PREVIEW: Pacific FC vs. FC Supra du Québec | April 11, 2026

History has come to town in Langford, British Columbia this weekend, as FC Supra du Québec arrive to play their first-ever Canadian Premier League match against Pacific FC.

Supra, the CPL's newest club and the first based in the greater Montreal area, will kick off for the first time at Starlight Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Head coach Nick Razzaghi will manage his first CPL match, and in doing so inevitably hand professional debuts to several players. After months of preparation and squad-building, FC Supra will finally be able to showcase what they've been working on.

Pacific, of course, won't be much focused on the history of the occasion; the Vancouver Island side want nothing more than to bank their first win of the season. 

Last week, they hosted 2025 CPL finalists Cavalry FC, but goals on either side of halftime meant Pacific lost at home, despite Diego Konincks' late tally to make it a game.

A new season brings fresh optimism for the Tridents after they finished seventh a year ago, but last Sunday's loss was the club's first ever defeat in a home opener, having won all six prior.

The focus for Pacific will certainly be on creating more goalscoring opportunities. They've got talent up front with the likes of Marco Bustos, creating chances for any of Alejandro Diaz, Ronan Kratt or Yann Toualy, but conversion is key. Last week, the Tridents took 13 shots against Cavalry, but only one was on target — and it landed in the back of the net.

Pacific coach James Merriman is zeroing in on demanding a faster start from his team; they were under the gun quickly last week against Cavalry, which made it hard to get a foothold. This time around, he wants to take control early on.

Meanwhile, this match will naturally provide a lot of firsts for Supra: their first road trip, first starting XI, first chance to earn points in the CPL.

It's difficult to predict how exactly they'll line up, but it seems likely they'll lean on their players with CPL experience early in the season. A front three of David Choinière (recently named captain), Loïc Kwemi and Sean Rea would be the most natural combination, with Aboubacar Sissoko commanding midfield, but that leaves a lot of open spots in the XI.

The road trip out to Pacific is tough for any CPL team, so it's straight into the fire for FC Supra. How will they fare in their first real test?

NEWS & NOTES

• This will be the first match in FC Supra du Québec's club history. Their home opener is next weekend, Sunday, April 19, at Stade CEPSUM in Montreal against Atlético Ottawa.
• Pacific had five players make club debuts last week against Cavalry (Tristan Marshall, Diego Konincks, Joshua Belluz, Bul Juach and Taras Gomulka).
• PFC were missing several players last week, but captain Josh Heard will be eligible to return after serving a one-match suspension. Ronan Kratt is also back to full fitness, and Yann Toualy is available after missing last week.

PROJECTED STARTING XIs

Pacific FC: Himaras; Chung, Belluz, Konincks, Marshall; Gomulka, Baldisimo; Bustos, Daniels, Kratt; Díaz

FC Supra: Milli; Bayiha, Yeo, Chretien, Abzi; Boughanmi, Biello, Sissoko; Choinière, Kwemi, Rea

KEY QUOTES

"We need to start quicker. We're at home, we know that we want to be on the front foot at home. I think we played with a good urgency and tempo in the second half [last week]. We created more situations in the second half, more moments of control in the game. We started a little bit slow, and we can't do that at home." — Pacific FC head coach James Merriman

"It's a huge moment. It's been years we've been waiting for a team in this province, and to be able to step out on a field in a competitive match, it's going to be unbelievable. And that's only going to grow throughout the season because now we're having our first experience, and next Sunday we're going to be playing our first game at home; it's going to grow and grow and grow." — FC Supra head coach Nicholas Razzaghi