Former coach happy about Whitecaps’ success but says it took time getting there

Vancouver Whitecaps acting head coach Vanni Sartini, centre, celebrates after Vancouver defeated Austin FC during an MLS soccer game in Vancouver, on Saturday, September 4, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck

Vanni Sartini watched the Vancouver Whitecaps from afar this season as his former team made it to three finals.

The Whitecaps, under Danish coach Jesper Sorensen, won the Canadian Championship, defeating Vancouver FC 4-2, and made it to the finals of the CONCACAF Champions Cup and MLS Cup, losing 5-0 to Mexico’s Cruz Azul and 3-1 to Inter Miami, respectively.

Vancouver finished second in Major League Soccer’s Western Conference at 18-7-9 this season, 16 points ahead of Sartini’s final eighth-place campaign (13-13-8) with the team in 2024.

“I am proud of the culture that we established in the organization,” Sartini said in an interview. “I am proud of the fact that I contributed to the development of a lot of those players, that they had a fantastic season. I am proud of the staff because a lot of the staff that I, let’s say, brought and developed there were an instrumental part this season of their run.

“I’m really happy that they had a fantastic season.”

Fired by Vancouver in November 2024 after a first-round playoff loss to Los Angeles FC, the Italian coach has since moved on. On Wednesday, he was named coach and GM of the Canadian Premier League’s Halifax Wanderers.

But while he looks ahead, the Whitecaps remain a big part of his past. He joined the MLS team as an assistant coach prior to the 2019 season, eventually becoming acting head coach in August 2021 and the permanent coach that November.

As such, letting go was difficult.

“The first month, I’ve got to be honest, wasn’t easy,” said the 49-year-old Sartini. “Because it’s like you were seeing something blossom after you did all the work in trying to (plant) the seed and everything.

“But at the end, I realized it probably was the right time for me to change — after four successful years with the first team and six great years inside the organization. So I’m really again proud and happy of what they did this season. And I think there’s the base to continue that success … It’s not like a one-off.”

This report by Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press, was first published Dec. 10, 2025