{"id":443877,"date":"2026-01-30T22:12:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T22:12:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/443877\/"},"modified":"2026-01-30T22:12:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T22:12:08","slug":"whitecaps-acquire-midfielder-forward-aziel-jackson-on-loan-from-polish-club-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/443877\/","title":{"rendered":"Whitecaps acquire midfielder\/forward Aziel Jackson on loan from Polish club"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Columbus Crew midfielder Aziel Jackson, right, controls the ball against Vancouver Whitecaps defender \u00c9dier Ocampo during an MLS soccer match in Columbus, Ohio, last June.Jeff Dean\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

The Vancouver Whitecaps have acquired attacking midfielder\/forward Aziel Jackson on loan from Polish side Jagiellonia Bialystok through June 2026, the Major League Soccer club announced Friday.<\/p>\n

The loan agreement includes an option to purchase. Jackson will officially join the club pending receipt of his international transfer certificate, work permit, and medical.<\/p>\n

Also Friday, the Whitecaps re-signed Canadian centre back Belal Halbouni, 26, to a new contract through June 2027, with a club option for the 2027-28 Major League Soccer season.<\/p>\n

Halbouni started 19 matches in 26 appearances across all competitions for Vancouver and was part of back-to-back Canadian Championship titles in 2024 and 2025.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old Jackson from West Orange, N.J., made 11 appearances across all competitions for Bialystok, competing in the top level of Polish soccer and the UEFA Conference League.<\/p>\n

He joined Bialystok after spending a season and a half in MLS with Columbus, helping the Crew to the Leagues Cup 2024 title.<\/p>\n

Jackson started 14 of his 31 appearances across all competitions for the Crew, recording four goals and five assists.<\/p>\n

He has also spent time with St. Louis and Minnesota in MLS, and played in France as a youth with the under-17 side of Toulouse FC and fourth-tier Blagnac FC.<\/p>\n

Jackson has made one appearance for the United States men\u2019s national team as a substitute in a friendly against Slovenia in January 2024, joining Whitecaps striker Brian White on the roster.<\/p>\n

\u201cAziel is a player we are very familiar with from his time in the league, and he understands the demands of MLS,\u201d Whitecaps sporting director Axel Schuster said in a release. \u201cHe is a dynamic, versatile attacker who will provide another option going forward. Aziel will join the camp in Spain in the coming days, and we look forward to welcoming him into our environment.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Columbus Crew midfielder Aziel Jackson, right, controls the ball against Vancouver Whitecaps defender…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":443878,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,561,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":{"0":"post-443877","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-ca","15":"tag-canada","16":"tag-canada-news","17":"tag-canada-sports","18":"tag-canada-sports-news","19":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","20":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","21":"tag-canadian-news","22":"tag-economy","23":"tag-education","24":"tag-environment","25":"tag-federal-government","26":"tag-foreign-news","27":"tag-globe-and-mail","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","29":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","30":"tag-government","31":"tag-life-news","32":"tag-lifestyle","33":"tag-local-news","34":"tag-manitoba","35":"tag-national-news","36":"tag-new-brunswick","37":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","38":"tag-northwest-territories","39":"tag-nova-scotia","40":"tag-nunavut","41":"tag-ontario","42":"tag-pei","43":"tag-photos","44":"tag-political-news","45":"tag-political-opinion","46":"tag-politics","47":"tag-politics-news","48":"tag-quebec","49":"tag-soccer","50":"tag-sports","51":"tag-sports-news","52":"tag-technology","53":"tag-travel","54":"tag-trudeau","55":"tag-us-news","56":"tag-world-news","57":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443877","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443877"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443877\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443878"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443877"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443877"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443877"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}