Paris Gee Returns Home, Signs Two-Year Contract with Vancouver Football Club

January 23, 2024 – Canadian Premier League (CPL) – Vancouver FC News Release

Langley, BC – Vancouver FC adds another hometown player to their 2024 roster with the announcement today of Burnaby native Paris Gee agreeing to a two-year contract with the Eagles.

A veteran of the game, Gee, 29, has played nearly 200 professional matches for teams across Canada, the United States, and in Croatia, but never in his home province of British Columbia. In bringing Gee home, Vancouver is providing another opportunity for a local athlete to play professionally in his own backyard in front of family and friends. Gee becomes the eighth B.C.-born athlete on Vancouver’s 2024 roster, joining goalkeeper Callum Irving, defenders Kadin Chung, Anthony White and James Cameron, midfielders Ben Fisk and Grady McDonnell, and forward Taryck ‘TJ’ Tahid.

“It’s always been in the back of my head to play in Vancouver and now it is happening,” said Gee. “To know that my friends and family can be in the stands for all 14 home games means the world to me and I can’t wait to get started.”

Gee returns to play in his hometown for the first time since his teenage years. Growing up, he was a self-described “Vancouver-nomad” playing for various clubs across local municipalities. His youth career began with Wesburn Soccer before transitioning to formerly Burnaby Metro, later becoming Mountain FC and now known as Burnaby FC, where he played until the age of 15. The Burnaby Central Secondary alum capped off his time with then-Mountain FC by earning a silver medal at the Under-16 Super Y-League Finals before joining fellow VFC teammates Fisk and Irving as a training player in the Vancouver Whitecaps Residency system in 2011.

Gee played his final year of youth soccer with Coquitlam Metro-Ford SC (CMFSC), where future VFC teammates Chung and White would also play. His CMFSC’s Ajax squad went on to win the provincial championship in the Premier Cup division that season.

Gee decided to take his shot at a professional career after spending his freshman year with Simon Fraser University’s men’s soccer program. With few opportunities available to him at home, he followed the path taken by many Canadian players with pro aspirations before him, signing a deal overseas with NK Rudeš of the Croatian second division in 2014.

He would eventually find opportunities closer to home, initially landing stateside with the Tulsa Roughnecks and then Saint Louis FC in the United Soccer League, before returning to…