Image credit: CFJC Today/Curtis Goodrum

By Marty Hastings

ON THE PITCH

Kamloops International Cup to begin this weekend; United aiming to play spoiler in L1BC finale

Jul 25, 2025 | 4:15 PM

KAMLOOPS — The second annual Kamloops International Cup (KIC) soccer series featurig two under-21 English teams is set to get underway this weekend at Hillside Stadium.

The Arsenal’s women team and Nottingham Forest’s men will play matches against Kamloops United and the League 1 BC selects. Arsenal will also play the Vancouver Rise Academy team while Nottingham will play Cavalry FC’s U21 team during the event, which runs from Sunday (July 27} to Aug. 3.

“It’s one of those things that, when you look back on your playing days, you can say you got to play against a Premier League Academy U21 team, so it’ll be a great test and I’m looking forward to it,” said United defender Riad Jaha, who was named to the L1BC team of the week for the period ending July 20.

Arsenal of London will square off against the League1 BC selects team on Sunday the series opener, which is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Hillside Stadium.

Cara Freeman, also named to the L1BC team of the week, will be in the lineup for that match and for United’s clash with Arsenal on Aug. 2.

Looped In

LOOPED IN WITH NIKKI OMEN: December 4, 2025

Dec 04, 2025

SOUND OFF

SOUND OFF: 16 days of activism against gender-based violence

Dec 03, 2025

Question of the Week

Will the amount of money you spend on Christmas be more or less than last year?

Dec 01, 2025

“I think the coolest part is I’ve never played any team from Europe before and I’m really excited just to see their style of play,” Freeman said. “Obviously, they’re going to be an amazing team, very competitive, very fast. Playing with the League One selects, I’ll be able to play with girls that I’ve played against this season, so that’s a really cool opportunity, as well.”

For the complete series schedule, go online to kamloopsinternationalcup.com.

Kamloops United to wrap up L1BC campaign Friday

Both United clubs are slated to wrap their L1BC regular seasons against TSS Rovers of Richmond on Friday (July 25) at Hillside Stadium. The women’s game is slated for 5:00 p.m. and the men to follow at 7:30 p.m.

The men’s match is of paramount importance to Rovers (10-3-2), who can clinch the league title with a victory as they hold a two-point lead on Langley United at the top of the table heading into their final contest.

Langley (9-3-3) will finish its regular season schedule on Sunday with a match against Vancouver Whitecaps Academy (4-9-2).

There are no L1BC playoffs this year, so the regular season champion on the men’s side will advance to the 2026 TELUS Canadian Championship, while the women’s division winner will represent the province at the League1 Canada Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship.

“We’re pretty much just playing for pride,” said Jaha, whose Kamloops (6-7-2) club can finish the campaign with a .500 record with a win. “The team we’re playing against is playing for the championship, so we don’t want them to come here to our home stadium and win the championship. We kind of want to spoil that for them.”

On the women’s side, Kamloops (1-11-3) will finish in the league basement, but has drawn three of its last four matches and aims to finish the season on a positive note.

“We just have to show everyone that we can compete and go out of the season with a bang and just fully put everything on the field,” Freeman said. “We really have nothing to lose at this point.”