A 16-year-old goalkeeper, who has been making waves in Canadian soccer, has been signed to a two-year contract with the Vancouver Football Club (VFC).
Preparing for the 2025, the 91原创-based Eagles announced that Canadian-Colombian netminder Felipe Jaramillo Drolet has been elevated from the club's inaugural U-19 academy team, to the big leagues this week.
He's signed through the 2026 season, with a club option for an additional two years, confirmed VFC's new head of goalkeeping, Niko Giantsopoulos, who just a few weeks ago retired his player jersey with the team and took on a coaching role.
This signing marks an exciting step for both the club and Drolet, as he continues his rapid rise in professional soccer, Giantsopoulos said.
鈥淔elipe is a young and talented goalkeeper with tremendous potential, and we are excited to support his growth within our club,鈥� he added.
Drolet has been developing soccer his skills through Mountain United FC in the BC Soccer Premier League before joining the Vancouver Whitecaps FC Academy in 2022. More recently, he became a standout player for VFC's academy team, where his talent and work ethic quickly earned him a place in the first-team setup.
His abilities haven鈥檛 gone unnoticed beyond club football either, Giantsopoulos noted. In December 2024, he earned a call-up to the Colombian men's U-17 national team for their training camp in Barranquilla 鈥� what the coach called a testament to Drolet's skill, composure, and potential between the posts.
In addition to gleaning insight and mentorship from the man he's replaced on the team 鈥� namely Giantsopoulos 鈥� Drolet will be supported by one of the league's most experienced goalkeepers, Vancouver's own Callum Irving, who was VFC's team captain last season, who logged a franchise high of 2,610 minutes of play, and who broke a number of Canadian Premier League records last year and received a number of awards for his stellar efforts on and off the field.
For Vancouver FC, this signing represents more than just adding a promising young player. It speaks to the team's commitment to developing homegrown talent and providing a pathway to the professional game.
Vancouver FC Roster as of March 20:
Goalkeepers: Callum Irving and Felipe Jaramillo Drolet
Defenders: Elage Bah, Joey Buchanan, Matteo Campagna, Kunle Dada-Luke, Paris Gee, and David Norman Jr.
Midfielders: Tyler Crawford, Vasco Fry, Emrick Fotsing, TJ Tahid, Dominic Joseph, and Kevin Podgorni
Forwards: Terran Campbell, Mikael Cantave, Alejandro Diaz, and Jose Navarro
Vancouver FC plays in 91原创 at the Willoughby Community Park stadium.
The team plays its home-opener on Sunday, April 6, with a 4 p.m. start against Toronto's York United.
But in the meantime, there's a pre-season open match set for Saturday, March 22, at 2 p.m. at Willoughby Stadium.
