The Vancouver Whitecaps ended the 2025 season as MLS Cup runner-ups.
While it was a frustrating and heartbreaking ending, the club had the best season of their MLS era and set multiple club records. They made the final of all three competitions they were in and gained more fan interest.
The dust is settling on 2025, and the club is already looking ahead to 2026. Free agency opens at 10 AM Eastern on Wednesday, and Thursday is the MLS Re-entry draft. Over the next few weeks, the Whitecaps and other MLS clubs will deal with end-of-year waivers, the MLS SuperDraft, and other things. The Whitecaps report back on January 13. So, things are coming up fast.
On Tuesday afternoon, Sporting Director and CEO Axel Schuster and head coach Jesper Sørensen spoke to the media to reflect on 2025 and look ahead to 2026.
An Amazing 2025 Whitecaps Season
The Whitecaps finished second in the Western Conference with 63 points and made the final of every competition they competed in. The club and the fans are still reeling from Saturday’s MLS Cup loss, but the season as a whole was something to be proud of. Schuster was named the 2025 MLS Sporting Executive of the Year.
“Losing the last game hurts, it hurts a lot, I can tell you,” said Schuster. “We have competed in every game, including the game on Saturday…Double posts and then one little mistake, genius moment on the other side…We will get over this sadness, and then the moment of belief will come.”
Sørensen was also proud of everything the club had accomplished this year.
“It’s been a season with many more ups than downs, and you cannot always expect to get those kinds of seasons,” he said. “We have to appreciate it even though we’re sitting here on the backside of a final where we let it slip out of hand, but it was just sometimes what happens in games, and the opposition were good at taking advantage of what we gave them. I think it has been extraordinary for me to experience this club, how it works together.”
“I can’t really wrap up the season yet because I’m only focused on what’s ahead. But looking back at it, yeah it’s painful when you don’t get the last bit out of it but on the other hand, I think we’re all grateful for the journey and for having this journey together with the guys we’ve had it together with and that’s the most important thing and then we reach out for the stars and let’s see next year if we catch them.”
Looking ahead to 2026
The goal now is to reach even greater heights in 2026. The ‘Caps have another chance to win their first MLS Cup, are back in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, and will look to win their fifth straight Canadian Championship.
The core group of returning players includes Ryan Gauld, Brian White, Andres Cubas, Sebastian Berhalter, Ranko Veselinovic, Tristan Blackmon, and Thomas Müller, all expected to suit up for the blue and white next year.
The building blocks to win trophies are in place. However, as good as the 2025 Whitecaps were, the entire group cannot stay together. New faces are expected to arrive.
“We need new dynamics,” said Sørensen.”We know how it works with the salary cap and stuff, and we have to make adjustments. We will continue working every day on getting better, and I’m happy that we have been able to set the bar high. I believe we will be a better team next season, but it doesn’t mean we’ll get even better results. You also need things going your way in the decisive moments in games…We are not starting over. We are starting from a very high foundation, and we will be ready to push it.
“Everybody’s motivated, everybody knows how it works, and how we would like to go forward. It’s not going to be difficult for us to start from a better starting point than last year. I think it’s been quite easy to see that the players have responded well to the way we play, and they got a better understanding of it, and that we actually look stronger and stronger.”
MLS roster rules and the salary cap are extremely complicated. That is one of the reasons why the league has so much parity. Schuster isn’t too worried about the Whitecaps salary cap situation.
“I work with an excellent expert in MLS cap (Whitecaps Technical Director), Quinn Thompson, and we are not in trouble at all with the cap,” he said. “But I would say, is it really what we want to do to keep everything together and keep everything the same? I would question that. I don’t think we want to do this. We want to get some fresh energy, and we want to get a little bit of new competition. We have done very good work there, and we’re always looking ahead.”
“The next step could also be to prove that you can build a successful team, can be consistent, and a team that plays in the playoffs in a top four position. We have seen that the two teams that went to the final last year (LA Galaxy and New York Red Bulls) haven’t made the playoffs this year. So, the next steps in this league…you can build a roster with depth. You can do little changes without getting in trouble in the cap and still be a team that competes in every single game and competes for titles.”
As expected, Schuster was tight-lipped on the plans for new acquisitions.
Stadium Talk and the Threat of Relocation
The elephant in the room is the Whitecaps stadium situation. Particularly, the lease at BC Place (which expires at the end of this year), a new soccer-specific stadium, and the dark possibility of the club relocating.
The Province’s Patrick Johnston reported on Saturday that the City of Vancouver and the Whitecaps are close to a deal that would give them an exclusive window to assemble a project that includes a new stadium at the site of the Hastings Racecourse. The racecourse shut down after 133 years last week.
Schuster didn’t talk too much about all these, but he did say this:
“No one has to be worried that we will not have a home next year…We sold a record number of season tickets already. When we speak about next season and what we don’t want to do, no one has to be worried about it in general, but there are a lot of things we have to work on and improve.”
Whitecaps Roster Moves Have Already Begun
The offseason is already in full swing for the Whitecaps.
On Monday morning, the club announced that goalkeeper Isaac Boehmer has agreed to a contract extension.
The club also revealed they exercised contract options on the following players: goalkeeper Adrían Zendejas, defender Mathías Laborda, winger Ali Ahmed, and midfielders Ralph Priso, JC Ngando, Berhalter, and Müller. However, Müller had already indicated to Sky’s Florian Plettenberg a few weeks ago that he planned to return in 2026.
Vancouver declined the options on goalkeeper Max Anchor, defender Mark O’Neill, and forward Nicolas Fleuriau Chateau. They also declined the purchase option on striker Daniel Rios.
Defender Belal Halbouni’s option was also declined, but the Whitecaps are still having contract discussions with him. Goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka is a free agent, but the club is also having discussions with him.
The offseason will go by fast, and it will be interesting to see what kind of moves the Whitecaps make.
