prominent on the front of the jersey while pro soccer teams have the main-sponsor’s logo displayed most prominently on the front with the team logo on an upper corner.
Kit-reveal day is also a bigger deal in the soccer world than it is in other sports and Island-based Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League held its on Wednesday.
The main-sponsor logo will change for the Tridents this season with the Telus logo to be displayed on the front of the PFC jersey after sporting the Volkswagen logo for the first four seasons of the club’s history. The CPL announced Telus as a major sponsor this week with its brand name to appear on the PFC jerseys at least through the 2027 CPL season.
The main kit will remain the club’s traditional purple with burnished-gold trim and a pattern of geometric forms. The “sublimated” image of a growling spirit bear can be made out under the Telus lettering. The lighter alternate kit, described as pale teal, has swirling patterns said to represent West Coast ocean waves, surfing, sailing and paddling.
“Our club takes great pride in our home on Vancouver Island and the beauty and nature that we have all around us,” PFC managing-director Paul Beirne said in a statement.
PFC will also retain its heralded and award-winning, Indigenous-themed third kit, designed by Coast Salish artist Maynard Johnny Jr.
The Tridents open their fifth season in the CPL against expansion club Vancouver FC on April 15 at Starlight Stadium in Langford. Vancouver FC’s kit is black with grey trim and CIBC as the sponsor name across the chest. The design features the names of 53 Lower Mainland communities lightly embossed all over the jersey. The alternate jersey features horizontal black and red stripes.
Primary sponsor names or logos on the other CPL team kits this season will be WestJet for Calgary-based Cavalry FC, OneSoccer for Winnipeg-based Valour FC, Carlsberg for York United of the Greater Toronto Area, Tim Hortons for Forge FC of Hamilton, Ont., Maple Lodge Farms for Atletico Ottawa and Volkswagen for the HFX Wanderers of Halifax, N.S.
