* Club domestic league appearances and goals as of November 4, 2022
Mark Village (born November 25, 1991) is a Canadian soccer coach and former player.
Early life
Village played youth soccer with the Abbotsford Mariners.[1] He began playing goalkeeper at age 10.[2]
University career
In 2009, he began attending the University of the Fraser Valley, where he played for the men's soccer team in 2011.[3][4] In his first season in 2011, Village started seven matches and recorded one shutout on September 9 against Trinity Western.[3] In 2012, he was named to the 2012 Canada West All-Star team.[5] In 2012, he was named UFV MVP and helped them win a bronze medal in 2013.[6] He holds several of UFV's Canada West-era goalkeeping records, including most wins (16), shutouts (11), minutes played (4,194), games played (46) and save percentage (.726).[4]
In March 2015, after first going on trial,[9] he signed a professional contract with USL club Whitecaps FC 2.[10][11] In March 2017, he extended his contract with the club.[8][12] Village made his professional debut for Whitecaps 2 on October 7, 2017, against the Real Monarchs, during which he made a 5th minute diving save to deny a goal attempt by Daniel Haber,[13] which was later selected as the USL Fans' Choice Save of the Month for October 2017.[14]
In November 2017, Village moved to fellow USL club FC Cincinnati for the 2018 season.[15][16]
In January 2019, Village joined Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League.[17][18][19] He played in Pacific's first ever game on April 28, 2019 and kept a clean sheet in a 1–0 victory over HFX Wanderers FC, the first clean sheet in league history.[20] On November 4, 2019 the club announced it would not be offering Village a contract for the following season.[21] After becoming the club's goalkeeping coach in 2020, he occasionally served as the team's backup goalkeeper in emergency situations from 2020 to 2022.[22]
Coaching career
On February 28, 2020, Village announced his retirement from professional soccer, and that he would be remaining with Pacific as the club's goalkeeper coach under new manager Pa-Modou Kah.[23][24][25] With Pacific, he won the 2021 CPL Championship.[26] He departed the club after the 2022 season.[27]
In December 2022, it was announced that he would join Vancouver FC, as their goalkeepers coach for the 2023 season.[28]
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