Pacific FC so believes it has its goalkeeper of the future that the club has extended 19-year-old Emil Gazdov’s contract by two years, with an option for a third, beyond this season to potentially keep him in the Tridents fold through 2026.
Gazdov was the understudy last year to three-season PFC starter Callum Irving, 29, who moved on to Canadian Premier League expansion franchise Vancouver FC. Irving holds the PFC franchise record, tied with former forward Terran Campbell, as the all-time games leader for the Tridents with 69 appearances across all competitions.
A decade apart in age, Gazdov and Irving will face each other in the opposite boxes Saturday when PFC opens the 2023 CPL season against Vancouver FC at Starlight Stadium.
The six-foot-three Gazdov made two CPL starts for PFC in 2022 and showed well in a 2-1 victory over Valour FC of Winnipeg and a 1-0 loss to the HFX Wanderers of Halifax. The native of North Vancouver served as Irving’s back-up in 24 other PFC games last season. Gazdov is a product of the Vancouver Whitecaps Academy and played on loan for two seasons with the U-19 team of FC Nurnberg of 2.Bundesliga.
“Emil has great potential and all the tools to become a complete goalkeeper,” PFC head coach James Merriman said in a statement.
“He is still very young and knows he has work to do. He has many things to improve and we believe he’s committed to his development. Young players need opportunities to develop, they need professional games to learn, and this is what we believe at Pacific FC.”
Despite the obvious faith they have in Gazdov, the Tridents added crease insurance last month with the signing of Kieran Baskett. The 21-year-old has two seasons of pro goalkeeping experience in the CPL with his hometown HFX Wanderers of Halifax with 21 career games for the Wanderers, nine of them last season with five clean sheets, in sharing the HFX glove duties with veteran Chris Oxner. The six-foot-four Nova Scotian won the Colonial Conference championship during his NCAA Div. 1 career at William and Mary and spent the off-season training with Coventry City of the English Championship.
CORNER KICKS: Eric Lajeunesse has signed a CPL-U Sports contract with PFC. The system allows university players to sign a CPL pro contract while maintaining their U Sports eligibility. The Tridents selected the 19-year-old fullback sixth overall in the 2023 CPL-U Sports draft out of the UBC Thunderbirds.
