# Cascadia official soccer team

The Cascadia national soccer team is a soccer team representing the men's side of the Cascadia region of the United States and Canada and is controlled by the Cascadia Association Football Federation (CAFF). The team is composed of players from the U.S states of Oregon, Washington and the Canadian province of British Columbia. The stated mission of the team is "...to allow Cascadia as a distinct cultural entity, isolated bioregion and growing society with common interests to be represented at the international level in the sport we are all passionate about." CAFF is a member of ConIFA. Cascadia is not a member of FIFA or any confederation or sub-confederation as the region is wholly a part of both the United States or Canada. However, CAFF is not opposed to those organizations and sees itself coexisting as a non-FIFA regional representative team.
It is hoped that the team will help expose more players from the region to international competition as well as foster a connection between the culture of Cascadia with other regions and peoples around the world. Cascadia participated in the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup.

## History

The idea of a Cascadia representative soccer team existed long before the founder of CAFF and friends first discussed the possibility. People on internet soccer discussion forums discussed the possibility as far back as 2011. In early 2012 an Adidas Cascadia football shirt was designed by Kelly Dews and sold through the Cascadia Trifecta Facebook group to supporters and fans of the three Cascadian MLS teams: Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Seattle Sounders FC, and the Portland Timbers. The first run of these shirts were highly popular and were visible at matches throughout the region.
Following the 2012 London Olympic Games and noting the athletes from Cascadia, former CAFF President Leonard Laymon and others began investigating just what it would take to form a non-FIFA regional representative team. In August 2012 the decision was made to go forward with making such a team a reality and networking was conducted with the non-FIFA football community.
In January 2013 CAFF convened its first general meeting at the headquarters of Golazo Energy in Seattle. At this meeting CAFF's board of directors was elected and its bylaws and team eligibility requirements ratified, by vote. It was also determined in a vote by the CAFF board following the meeting that Cascadia would send a representative to the N.F. Board's Annual General in Munich Germany at the end of the next month. An Indiegogo campaign raised the funding for the application process in less than a week.
In February 2013 Sascha Tillmanns was elected as Cascadia's European representative and initially sent to the meeting to deliver CAFF's application documents, express Cascadia's interest in joining the N.F. Board and help CAFF get an understanding of what its next steps should be. Tillmanns was asked at the meeting to give a presentation on Cascadia which was well received. In early March 2013 Cascadia learned that the N.F. Board would be deciding in the summer to admit up to three new members, of which Cascadia was one. Following this positive news that the early work of looking for Cascadia eligible players and a coach began.
In late April 2013, Alan Koch of Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC was the first potential coach to step forward and declare interest in becoming Cascadia's first coach. Later in July 2013 another potential Cascadia coach emerged when in a Q&A session on Twitter, former US men's national team defender and ESPN analyst Alexi Lalas proclaimed that "it would be an honor" to coach Cascadia.
In 2014 Cascadia joined CONIFA under the leadership of then President, Aaron Johnsen.
In June 2018 Cascadia took park in the 2018 CONIFA World Football Cup in London, finishing 6th. CAFF qualified for the tournament by being the only active CONIFA member in North America
Cascadia hosted its first true home match on July 27, 2019, playing a friendly against Darfur at French Field in Kent, Washington. Cascadia won the friendly 8–1.
In October 2019 CAFF made an agreement with the Western Washington Premier League. WWPL became an affiliate league of CAFF, and the two organizations will work together on projects.

## International record
### CONIFA World Football Cup

| Year | Position | P | W | D | L | GF | GA |
| 2014 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2016 | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter | did not enter |
| 2018 | 6th | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 11 |
| 2020 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 | Cancelled due to COVID-19 |
| Total | Total | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 11 |
Cascadia qualified to participate in the 2018 CONIFA WFC by merit of being the only organization of its kind in North America in good standing with CONIFA. In April, UEFA B license coach James Nichols was brought on to lead the team. Despite an opening day defeat to Ellan Vannin, a 6–0 victory over Tamil Eelam ensured Cascadia's progress to the quarter finals on goal difference. However a defeat to eventual winners Kárpátalja saw Cascadia crash out. A 4–0 win over Western Armenia ensured they would finish in the 5th–6th place playoff, for the best teams knocked out of the quarter finals. Despite coming back from 3 goals down to draw 3–3, Cascadia eventually lost on penalties to early tournament favorites Panjab to finish 6th.

## Squad
### Current squad

The following players were called up to the Cascadia squad for the friendly against Cornwall on May 22, 2021.
| No. | Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club |
| 1 | 1GK | James Mayo | | 1 | 0 | Brockenhurst |
| 3 | 2DF | Taylor Fisher | (2000-04-17) April 17, 2000 (age 24) | 2 | 0 | Sittingbourne |
| 4 | 2DF | Albie Sheehan-Cozens | (1998-02-01) February 1, 1998 (age 27) | 1 | 0 | Barking |
| 5 | 2DF | Patrick Wilson (captain) | (1986-05-16) May 16, 1986 (age 38) | 7 | 0 | Brockenhurst |
| 12 | 2DF | Jacob Toms | | 2 | 0 | Unattached |
| 13 | 2DF | Kyle Lemon | (1998-11-28) November 28, 1998 (age 26) | 1 | 0 | Unattached |
| 6 | 3MF | Connor Campbell | | 1 | 0 | Unattached |
| 7 | 3MF | Max Oldham | (1993-07-08) July 8, 1993 (age 31) | 8 | 3 | Corinthian-Casuals |
| 8 | 3MF | Josh Ekim | (1991-11-17) November 17, 1991 (age 33) | 1 | 0 | Corinthian-Casuals |
| 10 | 3MF | Tayshan Hayden-Smith | (1996-09-23) September 23, 1996 (age 28) | 5 | 2 | Walton Casuals |
| 11 | 3MF | Kellen Fisher | | 1 | 0 | Bromley |
| 9 | 4FW | Gavin McCallum | (1987-08-24) August 24, 1987 (age 37) | 1 | 0 | Bognor Regis Town |
| 14 | 4FW | Matt Smith | | 0 | 0 | Unattached - UCFB |
| 15 | 4FW | Adam Budz | (2000-11-28) November 28, 2000 (age 24) | 0 | 0 | Sutton Coldfield Town |

### Recent call-ups

| Pos. | Player | Date of birth (age) | Caps | Goals | Club | Latest call-up |
| GK | Will Marment | (1998-10-16) October 16, 1998 (age 26) | 4 | 0 | Vassar College | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| GK | Alejandro De La Torre | (1999-05-07) May 7, 1999 (age 25) | 2 | 0 | Round Rock | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| GK | Dorian Lair | | 1 | 0 | Snohomish County | Darfur |
| GK | Brendan Norris | | 1 | 0 | Winchester City | Chagos Islands |
| MF | Anthony Wright | (1997-11-10) November 10, 1997 (age 27) | 6 | 0 | Banbury United | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| DF | James Riley | (1982-10-27) October 27, 1982 (age 42) | 6 | 0 | Tacoma Stars | Darfur |
| DF | Charlie Gregory | (1991-12-27) December 27, 1991 (age 33) | 7 | 0 | Sporting Bengal United | Chagos Islands |
| DF | Matt Braem | (1994-06-25) June 25, 1994 (age 30) | 4 | 0 | AFC Ann Arbor | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| DF | Noah Cavanaugh | (1995-08-17) August 17, 1995 (age 29) | 1 | 0 | Real Unión | Darfur |
| DF | Joey Censoni | (1993-09-03) September 3, 1993 (age 31) | 2 | 0 | Carpathia FC | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| DF | Julius Lansiquot | (1999-11-06) November 6, 1999 (age 25) | 1 | 0 | Barnet | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| DF | Sofien El-Mehrik | (1993-12-15) December 15, 1993 (age 31) | 0 | 0 | Unattached | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| DF | Ellis Routledge | (1999-10-25) October 25, 1999 (age 25) | 0 | 0 | Wingate & Finchley | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| DF | Lorne Jenkins | (1995-05-23) May 23, 1995 (age 29) | 1 | 0 | Unattached | Chagos Islands |
| MF | Héctor Morales | (1993-01-19) January 19, 1993 (age 32) | 6 | 2 | AFC Ann Arbor | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| MF | Angelo Calfo | | 2 | 1 | RIASA | Darfur |
| MF | Jordan Wilson | (1991-10-31) October 31, 1991 (age 33) | 6 | 0 | Nykøbing FC | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| MF | Josh Doughty | (1997-04-08) April 8, 1997 (age 27) | 3 | 2 | Unattached | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| MF | Nikko Stokes | (2000-07-16) July 16, 2000 (age 24) | 0 | 0 | Waltham Forest | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| MF | Tanner Williams | (1993-06-29) June 29, 1993 (age 31) | 1 | 0 | Spokane Shadow | Darfur |
| MF | Duncan McCormick | (1995-11-01) November 1, 1995 (age 29) | 1 | 0 | Phoenix Rising | Darfur |
| MF | Beau Blanchard | | 1 | 1 | UoW Huskies | Darfur |
| MF | Quinn Fahling | | 1 | 0 | Seattle University | Darfur |
| MF | Brian Simpson | (1998-05-24) May 24, 1998 (age 26) | 3 | 0 | Hatfield Town | Chagos Islands |
| MF | Zane Provenzano | | 2 | 0 | RIASA | Darfur |
| MF | Scott Menzies | | 1 | 1 | UoW Huskies | Darfur |
| MF | Tyler Bjork | | 1 | 3 | Spokane Shadow | Darfur |
| FW | Calum Ferguson | (1995-05-17) May 17, 1995 (age 29) | 6 | 5 | Elgin City | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| FW | Yuri Farkas | (1993-07-21) July 21, 1993 (age 31) | 4 | 2 | AFC Ann Arbor | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| FW | Keaton Levock | (1994-10-17) October 17, 1994 (age 30) | 3 | 0 | Carpathia FC | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| FW | Jon Nouble | (1996-01-19) January 19, 1996 (age 29) | 2 | 2 | Unattached | 2018 ConIFA WFC |
| FW | Hamza Haddadi | (1994-01-31) January 31, 1994 (age 31) | 3 | 4 | Kitsap Pumas | Darfur |
| FW | Chase Boone | | 1 | 2 | RIASA | Chagos Islands |
| FW | Callum Powell | (1996-01-28) January 28, 1996 (age 29) | 1 | 2 | Stourbridge | Chagos Islands |

### Head coach

| Manager | Period | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Win % |
| / James Nichols | 2018–present | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 055.6 |
| Totals | Totals | 9 | 5 | 1 | 3 | 55.6 |

## Records
### Top goal scorers

| # | Name | Career | Goals | Caps | Position |
| 1 | Calum Ferguson | 2018– | 5 | 6 | FW |
| 2 | Hamza Haddadi | 2018– | 4 | 3 | FW |
| 3 | Max Oldham | 2018– | 3 | 8 | MF |
| 3 | Tyler Bjork | 2019– | 3 | 1 | FW |

## Kit

In early 2012, Kelly Dews designed an Adidas-produced limited run of Cascadia shirts. The kit was white, green and blue with a green sash, reflecting the colors of the Doug flag.
In August the new design was announced by Kelly Dews and the Cascadia Association Football Federation. It is a horizontal tri-color design similar to that of the flag of Cascadia. It features the CAFF crest on the front and Cascadia on the neckline in the back. The new shirt is made by a local company, Looptworks, but never used. After Cascadia were announced to feature in the 2018 ConIFA World Football Cup the team announced Stingz Sportswear as their kit supplier and a Giordano sponsorship.