Vancouver FC removes interim tag, names Martin Nash head coach through 2027

Vancouver FC coach Martin Nash is shown at a Sept. 13, 2025, Canadian Premier League game against Pacific FC at Royal Athletic Park, in Victoria, in this handout photo. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Handout — Canadian Premier League / Sheldon Mack (Mandatory Credit)

LANGLEY — Martin Nash is officially the head coach of Vancouver FC.

The Canadian Premier League club announced Nash’s promotion from interim head coach on Wednesday on a contract through the 2027 season.

Nash took over on interim basis July 23 when Afshin Ghotbi, the team’s coach since Day 1, was fired with the team at 1-9-5.

At the time, Vancouver had recorded just one win in regulation in its previous 26 matches across all competitions. The club had made it to the Canadian Championship semifinals, however, dispatching Pacific FC and Cavalry FC in penalty shootouts.

It was a rocky start under Nash with the team losing six of its first seven matches (1-6-0). But the team ended the season unbeaten in its last six league matches (2-0-4).

Vancouver closed out the regular season by defeating Halifax and York and drawing Forge, Atletico Ottawa and Cavalry, all five playoff teams.

“His alignment with the club’s identity and ambitions made an immediate impact when he stepped in last season, and we look forward to his continued guidance in 2026,” Vancouver president Rob Friend said of Nash.

Friend and Nash are both former Canadian internationals.

Despite finishing last in the standings, then unlikely Canadian Championship run has Vancouver FC preparing to face defending champions Cruz Azul in the CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Vancouver joins Forge FC (winner of the CPL Shield as regular-season leader) and Atletico Ottawa (winner of the North Star Cup as playoff champion) in the 27-team CONCACAF club championship.

Under Nash, Vancouver edged Atletico Ottawa 3-2 in the two-legged semifinal to reach the Canadian Championship final.

While Vancouver FC lost 4-2 to the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Oct. 1 final, the Whitecaps qualified for the CONCACAF tournament by finishing fifth in the MLS Supporters’ Shield standings. So, Vancouver FC got the Canadian Championship invite.

Vancouver, which finished 21 points below Ottawa and 37 below Forge, hosts Cruz Azul on Feb. 4 with the return leg Feb. 12 at Estadio Cuauhtémoc in Puebla.

The 2025 final marked the third time Nash had faced the Whitecaps in the Canadian Championship as a head coach. At the helm of York United, he lost to Vancouver in the 2022 semifinals and 2023 quarterfinals.

Nash is the younger brother of Steve Nash, a Basketball Hall of Famer and co-owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps.

The Whitecaps reached the final of the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup, losing 5-0 to Cruz Azul.

In other CPL news, Cavalry FC announced the departure of midfielders Shamit Shome and Diego Gutiérrez following the expiry of their contracts.

Shome, who joined Cavalry in 2023, made 79 appearances for the Calgary side across all competitions while Gutiérrez, who came on board in 2024, made 49 appearances across all competitions.

The Halifax Wanderers signed 21-year-old defender Finn Linder to a contract through the 2026 season with club options for 2027 and 2028, reuniting the Calgary-born New Zealand youth international with Halifax coach and GM Vanni Sartini.

Linder spent six years in the Vancouver Whitecaps system, making his first-team during the 2024 season in a friendly with Wrexham AFC.

“Finn is a great player and young man who possesses all the qualities of a modern centre back, and I’m excited to have him join the Wanderers,” said Sartini, a former Whitecaps coach. “He has incredible pace for a player of his height and can defend centrally and wide. When we have the ball, he’s very good at dribbling forward and contributing to the buildup.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 14, 2026.