Pacific FC is officially the seventh team to join the Canadian Premier League ahead of the nascent circuit's inaugural season set to kick off in 2019.

More than 2,000 fans gathered in Hamilton Thursday to see Forge FC unveiled as the sixth CanPL franchise, joining Halifax Wanderers, Cavalry FC, Valour FC, FC Edmonton and York 9.

"Your whole front of the ship is in the ocean. At 19 years old, a guy from Toronto having this experience, I was terrified. You’re hoping the ship comes back up. It always does, of course.”

The Canadian Premier League’s silly season for coaching announcements continued Thursday, as Halifax Wanderers unveiled former Canadian national-team boss Stephen Hart as the man who will lead the club in its inaugural season.

For a Canadian league to survive and thrive, it has to be more than giving Canadian players a place to play. It needs to be about giving Canadian coaches the chance to work in professional environments. It’s about having Canadian administrators and general managers.

The World Cup will be played on Canadian soil in 2026.

The badge is a stylized, interconnected “FCE.” A rendering of the North Saskatchewan River forms part of the letter E. The badge notes the team was established in 2010 — as a nod to its NASL history — and also had a rabbit-paw track, a more subtle homage to the team’s animal talisman than might have been expected.

“We want you playing for this team when you grow up, we want you to be hometown heroes,” said CanPL Commissioner David Clanachan to the supporters and youth players who came to Investors Group Field for the announcement.

An open-air fanfest will be held in the Old Strathcona neighbourhood to officially revive FC Edmonton's pro franchise and welcome the club to the Canadian Premier League.

The team will play out of Westhills Stadium in Langford. Improvements still need to be made to the facility and a lease deal needs to be put in place.