National soccer championships for U15 club teams in Newton this week
Published 1:48 pm Sunday, October 11, 2026
Some of Canada’s top U15 club soccer teams are in Surrey this week for a pair of national championship tournaments.
Twenty-four teams — 12 in the boys division, 12 in girls — play at Newton Athletic Park. Games began Wednesday (Oct. 7) and continue until Thanksgiving Monday with championship finals — boys teams at 10 a.m., girls at 12:30 p.m., both on field #1 at the park on 128 Street.
“This age group, it’s the first national championship year so this is a new experience for a lot of these players,” said Sarb Lidder, executive director of Surrey FC, national tournament host for a third time.
“For all provinces it’s their top-tier team here except for Alberta, B.C., Quebec and Ontario. For those it’s their second-tier teams because their first-tier teams play in the PDP championships (player-development program) held in August, a different level.
“We’ve got a Surrey FC home team on the boys side and also Okanagan FC representing B.C., and on the girls side, it’s Langley United and North Shore girls.”
Games are streamed on Canada Soccer’s Youtube channel, schedules posted on canadasoccer.com.
Adult and U17 national soccer championships are held in different Canadian cities this week.
“Surrey is getting to be known as a great host,” Lidder raved. “The facilities are world-class. We watch these U15s (players), the coaches and parents coming in (at Newton Athletic Park) and they’re just amazed at all the services that are available at one place.
“Our soccer club,” Lidder added, “we’ve got such a great staff, great volunteers and they are really good at putting a lot of effort into these tournaments. We’re well recognized.”
Sixteen of the provincial rep teams are staying at Sheraton Vancouver Guildford Hotel, four at the new Homewood Suites Surrey on King George Boulevard near the hospital.
“Because these kids are U15, their parents are with them, their families, because they don’t travel alone,” Lidder noted. “The restaurants are crowded and at hotels in Surrey there’s pretty well no vacancy this weekend. It’s tough to get a hotel room.
On Wednesday, “we hosted a banquet for all the players and the officials, this first time we’ve done that, so we had 600 players and officials, at the Grand Empire in Surrey. It was a great event, we had Jeevan Badwal from the Whitecaps as a guest speaker. We showcased Surrey, we had some entertainers and a great meal, the players loved it.”