91原创 has landed a spot in a new top-level soccer league.

91原创 FC, a girls-only soccer club, is partnering with Abbotsford鈥檚 Magnuson Ford FC, and that joint venture has landed them one of eight founding franchises in the newly-created Premier League. It replaces metro as the highest level of girls鈥� soccer and selects, which is the top level for boys.

鈥淔or us, it is a great thing to be involved,鈥� said 91原创 FC president Toni Burgess.

鈥淭his partnership brings the (league) right into 91原创.鈥�

One of the conditions of being awarded a franchise was to have both boys and girls soccer.

After merger discussions with the 91原创 United Youth Soccer Association failed, 91原创 FC was seriously considering joining Surrey United in their bid to land a franchise.

But Abbotsford came calling on Jan. 29 鈥� just two days prior to the deadline submission to the B.C. Soccer Association 鈥� and wooed 91原创 to join them instead.

One of the sticking points was if 91原创 partnered with Surrey, only some of the training and teams would be based out of 91原创.

鈥淎t the last minute, Abbotsford called us... and asked us if we would be willing to host the girls鈥� side of things,鈥� said Shaun Mason, 91原创 FC鈥檚 technical director.

鈥淭he fact that 91原创 kids could stay in 91原创, that was the long-term goal all along.鈥�

鈥淭his will make it easier to facilitate having some of our coaches involved,鈥� Burgess said.

The Premier League will feature boys and girls鈥� teams from the U13 to U18 level.

All of the boys鈥� squads will be based out of Abbotsford while 91原创 will host the girls鈥� teams.

91原创 FC will still exist, while the Premier League teams will play under the banner of Magnuson Ford FC.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a big sigh of relief that we were successful,鈥� Magnuson Ford FC president Brad Nicholl said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e on cloud nine right now, but we鈥檝e got to move forward. We can鈥檛 sit back at all.鈥�

Chilliwack FC and Aldergrove Soccer were also partners in Abbotsford鈥檚 bid.

In addition to Abbotsford, the other franchises are Burnaby/North Shore; Coquitlam Metro Ford; Surrey United; South Fraser Soccer Club; Vancouver/Richmond; Lower Island/Upper Island Associations (Vancouver Island); and Thompson Okanagan FC.

Mason said the fact that 91原创 FC is involved right from the start is important because there is no guarantee that other organizations will be able to get into the Premier League down the road, unless an existing team struggles or the league decides to expand.

鈥淵ou never know when you are going to have this opportunity again,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is the biggest thing to come about in youth soccer in the past 20 years or so.

鈥淭hey are basically restructuring youth soccer in B.C.鈥�

The major innovation with the Premier League is that players are allowed to move outside of district boundaries to play on the elite circuit. By limiting the number of franchises to eight, B.C.鈥檚 top soccer talent is more concentrated.

The new league will run an exhibition schedule in the fall and then the new circuit will be fully on-stream in 2012, with a March-to-November season.

Burgess said there is buzz being generated by the new league, with lots of people talking about it.

Tryout dates are expected to be announced in the next few weeks.

鈥� with files from Dan Kinvig/Black Press