Announcing the new “CFC” - a letter from the director
Hello Capital FC and Salem Soccer Community -
Since 2013, our club has been partnered with the Portland Timbers as a Timbers Alliance Member. This spring, we are announcing that we are leaving the Timbers Alliance and rebranding to “Capital Futbol Club.”
The club has a long history of serving the soccer community. Founded in 1993 as Salem United Soccer Club and wearing purple and white, the club later partnered with the Cascade Surge, Salem’s men’s semi-professional team, and became Cascade Futbol Club (CFC). After the Cascade Surge went away and with the need to rebrand under the “Timbers” as a part of the Alliance, we became known as Capital FC Timbers - to better identify with the Capital City as part of our primary identity.
We continue to place a high value on being “Salem’s soccer club.” This falls under our first pillar - BETTER SOCCER. We continue to make strides to elevate soccer for every player pathway - from grassroots, school-based programs, to recreational, all the way to elite and pre-professional opportunities. We believe strongly that these opportunities should be available in our community for every player and are working both internally and collaboratively to develop these.
We have benefited from our partnership with the Portland Timbers as the soccer landscape has shifted in Oregon over the past decade. Being an Alliance member meant that we had a “seat at the table” when the state was Portland-centered and we were left out of many conversations that affected our members. We received brand recognition, as well as several unique opportunities for our players that included time at Providence Park, a couple showcase events, and coach education opportunities. This also paved the way for us to partner with them around the Timbers U23, which the club owns and operates under a separate branding agreement that expired during COVID.
As the club has grown, our need and reliance on the Timbers is not the same as it was when we began our partnership. In addition, the Timbers organization has shifted their focus and does not share some of the same values we have for the youth game that we originally had synergy around. They are primarily a pro club and therefore their resources go that direction. This combination of our club not having as great a need for their support as well as seeing diminished support from the Alliance in recent years has led to our decision to leave.
Our board and staff agree that the club will better serve our membership through rebranding as Capital Futbol Club. We currently experience some brand confusion around who we are to those who do not know us in our community, getting things mixed between us and the Timbers. Additionally, being known as Capital Futbol Club in the USL and NWPL gives our brand a national recognition that leads to playing opportunities for our premier teams and increases our ability to help kids get into college playing opportunities. These benefits at the “top” trickle down to all levels of our organization through attracting qualified staff, coach education benefits, facility support, sponsorship, and fundraising.
On the practical side, we are rebranding prior to our new competitive jersey cycle, which will last for 2 years. We currently have elements of our logo identity that are tied to the Timbers, and we want to better represent our community with our branding. We wanted to make sure families had things set before needing to order any new gear with a new logo. Next, our website and email addresses will move to cfcsalem.com . You’ll also see this change affect our social media accounts.
Additionally, our pre-professional men’s team will finish playing the US Open Cup as the Timbers U23 and then shift to Capital FC Atletico, mirroring our women’s pre-professional program, Atletica.
We are excited to begin this new chapter in Capital FC’s history and look forward to what is to come. We honor the past, and look forward to the future as CFC lives out its mission to provide better soccer, develop better people, and create a stronger community!
Yours in soccer,
Collin Box
Executive Director
Capital Futbol Club
Have a question? Reach out to me via email: collin@cfcsalem.com
Our goal with branding has been to:
represent our salem community
honor our club’s past
stand out from the crowd
allow each program to have its own identity within the “cfc” brand
Thank you to The Bruin Co for helping with our new identity.
See the inspiration behind our branding in the slides below.
