Introducing George Pakos

George Pakos of Victoria played for Canada Men's Team from 1983 - 1986, scoring two critical goals in Canada's 1986 World Cup qualification, and was selected to the CSA Centennial "Top 100 Men's Players" in 2012.

George “The Legend” Pakos was born in Victoria in 1952 and raised in Esquimalt, playing high level baseball and playing youth soccer with Gorge SC, with whom he won a Sun Tournament Championship in 1967. Moving up to adult with Victoria United, Pakos was the PCL “Rookie of the Year” in 1972-73. From 1973 to 1976, George played for London Boxing Club, who were BC provincial champions and won the Canadian national club championship in 1975, and for whom he scored 42 goals his first season.

In 1983, aged 31, Pakos was spotted by Canada coaches playing for the amateur Vancouver Island Selects. He was selected for the Olympic team (scoring two goals) and the 1983 Men’s National Team. After being dropped from the MNT, he was recalled in 1985 for the World Cup qualifying tournament.

George Pakos scored two of the most important goals in the history of Canadian soccer, two goals that directly led to Canada’s qualification for its only World Cup appearance. On 25 August 1985, Pakos came on as a sub and scored the only goal of the game as Canada beat Honduras in front of 50,000 Honduras fans. Manager Tony Waiters: “An incredibly important game-changing goal. Changed the life of many of us Canadians”. Then, on 14 September 1985 Canada hosted Honduras in the reverse fixture at St. Johns, Newfoundland. Pakos scored from a corner by Carl Valentine. Valentine remembers thinking: “This guy’s done it again”. Canada won 2-1 - and so qualified for the 1986 World Cup finals. Said Bob Lenarduzzi: "If we don’t have those two goals, we’re not qualifying”. TSN made a 5-minute video on Pakos and the qualification: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1G5yAlJ1Zs.

From 1983 to 1987, Pakos played 33 times for Canada’s MNT, scoring ten goals. He played in the 1986 World Cup in Canada’s game against Russia. He also played in six qualifying games for the Olympic and Pan-Am Games team. George played all these games as an amateur, on vacation time or unpaid leave.

After his international career, George played for the Victoria Riptide and Victoria Vistas for four years, but his club loyalty is strongest for Victoria Athletics in the Vancouver Island Soccer League, with whom he played from 1976 to 2010, including winning the BC Over 35 championship. He also coached Athletics teams, and later refereed Lower Island adult, youth and high school games.

George worked for 33 years for the City of Victoria Waterworks and is a lifelong blood donor. George Pakos was named Victoria Male Athlete of the Year for 1986, inducted into the Greater Victoria Sports Hall of Fame in 2001, received the VISL President’s Award in 2002, BC Soccer’s Award of Merit in 2004, was selected to Canada Soccer’s Centennial "Top 100 Men's Players" in 2012 and was inducted into the Soccer Hall of Fame of BC in 2020. Canada Soccer celebrates “George Pakos Day” every September 14.