[1] One of the major contributing factors was the successful 2007 FIFA U-20 World Cup, of which Victoria was a host city, which led local businessman Alex Campbell Jr. to create the Highlanders.
[2][3] Their initial home field was the Bear Mountain Stadium in Langford, British Columbia, achieving great attendance in their inaugural season.
[citation needed] After the season, head coach Colin Miller announced his resignation to be closer to his family in Abbotsford.
[15] However, on April 1, Marvin Diercks and Dave Dew, long time Victoria soccer advocates, purchased the franchise and branding rights to the Highlanders from previous owner Alex Campbell reviving the team and announcing that they would join the Pacific Coast Soccer League for the 2015 season.
[16][17] After a good run in the regular season, the Highlanders finished third overall and clinched a berth into the Sheila Anderson Memorial Challenge Cup play-offs.
In the playoffs, the Highlanders advanced to the finals, where they lost in a penalty kick shootout to Khalsa Sporting Club.
[20] In 2018, the Highlanders ownership group expanded to include Brett Large, Moreno Stefani, Grant Olson, Mark deFrias, and Ryan Wilson, in addition to Diercks and Dew.
[28][29] In 2023, they won the League1 BC regular season title, qualifying the team for the 2024 Canadian Championship,[30] before being defeated by the Whitecaps FC Academy in the playoff final.
[32] With the purchase of season tickets, one also gets a membership in the Victoria Highlanders Supporters Board that administers the fan's 30% ownership in the club.
[38] Capacity concerns regarding dressing rooms, field space, mid-field seating capacity, and training time conflicts for the four Highlander teams with the Victoria Rebels Football Club of the Canadian Junior Football League and other tenants resulted in the move to Royal Athletic Park in Victoria in the middle of the 2011 season.
In 2009, their U20 reserves only played exhibition matches,[47] before joining the Men's Premier Division of the Pacific Coast Soccer League in 2010.
The Mid Isle side was older than the Highlanders U20 Reserves (who were U-17 and U-18) playing in the PCSL Premier Division, but younger than the U-23 PDL roster.