BREAKING: After a few days of rumours on Canadian soccer forums, it has finally been announced: The Victoria Highlanders, 2023 League1 BC regular season winners, will NOT operate a women's and men's team in the league.

"After serious deliberation and with much regret, Victoria Highlanders has decided it will not operate a Women’s and Men’s team in League1BC." the club announced in a statement on Monday. "Despite our best efforts over the past 2-months we have been unable to reach an agreement with the new owners of League1BC that would allow us to carry on the Victoria Highlanders and still maintain our mission of providing a volunteer driven, not-for-profit community team for women and men looking to take their next step in soccer."

There are rumours that League1 Canada raised its fees for League1 Ontario and League1 British Columbia clubs, and we were able to confirm that, but it's unknown if that was the main reason for this.

With these news being released just 15 days before the start of the Canadian Championship, it's unknown what will happen to the clash against Pacific FC.