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| Full name | Football Club London |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2008 (asForest City London) |
| Stadium | Tricar Field |
| Capacity | 900 |
| Owner | Dave DeBenedictis |
| Head Coach | Yiannis Tsalatsidis (men) Diogo Marinho (women) |
| League | League1 Ontario |
| 2024 | L1O-C, 2nd - promoted (men) L1O-P, 2nd (women) |
| Website | www |
 Current season | |
| Toronto FC | ||||||
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| Active teams | ||||||
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| Affiliates | ||||||
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FC London is a Canadian semi-professionalsoccer club based inLondon,Ontario that plays in the men's and women's divisions ofLeague1 Ontario Premier in the Canadian third tier.[1]
The team was founded in 2008 asForest City London Soccer Club, and were a member of thePremier Development League from 2009 to 2015; they won the2012 PDL title, their first championship during this time. They re-branded to FC London following their move to League1 Ontario in 2016, being officially named Football Club London.
In 2017, the club partnered withToronto FC. FC London's youth teams were renamed London TFC, while the senior team retained the name FC London, but changed its colours to red to match those of Toronto FC.
Founded in 2008, Forest City London joined thePremier Development League in 2009.[2] In their first season, they had to split home matches between four stadiums.[3] and played their first ever game on May 29, 2009, againstCleveland Internationals.[4] London won the game 2–1, with the first goal in franchise history being scored by Kevin Zimmermann.[5]
London's debut season was a generally positive one; they remained unbeaten over the course of their first ten games, winning seven games. London's first loss was a 3–1 drop to theIndiana Invaders at the beginning of July, and it initiated a complete reversal of fortune for the team. They did not win another game all season and dropped down the divisional standings. The team finished third in the Great Lakes Division, seven points behind divisional champions Kalamazoo, and faced off againstChicago Fire Premier in the first round of the playoffs. London lost their playoff match 1–0 to the Illinoisans on a goal byAndre Akpan. Kevin Zimmermann and Alan McGreal were London's top scorers in their debut season, with nine and seven goals respectively, whileAnthony Di Biase contributed four assists.
They won the2012 PDL Championship defeatingCarolina Dynamo in the finals.[6] The won their first Great Lakes division title thefollowing season.[7]
The club moved toLeague1 Ontario in 2016, adding teams in both the male andfemale divisions.[8] The club went under new ownership and were renamed Football Club London following the move to L1O.[9]
The women's team won the league title in the 2016 and 2017 seasons by winning the league division, while also winning the League Cup in 2017.[10] They won the league division again in 2018, but fell in the semi-finals in the new playoff format.[11] In 2019, they finished third in the regular season, but won the league championship, defeatingOakville Blue Devils in the playoff final.[12]
The men's team won the Western Conference in their debut season in L1O in 2016, but fell toVaughan Azzurri in the championship final.[13] In 2018, they finished as regular season champions, but ultimately fell in the playoffs.[14] During the 2019 season, they defeatedAlliance United in the two legged playoff semi-finals by a 15–0 aggregate score, after victories of 5–0 and 10–0 across the two legs, respectively,[15] before ultimately falling toMaster's FA in the championship final.[16]
In the latter part of 2017, the club became a partner ofMajor League Soccer clubToronto FC, with the club being renamed London TFC, although the senior side retained the name FC London, under which it still competes in L1O.[17] As part of the rebrand, FC London changed their club colours and logo to red to match those of Toronto FC.[18][19] In 2022, the club changed ownership from Ian Campbell to a group led by Dave DeBenedictis, the director of the London TFC Academy.[20]
In 2024, the women's team won the league cup, in the first edition of the competition since 2018.[21]
The following players have either moved on to the professional ranks after their time with FC London, or played professionally before joining the club.
Men
Women
| Season | League | Record | Regular season | Playoffs | League Cup | Canadian Championship | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Premier Development League | 8–3–5 | 3rd, Great Lakes | Divisional Semifinals | — | not eligible | [22] |
| 2010 | 10–1–5 | 2nd, Great Lakes | Conference Semifinals | [22] | |||
| 2011 | 9–5–2 | 3rd, Great Lakes | Conference Quarterfinals | [22] | |||
| 2012 | 7–5–4 | 2nd, Great Lakes | Champions | [22] | |||
| 2013 | 10–2–2 | 1st, Great Lakes | Conference Final | [22] | |||
| 2014 | 6–4–4 | 4th, Great Lakes | did not qualify | [22] | |||
| 2015 | 9–4–1 | 3rd, Great Lakes | Divisional Playoff | [22] | |||
| 2016 | League1 Ontario | 15–2–5 | 1st, West | Runner-up | Round of 16 | [23] | |
| 2017 | 11–5–6 | 4th, West | did not qualify | Quarter-finals | [23] | ||
| 2018 | 12–2–2 | 1st (overall) | Group stage | Quarter-finals | did not qualify | [23] | |
| 2019 | 8–1–6 | 7th (overall) | Runner-up | — | did not qualify | [23] | |
| 2020 | Season cancelled due toCOVID-19 pandemic[24] | ||||||
| 2021 | 8–0–4 | 3rd, West | did not qualify | — | did not qualify | ||
| 2022 | 2–4–15 | 22nd | did not qualify | — | did not qualify | ||
| 2023 | 6–7–7 | 13th | did not qualify | — | did not qualify | ||
| 2024 | League1 Ontario Championship | 13–2–3 | 2nd ↑ | – | Round of 16 | did not qualify | |
| Season | League | Teams | Record | Rank | Playoffs | League Cup | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | League1 Ontario | 9 | 14–0–2 | Champions | – | Semi-finals | [25] |
| 2017 | 11 | 15–3–2 | Champions | – | Champions | [25] | |
| 2018 | 13 | 11–1–0 | 1st | Semi-finals | Quarter-finals | [25] | |
| 2019 | 14 | 7–3–3 | 3rd | Champions | – | [25] | |
| 2020 | Season cancelled due toCOVID-19 pandemic[24] | ||||||
| 2021 | 7 | 9–2–1 | 1st | Semi-finals | – | [25] | |
| 2022 | 20 | 13–2–4 | 4th | Semi-finals | – | [25] | |
| 2023 | 19 | 9–5–4 | 6th | Semi-finals | – | [25] | |
| 2024 | League1 Ontario Premier | 10 | 12–2–4 | 2nd | – | Champions | |
Attendance[26]
| Men's national teams | |||||||||
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| Men's outdoor leagues |
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| Women's outdoor leagues |
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| Cup competitions |
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| Defunct Canadian leagues | |||||||||
| Defunct American leagues |
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