Vancouver selected the U22 Initiative Player Model
VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC have confirmed the club’s 2026 first team roster composition as they begin their 16th season in Major League Soccer.
All club roster profiles can be found HERE and are inclusive of the following information:
- Senior, Supplemental Rosters, and Off-roster Homegrown players
- Unavailable players are denoted in the report (i.e., players on loan, Season-Ending Injury list, etc.
- Off-roster Homegrown players can appear in MLS matches via a Short-Term Agreement
- Current roster designation
- Guaranteed contract and option years
- International roster status
- Designated Players
- Denoted in the report are players that cannot be converted from a Designated Player to a non-Designated Player by using Allocation Money.
- U22 Initiative Players
- TAM Players
- A TAM Player is a player whose Salary Budget charge is above the Maximum Salary Budget Charge ($803,125) and at or below the Maximum Target Allocation Money Amount ($1,803,125).
Please note: The club roster profiles are static as of Feb. 26, 2026, and any changes to rosters following that date will not be reflected in this document.
For further information on the 2026 MLS Roster Rules and Regulations, click HERE.
ROSTER COMPLIANCE
Vancouver are roster and budget compliant following the February 20 MLS deadline. The club currently carries 26 active players: 19 on the Senior Roster and seven on the Supplemental Roster. One Senior Roster player, Ryan Gauld, is on the Injured List and ineligible for the first six MLS regular season matches. The ’Caps also have two Off-Roster Homegrown players.
The roster includes 12 international players. Vancouver holds nine International Roster Slots, plus three additional designated International Player Slots allotted to Canadian clubs.
For the second consecutive season, Vancouver has selected the U22 Initiative Player Model, which allows:
- Up to two Designated Players
- Up to four U22 Initiative Players
- Up to an additional $2 million in General Allocation Money (GAM)
A summary of the two MLS roster construction models is available HERE.
Vancouver’s two Designated Players are FIFA World Cup winner Thomas Müller and club captain Gauld.
The ’Caps currently carry three U22 Initiative players: Édier Ocampo, Kenji Cabrera, and Bruno Caicedo.
In addition, Vancouver has nine active players who were acquired or signed using Targeted Allocation Money (TAM): Sam Adekugbe, Tristan Blackmon, Andrés Cubas, Mathías Laborda, Cheikh Sabaly, Emmanuel Sabbi, Sebastian Schonlau, Yohei Takaoka, and Brian White.
ROSTER COMPOSITION
The squad opens 2026 with 23 returning players, including five MLS All-Stars (Sebastian Berhalter, Blackmon, Gauld, Takaoka, and White), six new additions, and three players out on loan.
Five of the six new additions are aged 24 or younger: Oliver Larraz (24), Caicedo (21), AZ (24), Nikola Djordjevic (23), and Mihail Gherasimencov (20). Africa Cup of Nations and Senegal international Sabaly is 26.
Larraz joined via MLS free agency. AZ arrived on loan from Polish side Jagiellonia Białystok through June 2026. Sabaly and Caicedo, who is in the final stages of securing visa approval and is expected to arrive in Vancouver in the coming days, were acquired via transfer. Djordjevic and Gherasimencov become the 10th and 11th WFC2 players signed to first-team contracts, with Gherasimencov also becoming the club’s 29th Homegrown signing.
Three players are currently out on loan: Giuseppe Bovalina (Örebro SK), Joedrick Pupe (Sint-Truidense V.V.), and Nelson Pierre (FC Tulsa).
A total of 15 players are entering at least their third MLS season in Vancouver. Centre back Ranko Veselinović, who joined prior to the 2020 season, is the club’s longest-serving first team member and enters his seventh MLS campaign with the ’Caps.
Four of the longest tenures at the club belong to Whitecaps FC MLS BMO Academy graduates: Isaac Boehmer, Jeevan Badwal, Liam Mackenzie, and Gherasimencov. Boehmer joined the club’s Okanagan Academy in 2013 and signed his first MLS contract in 2020. Badwal joined the academy in 2019 and signed his first team deal in 2024. Mackenzie and Gherasimencov both joined the academy in 2020 before progressing through WFC2 to the first team.
Ten players posted career highs in goal contributions in 2025, including Adekugbe, Badwal, Sebastian Berhalter, Blackmon, Ocampo, Laborda, J.C. Ngando, Ralph Priso, Sabbi, and White.
The roster has an average age of 25 years and 315 days. The youngest players are three teenagers: Badwal (turns 20 in March), Mackenzie (18), and Rayan Elloumi (18). Müller is the eldest at 36, followed by 31-year-olds Adekugbe and Schonlau.
Vancouver fields a global squad spanning six continents and 15 birth countries: Canada (6), United States (7), England (2), Germany (2), Japan (2), Argentina, Cameroon, Colombia, Ecuador, Italy, Moldova, Scotland, Senegal, Serbia, and Uruguay.
At the international level, 18 players have represented their senior national teams in recent years, including Adekugbe, Priso, Elloumi, and Badwal (Canada); AZ, Berhalter, Blackmon, Sabbi, and White (United States); Cabrera (Peru); Caicedo (Ecuador); Cubas (Paraguay); Gauld (Scotland); Gherasimencov (Moldova); Belal Halbouni (Syria); Müller (Germany); Sabaly (Senegal); and Veselinović (Serbia). Seven players have also featured at the youth international level in the past three years.
HOW THE TEAM WAS BUILT
Seven players were acquired from European clubs via transfer in Adekugbe, Cubas, Gauld, Halbouni, Sabbi, Sabaly, and Veselinović. AZ arrived on loan from Jagiellonia Białystok.
Cabrera (FBC Melgar), Caicedo (Barcelona SC), and Takaoka (Yokohama F. Marinos) were acquired from clubs outside North America. Meanwhile, Müller, Laborda, and Zendejas joined Vancouver having most recently played abroad.
Berhalter (Columbus Crew), Blackmon (via the 2022 Expansion Draft), Priso (Colorado Rapids), and White (New York Red Bulls) were acquired through MLS trades.
Ngando (2023), Djordjevic (2025), and Tate Johnson (2025) arrived in Vancouver via the MLS SuperDraft.
Five current players are products of the Whitecaps FC BMO MLS Academy in Badwal, Boehmer, Elloumi, Gherasimencov, and Mackenzie.
COACHING STAFF
Danish head coach Jesper Sørensen enters his second season at the helm after signing a contract extension through 2027-28. He is joined by assistant coaches Jan Michaelsen, Michael D’Agostino, and Brendan Shaw, along with veteran goalkeeper coach Youssef Dahha.
The staff also includes head of video analysis Drew Foster, video analyst James Grieve, and head of physical preparation Jon Poli.
VANCOUVER WHITECAPS FC ROSTER
Goalkeepers (3): Isaac Boehmer, Yohei Takaoka, Adrían Zendejas
Defenders (11): Sam Adekugbe, Tristan Blackmon, Nikola Djordjevic, Mihail Gherasimencov, Belal Halbouni, Tate Johnson, Mathías Laborda, Édier Ocampo, Ralph Priso, Sebastian Schonlau, Ranko Veselinović
Midfielders (5): Jeevan Badwal, Sebastian Berhalter, Andrés Cubas, Oliver Larraz, J.C. Ngando
Attacking Midfielders/Forwards (10): AZ, Kenji Cabrera, Bruno Caicedo, Rayan Elloumi, Ryan Gauld, Liam Mackenzie, Thomas Müller, Cheikh Sabaly, Emmanuel Sabbi, Brian White
Away on loan (3): Giuseppe Bovalina, Joedrick Pupe, Nelson Pierre
