It’s out with the old and in with the new for Game Plan Sports Group and the newest brand identity for their Canadian Premier League franchise, Inter Toronto FC.
The owners of the now-former York United, brothers Eduardo, Miguel, and Ricardo Pasquel, unveiled the team’s new name, colours and crest at a launch event in downtown Toronto on Thursday.
It’s the club’s second rebrand and third overall look — the first led by the Pasquels — since the club launched as York9 FC, the CPL’s first official team in May 2018.
While retaining ‘Lake Ontario blue’ as their primary colour, the ‘electric green’ and ‘York green’ of the York9 and York United eras, respectively, are absent from the club’s new colour palette, being replaced by ‘sunrise gold’ — one that has drawn comparison to both the PWHL’s Toronto Sceptres, and U SPORTS’ Windsor Lancers. ‘Trillium white’ and ‘tower stone’ complete the new quartet.
The new crest also marks a significant departure from the club’s original look at launch, doing away with the source material of the team’s ‘Nine Stripes’ moniker — nine horizontal, then later, vertical stripes in the York9 and York United badges respectively, representing the nine municipalities of York Region, their initial market, situated just north of Toronto proper.
The rest of the badge features a stylized 'I' and 'T' resembling the CN Tower, inside a roundel, reading "Inter Toronto Football Club" around the outer edge.
For the city we call home. This is Inter Toronto ⚪️🔵 #ITO | #TogetherToronto pic.twitter.com/l5aynduWZ1
— Inter Toronto Football Club (@inter__toronto) November 28, 2025
No place like home
Centre stage in Thursday’s launch event, was the team’s decision to drop “York” from the name, in favour of Toronto.
For anyone familiar with the club and the protracted conversations surrounding a more permanent (or at least, homely) home than York Lions Stadium, that’s no surprise.
Home to the York University Lions, MLS NEXT Pro’s Toronto FC II, Northern Super League’s AFC Toronto and previously, Major League Rugby’s Toronto Arrows, the venue, on the grounds of York University, sees plenty of use.
That comes with its own drawbacks, but front and centre, has always been the optics of a professional club playing in an university stadium (whether or not those optics are justified is a separate story). Particularly, with the use of “York” in the name, it’s often a misconception for people unfamiliar with the team to assume a deeper connection with the university, aside from sharing facilities.
Back in 2022, the club’s previous owners, the Baldassarra family — also owners of construction company Greenpark Group — had agreed a deal with Woodbine Entertainment Group to have a section of land designated at Woodbine Racetrack, sandwiched near the four corners of Toronto, Mississauga, Brampton and Vaughan, the latter part of York Region, for an 8,000-seat soccer-specific stadium and training facilities.
However, with redevelopment at Woodbine falling through, the club has increasingly angled their gaze towards the downtown skyline over the last couple of years, in their messaging, and in their community identity.
Through all that, Lamport Stadium, located downtown, though in need of desperate repairs, has remained on the table — and now, seems to be in pole position, in the eyes of the Pasquels.
“We’ve been [having] very good conversations within the city,” said club CEO Eduardo Pasquel, to reporters, including TrueNorthFoot, at Thursday night’s event. “[The City of Toronto] have been very supportive of us, and we want to revitalize Lamport Stadium.”
“We [have] already made a special commitment with the city to invest some money on Lamport and make it not only for the CPL and for the club, but also for the community. We want to make it beneficial for community use as well,” Pasquel explained, noting “the sooner, the better” in lieu of tangible timelines.
“I think [Lamport Stadium] is a great location, and we can bring a lot of good things to the city as well.”
Eduardo Pasquel: “We’re here for all GTA communities”
“Community” was another term that, had one been collecting nickels every time it was said on Thursday, would probably result in enough cash to pay the bar tab at the end of the night.
A consistent theme since the Pasquels entered the frame as the club’s new owners, building the club off the pitch has been equally, if not more, important than their growth on the pitch —- however ironic, in the eyes of the few Northern Corridor Supporters Group members who set up near the entrance to the venue.
Chief amongst their complaints, the lack of communication between the ownership and the supporters’ groups, who had been told just weeks before that a rebrand would not be proceeding without a parallel stadium move.
Outside the Inter Toronto brand launch in Toronto, some longtime supporters haven’t taken well to the rebrand.@NCSGYU highlighted the lack of good dialogue in the rebranding process.
— Thomas Hewitt 🇨🇦 (@ThomasHewitt22) November 27, 2025
Everyone wants to support the #CanPL, but agreed this wasn’t it. pic.twitter.com/635g5aVTXQ
Others also zeroed in on the clear 180 from their initial positioning as a club north of the big city, to one desiring to be right in the middle of it.
“We’ll need their support,” Pasquel said, when asked about the optics of yet another rebrand for long-time supporters. “We need [them] on board, and we need [them] to be there for us and for the club,” he added, despite some of the discourse online and within fan groups.
“I totally respect what [they’re] feeling today, but believe we, we’re working very very hard to make this a very successful club, on and off the pitch. We’re going to be an example in the CPL, we’re going to represent Toronto in a very respectful way, but also as an amazing city as it is.”
Even for the more fair weather supporters, it does seem difficult at face value to balance the idea of “community”, considering the foundations that the club have built throughout North York and into York Region over the last couple of years will now be uprooted.
Pasquel was quick to double down, saying the club “felt very close to the community” over the course of the 2025 season. “Last year, we visited hundreds of places, from schools, to hospitals, to charities. We’ve been very close also in the northern part of the city as well, and we’re going to continue that.”
To bridge the Toronto-GTA divide is a difficult task for any organization, but especially one that has lagged behind much of the league in attendance figures; another driver for the move to Lamport. But with a more central location, perhaps the club will truly be “here for all GTA communities,” as broad as that tent is.
Page one of a new chapter: featuring Ollie Bassett
The largest — and arguably, only — surprise after the name, trademarks and colours had been made public by the morning of the event, was a certain attendee: 2022 Canadian Premier League MVP, Ollie Bassett.
In addition to renewing their desire to build the “the best academy in Canada,” per Pasquel, the signing of Bassett, whose pedigree includes both a CPL championship and regular season winners’ medals, is a statement of intent for Inter Toronto.
“We want to build a winning team, and compete for championships every day,” Pasquel told assembled media Thursday night. “He has a huge background, he’s been in the league for a while, and has already won MVP.”
Calling Bassett “a great signing for the club,” the CEO also teased that Bassett “won’t be the only one” arriving on Canadian shores this offseason.
For his part, it was an “attractive offer” that sealed the deal for the once Northern Ireland youth international to return north.
“[I] started speaking to [head coach Mauro Eustáquio] and [sporting director Jorge Villalpando] around September time. I kind of knew at that point that I was going to be a free agent, and that I wasn’t going to stay in the U.S,” having been with the USL’s Tampa Bay Rowdies since leaving Ottawa.
“We spoke, we had a lot of conversations, and I think the way the ownership group sold the vision and the plan for where they see the club going forward was something that I want to be a part of, so I think the decision to come back was pretty straightforward.”
“I think Mauro is a very exciting coach. He’s obviously a young coach but just from the conversations that I’ve had with him, he understands the game in a very positive way and I think his system and the way he wants his teams to play is going to benefit me as a footballer.
I think he’s the perfect coach for me [to still learn and develop] so I’m really excited to work under him and I’m sure we’re going to have a good year together.”
- Ollie Bassett on Inter Toronto head coach Mauro Eustáquio
For his part, Eustáquio also remained focused on the project amidst the excitement of the evening, with the major addition now officially a member of his squad.
“I’ve been big on last year’s building our culture. I think if you go back and see the York teams in the past, I think my York team was probably the team that had the most identity and the most competitiveness and really went out to prove a point.”
“Now that we have a good base, we want to go into the season with the bank and with that, we need good players and Ollie’s a player that knows the league, has a successful history, and he’s another one to come and help us. I’m extremely happy to have him on board.”
Eustáquio later added, “we want to make sure that the quality stays here. There were a lot of players that had their best season last year with us, so it’s about continuing to push them, not putting them into comfortable positions.”
Also here to stay are the Pasquels, according to Eustáquio.
“It’s not every day that you find three brothers that want to invest in a country that’s not theirs, but they feel that they belong here and I think that’s something very special. I’m one of those cases [being born in Portugal] but Canada has given me everything and I want to give back to Canada, so to be able to part of an Inter Toronto family that have moved their family, their young kids away from their cousins, their schools and brought their families from Mexico to Toronto, I think that means a lot.
I’m a big people person and when there is a vision, when they have not only the head but their heart in the right place, I think we can go very far and do a very good thing. When I talk about having that backing from the ownership and the vision, it’s something they have very clearly and I’m here to help them achieve their goal.”
The new coat of paint for Inter Toronto hasn’t been the only shakeup to hit the Canadian Premier League in the last two months: the league seemed poised to expand to nine clubs with the introduction of Laval-based FC Supra de Québec at the end of September.
However, news of the demise of Winnipeg’s Valour FC saw the count drop back to eight after Winnipeg Football Club, owners of Valour and the Canadian Football League’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers, pulled the plug on their soccer operations last week.
One hopes that Inter Toronto’s modest upwards trajectory on and off the pitch follows the former, and not the latter, after finishing inside the play-offs for a third-straight season since the league went to a five-team format and challenging Cavalry and Halifax for third in the regular-season table.
York were eliminated in the playoff quarterfinals by Cavalry while also posting another quarterfinal showing in the Canadian Championship; their first time hitting both milestones in a single season since 2021.
