In 2005, the Scarborough-based Metro Lions relocated to Oakville and adopted the Blue Devils name. Coached by Wilde, the Blue Devils won the Canadian Professional Soccer League (now the Canadian Soccer League) championship in their first season in Oakville. Wilde then left the team to rejoin the Lynx, and the Blue Devils moved to Brampton following the 2006 season.

Wilde said he is confident this edition of the Blue Devils, which has been reinstated as a senior member of the Peel-Halton Soccer Association, is in Oakville to stay.

“When we did it in 2005, we didn’t have a formal affiliation (with OSC), just a working agreement. We played at Bronte Athletic Field, which was small and had grass and mud all the time. Now we’re playing at Sheridan, a fantastic stadium… We scrambled in 2005 to pull it together, this time we’ve had six months to prepare,” Wilde said, noting the Blue Devils have signed a long-term agreeement with League1.

The CPSL/CSL also featured older players, including former professionals who had played in Europe. League1 limits teams to 10 players over the age of 23 on their roster, and just three imports (non-Canadians). Teams have to declare themselves as professional (such as last year’s League1 champs, the Toronto FC Academy) or amateur, and professional clubs are not permitted to use NCAA players.

Though this year’s Blue Devils are a relocation of the Lynx, Wilde said there will be plenty of openings on the roster. The Lynx carried the PDL maximum of nine imports last season, so six of those players will not be eligible to suit up in League1.

“No one is under contract who’s not pro,” Wilde said, “so all amateur players can take a look at this cans think about staying in Oakville and playing here. We’ll have a core of 6-8 players from the PDL (Lynx) last year… and we will look at what Oakville has at the U18 and U21 levels to form our U21 affiliate and senior teams.”

League1 Ontario is also adding a six-team women’s division this year. Wilde said Friday that the Blue Devils hope to enter a women’s team into the league for 2016.