For the Canadian Premier League's youngest club, age is just a number. In their inaugural season, Vancouver FC made TJ Tahid the youngest signing in league history, and the 16-year-old went on to set records as the youngest player to appear and score in a CPL match. This off-season the club broke their own record when they put pen to paper with then-15-year-old Grady McDonnell. They also added 18-year-old Dominic Rajna to the coaching staff, who is on track to become the youngest UEFA A licensed coach in history. That extends to the front office as well, where following the club's first season, 27-year-old Surrey, B.C. native Jeevin Kang was promoted to the role of Director of Football. Kang, who grew up playing with the Vancouver Whitecaps Academy and represented Canada at the youth level, largely traded his boots for the boardroom during University -- but is making a major impact on the game in British Columbia. This off-season, he played a major role in the significant homecoming orchestrated by Vancouver FC, as B.C.-born players like Ben Fisk, David Norman, Zach Verhoven and Paris Gee all returned to their home province to sign with the club. Not only did VFC add crucial CPL experience with those signings, but also recognizable names and faces within the community. "For me, it hits home a bit more, the David Normans, the Kadin Chungs, I grew up playing alongside these guys," Kang told CanPL.ca. "Playing alongside them as a kid I think helped in my recruitment process because I know them as an individual and as a person.” Speak with Kang, and his passion for the club and the sport in the province is immediately evident. It's that sort of infectious energy and commitment throughout Vancouver FC that the club believes will be a big difference-maker in its second season in the league. “Being a hometown boy who grew up only 15 minutes from where our stadium is, to become Director of Football and have a true say in the roster composition and the football side of the club closest to home is honestly a dream come true," said Kang.
Kang grew up playing for Surrey FC, where he was part of the very first season of the BCSPL. He was then recruited to join the Whitecaps U-14 residency program in 2010, where he started by training at the Simon Fraser University campus. “It was long days, I remember being in Grade 9 and getting off school at 2:45 and having to catch the bus at 3:10 to get to training for 5, so it was long days for sure but I loved it," said Kang. "I would do whatever it took to get there.” He says that being in a professional footballing environment from such a young age is a big reason why he is where he is today. While he was with the Whitecaps, he received a call-up to the Canadian U-18 national team for the 2014 Tournoi International U-18 de Limoge, where Canada faced Uruguay, Ukraine and France, matching up against the likes of Ousmane Dembélé and Marcus Thuram. When he turned 18, however, he had a decision to make: whether to take a gap year from school and try to push into the Whitecaps USL team, or play collegiate football. In the end, he elected to pursue a Business Administration and Management degree at UBC Okanagan. A key factor in that choice was that the soccer coach was Dante Zanatta, father of his friend and now Pacific FC player Dario. After playing four seasons at UBCO, despite being one of the all-time leaders in matches played in Canada West, Kang decided to largely hang up the boots and pursue the business side of the game. In February 2020, he moved to Australia to pursue a Masters of Business (Sport Management) at Deakin University. A month later, the world shut down for COVID-19 -- especially in Australia, where lockdowns were significant including $1,500 fines for anyone out after a 9 p.m. curfew without good reason. This allowed him to lock in on his studies, though. He took on a second Master's degree with Real Madrid's graduate school in Football Coaching and Sport Direction. That included getting to go to Madrid, and see the club's academy structure in action. “As my final thesis for the Real Madrid course I chose to do a 100-page report on starting a CPL team in Surrey," said Kang with a smile. “So seeing things kind of come full circle, we're not necessarily in Surrey, but I was actually looking back at it a couple of months ago and talking to [Vancouver FC CEO] Rob Friend about it and some of the things kind of came to fruition -- even the details, like how many local boys we wanted on the squad.”
His path back home, and eventually to Vancouver FC came after another significant decision -- should he return home, or continue to pursue his craft in Australia? Ultimately though, his family, friends and connections in the footballing world led him back to B.C. Kang initially took a role as a Director of Operations at Surrey FC, and when the club hosted the U-17 nationals in October 2022, he invited VFC to come check out the event. He got talking to a team employee, who asked for his résumé after Kang expressed interest in joining the club. A week later he was in Vancouver FC's downtown office meeting with head coach Afshin Ghotbi and Friend. “Rob goes ‘Okay, we want you to be our Swiss army knife this year,” said Kang. “I go, ‘Okay, don’t know what that means necessarily, but I’m in’.” What that meant was filling any number of roles for the club under the title of Manager of Football, including being a player liaison and club secretary, and everything from picking up players from the airport, to sorting out housing, banking and booking flights. Around that time the club also hired Stuart Neely, an experienced soccer administrator with a long résumé in the game in this country. Kang shared an office with Neely, who quickly became a mentor, and he spent the day peppering him with questions -- an experience Kang says was essential to preparing him for what came next. Neely left the club that summer which meant another twist in Kang's story. “A couple hours later maybe I get a call from Rob Friend, and Rob goes ‘You ready to step up?’ and I go ‘Honestly Rob, not really, but I’ll do it'," Kang says with a laugh. The first few months on the job were difficult, as Vancouver looked to turn over their roster after finishing seventh in their inaugural season, as he worked through a number of mutual terminations and player departures. But he did well enough that at the end of the season, Vancouver FC offered him the job full-time. That's when he, Ghotbi and Friend quickly got to work building a rejuvenated squad for season two. First, it was drafting and eventually signing Coquitlam's Thomas Powell in the CPL-U SPORTS Draft. Then came the signings of Vancouver's Ben Fisk, New Westminster's David Norman, and Burnaby-born pair Paris Gee and Zach Verhoven. Vancouver local Grady McDonnell became the youngest signing in league history, while Matteo Campagna signed out of the Whitecaps academy. Kang's familiarity with several of these players proved crucial in the signing process. “In my opinion, it means a lot more for the players who are playing in front of their friends and family," said Kang. "The CPL is such a tight league, and anyone can win on any given day, that that extra motivation of playing in front of your friends, your family, your hometown is enough to win a championship if fostered correctly and with the right culture.” Not only is this important for the club on the field, he says, but also critically in the connection to the wider Lower Mainland community. When these players go on school day visits, they actually attended those schools growing up. When they go to local soccer clubs, they had previously played for those teams, giving the next generation a tangible vision of how they too could follow in those footsteps.
Providing an unprecedented pathway for players in the lower mainland is a central part of Vancouver FC's identity. For Kang, it's personal; he saw first-hand how the province's lack of professional options let many local players down while he was growing up. On top of bringing experienced B.C. talent back to the province, the club has gone out and recruited the best young talent in the area. This off-season they signed McDonnell from the Whitecaps academy, as well as 16-year-old Joey Buchanan from the club's open trials. At the CPL level, there is the opportunity to pair these young players with experienced professionals. Vancouver FC made a point of putting McDonnell's locker next to 38-year-old midfielder Renan Garcia. The Brazilian not only plays McDonnell's position but has done so at the very highest level including in the Italian Serie A. Kang sees parallels in what the club did sitting him beside Neely in his first year. After incredibly successful seasons for 16-year-old TJ Tahid and 19-year-old James Cameron in year one, both of whom have since gone on to represent Canada at the youth level, there is a clear proof of concept. “We want to push them on to the biggest leagues in the world," said Kang. "We want to find the next Alphonso [Davies], right? We want them playing in UEFA Champions League matches at the end of the day, we want them to represent our country at the World Cup. I think using the CPL as a starting point for them in professional football is absolutely brilliant." Kang believes this year's squad is a perfect mix of that exciting young talent looking to push through a challenge for positions, local boys and experienced internationals who can surround them with quality and experience. After learning the league in year one, Vancouver FC has pulled no punches when it comes to ambitions for year two. “We are coming for the league title, we're coming for the playoff title, we're coming for the Canadian Championship," said Kang. "We want to be the first team to do the double in a year, and I honestly believe we have the roster to do it.”' They are certainly off to an impressive start to the season after a dominant 4-1 victory over Valour in their season opener at home on Sunday. Like Kang, the club is out to prove in 2024 that while they may be young, they mean business.

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