Incoming MLS outfit, Vancouver Whitecaps, have kicked off pre-season training for their admission into the league.

Players of the USL Division 1 club will undergo six weeks of training to try and maintain their places on the roster revealed head coach Teitur Thordarson.

"All the players here are still fighting for a place," he told the Vancovuer Sun.

"Fitness is a key for me, an absolute key," he said after the team training session Monday. "If we have the fitness level, we have time enough to work on the tactics [for MLS play] ... You can't expect to become a good football player by training just six or seven months a year."