During the 2025 summer season, while Birmingham Legion FC was making roster moves on the pitch, the club was also building for its future off the pitch. Before the final fall whistle blew in 2025, Legion FC quietly secured one of the most important signings of the year: the appointment of Stephanie Wood as the club’s new Vice President of Marketing and Fan Engagement.
“Stephanie is a rare talent. Her ability to build culture, connect communities, and create meaningful soccer experiences is world-class,” said CEO Jay Heaps.
Her arrival represents far more than a leadership change. It signals the beginning of a new creative era for Legion FC.
From One Steel City to Another
Wood hails from Sheffield, England, a city widely recognized as the birthplace of modern football, forged from the same industrial roots as Birmingham and built on a global reputation in steel. Home to Sheffield FC, established in 1857 and recognized by FIFA as the world’s oldest football club, the city carries a sporting legacy that instilled in Wood a deep connection to the game from an early age. Raised in a place where sport is cultural identity as much as competition, Wood grew up immersed in what she calls football, the global game Americans know as soccer, an upbringing that shaped how she views clubs, supporters, and the responsibility sport carries inside communities.
For Wood, the move to Birmingham represents a natural alignment. Two working-class cities built on pride and industry. Two places where sport carries meaning far beyond the scoreboard.
Six Seasons. Two Clubs. One Creative Force.
Wood spent six seasons in the Canadian Premier League, three with Pacific FC and three with Vancouver FC, becoming one of the league’s defining creative leaders and cultural architects.
Pacific FC Era: Championship Identity and Cultural Leadership
At Pacific FC, Wood helped reshape the club’s identity from the ground up, creating the cultural framework that supported the club’s 2021 championship season.
She developed Trident Territory and the rallying cry One Club, One Island, which became defining pillars of the club’s supporter culture and brand voice.
Her impact was most visible through kit storytelling and design. She led the ideation and design of Canada’s first Indigenous professional sports kit, collaborating with Coast Salish artist Maynard Johnny Jr., made possible through the support and connection facilitated by Deana Gill of the Hope and Health Foundation. The kit sold out instantly, went viral globally, and earned international coverage across SoccerBible, FootyHeadlines, SportsLogos.net, and COPA90. It was later named number 17 in SoccerBible’s Top 20 Football Shirts in the World for 2022. More importantly, it served as a give-back project supporting residential school survivors and Hope and Health’s mission.
She also designed the Island Life Kit, inspired by the rugged beaches, forests, and raw coastline of Tofino, and the Bear Kit, modelled on the culturally symbolic Spirit Bear, the official provincial animal of British Columbia. The design was intended to represent the team stepping onto the pitch, embodying the full spirit of British Columbia: strength, resilience, and cultural grounding. Together, the Island Life Kit, Bear Kit, and Indigenous Kit drove Pacific FC to win the CPL award for Most Kits Sold in 2023.
Beyond kits, Wood helped deliver the MUSCO-lit W̱SÁNEĆ School Board mini-pitch, a full-size community soccer space built to provide Indigenous youth with safe access to sport, physical activity, and community connection. The project represented sport as infrastructure for youth development and community pride, and Wood hopes to bring similar community-first sport infrastructure concepts to Alabama communities.
She also led the viral Merch Swap rivalry campaign with the Vancouver Whitecaps during the Canadian Championship, a creative activation that captured national attention while delivering real community impact. The initiative collected more than 300 pieces of merchandise, all of which were later donated to youth soccer charities.
Vancouver FC Era: Launching a Club and Building a Movement
Wood transitioned into Vancouver FC just three months after the birth of her second child, partnering with designer Jon Rogers to build the club identity from the earliest stages after franchise rights were secured.
In November 2022, Wood and Rogers unveiled Vancouver FC to the world at a landmark launch event attended by then Canadian men’s national team head coach John Herdman, CPL leadership, ownership, and grassroots leaders shaping the future of the game. The club’s 2023 inaugural home opener sold out.
Wood designed the all-black 2023 community home kit, the globally recognized Cherry Blossom Kit, and the Eagle Kit. Wood’s vision for the launch of these kits was equally spectacular, bringing the stories behind them to life through real-world execution, including live cherry blossoms, a live bald eagle, and direct ties to the surrounding landscape and environment that inspired each design.
The Cherry Blossom Kit received extensive national and international coverage across SoccerBible, The Kitman, COPA90, and other global soccer culture platforms, and sold out almost immediately on Macron’s official online store. The Eagle Kit was amplified through her matchday vision, securing a rescued bald eagle to deliver the match coin at every home fixture, transforming a kit element into a living club ritual that quickly became a league-wide sensation.
“Stephanie brings an artistic eye to everything she works on, and that was especially evident in the kits she designed for the league,” said Shaun Guest, Vice President, Commercial Operations, Canadian Soccer Business. “She emerged as a creative leader in that space, pushing ideas forward and helping create designs that stood out and earned visibility from across the league and beyond.”
Her team’s ability to tap into cultural timing and humor shone in the viral Missed Out on Messi campaign, which earned a 2024 CPL Honorable Mention for Social Media Engagement of the Year.
Wood also created Sp’óq’es, the club’s Indigenous-centered mascot, guiding the process from concept through cultural consultation and formal naming in partnership with the Kwantlen Nation, and launched the Sp’óq’es Squad youth supporters’ program.
She built the Vancouver FC Schools Program, connecting with more than 4,200 students seasonally, created the Take Flight Program to bring underserved youth to matches, developed two limited-edition beer collaborations tied to season campaigns, and transformed Volkswagen’s fleet into VFC Community Cruisers, extending the club’s presence into schools, festivals, and neighborhoods across the region.
At a national level, Wood ideated, directed, and delivered the club’s WestJet schedule release film for the 2025 season, one of the most significant brand partnerships in club history, translating sponsor integration into cinematic storytelling that set a new benchmark for partner-led creative in the league.
“Stephanie had a major impact on league partnerships and storytelling,” said Shaun Guest. “The Schedule Release video presented by WestJet is a great example of how she brought partner objectives to life in ways that felt authentic and meaningful for fans and clubs.”
League Impact
Wood’s influence extended beyond her clubs. She became a trusted creative voice for league projects, providing usability and creative feedback on digital initiatives and working directly with Hummel to test and refine the league-wide kit partnership workflow from a club perspective.
Her most ambitious league contribution was the CPL On Tour Showcase in Kelowna. An initiative entrusted to Wood to execute as the league’s first true market proof-of-concept event. She secured the market, built the creative identity, structured the event, and wrote the operational playbook now used for league expansion strategy.
Wood was not simply staging another match. She was proving concept. What made the success even more remarkable was its creators: a team of just four, led by Wood, who refused to accept the limits of size, time, or expectation. Their output rivalled that of departments five times larger.
“She took a high-level idea, turned it into a great event, and engaged the local community,” said Marni Dicker, Executive Vice President, Infrastructure and Chief Legal Officer, Canadian Premier League. “What really stood out was how she handled a complex proof of concept and made sure everything came together smoothly on the ground.”
The showcase sold out with the largest sporting crowd in Kelowna’s history, earning a CPL Honourable Mention for Community Engagement and helping secure the city’s stadium commitment. The success helped validate the new market strategy and paved the way for future CPL expansion, including SUPRA FC in Laval, Québec. It also proved the neutral-site concept so strongly that other Canadian leagues have since announced On Tour or neutral-site games in Kelowna, including the CFL’s BC Lions and the CEBL’s Vancouver Bandits.
Dicker added, “Stephanie brings commitment, passion, and confidence to her work. She leads with initiative and ownership, making her a natural driver of new ideas and complex projects.”
Leadership
Team is everything to her. Having the right team working together toward the same goal is key to anyone’s success. She firmly believes ideation is nothing without a team that can execute at any level. Stephanie often credits former teammates Kyle Rowe, now with the Vancouver Canucks, and world-class sports photographer Beau Chevalier as the heartbeat of her team’s ecosystem. Built on trust, loyalty, and countless late nights, that working relationship became a force. As a leader, she proved what can be achieved when the right team plays for each other. She now looks to build that same team mentality in Birmingham, creating an environment rooted in trust, shared belief, and collective ambition.
All of this was accomplished while Wood was also navigating life as a mother of two young children. Throughout her six seasons at the league and club levels, she balanced executive leadership, travel-heavy schedules, late nights, and high-pressure moments with raising her family.
What She Brings to Birmingham
“We are not just adding a marketing executive. We are adding a leader who knows how to shape identity, inspire fans, and elevate a club. Birmingham is incredibly fortunate to have her,” said President Nick Hall.
Wood brings global soccer DNA, championship-winning creative leadership, and a proven record of turning clubs into cultural institutions.
A New Beginning in the Heart of Alabama
From England to Canada and now to the United States, Stephanie Wood’s journey has been rooted in purpose, culture, and the creation of soccer identities with real meaning.
With the world’s beautiful game arriving on American soil for the upcoming World Cup, the soccer landscape in the United States is shifting in a historic way. With Birmingham represented globally through club owner Chris Richards, Wood steps into Legion FC at a defining moment. Several major initiatives are already underway that will position the club and city to take advantage of this global shift.
“I am here to build something Birmingham will be proud of. Something with heart, identity, and meaning,” Wood said.
A new chapter begins. And it will be extraordinary.
