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“If you look at it now, we are here to join the party with the Flames and the Stamps. Now it’s our part to play it in Calgary and say, ‘Yeah you know what? We are a soccer city as well.’ (We want to be) renowned for being a world class sporting city. In order to do that, you need the world’s No. 1 game in this city.”

It’s a journey that’s taken a while, Wheeldon added.

“I’ve been here 17 years. I came with the old professional club Calgary Storm, and when that folded, I always wanted to make it a mission to help the blank canvas that was Canadian soccer,” said Wheeldon. “Especially in Calgary to help get it back to a place where we could compete on the professional stage and then compete on the international stage.

“I’ve got now this pool of players I believe are ready to compete in a professional environment. We’ve got a good depth of players that can compete. I’m proud to take a lot of Calgarians with me on this.”

Among those are fullback Dean Northover, a so-to-speak carryover player from the PDL’s Foothills FC team that the city has boasted in years past.

“It means a lot (to have a pro team here). I heard CPL coming years and years ago, and I didn’t get any younger,” said the 27-year-old Northover, who joined Foothills FC five years ago. “I thought I had a chance and stuck with it. To have a chance to be a part of it now, it means so much — especially in my hometown. It gives the fans something to cheer about: homegrown players.

“I think this is the first step in (building a name for pro soccer). There’s lots of good players here. Soccer, I think, is more popular here just by the numbers, even though hockey seems to be the biggest. Now that we have this professional league, it’s good for the kids and I think we’re going to see more and more Calgary-based soccer players come out.”