2023 Canadian Premier League Season

The 2023 Canadian Premier League season was the fifth season of the Canadian Premier League, the top level of Canadian soccer. The CPL Shield was won by Cavalry FC who finished first in the regular season by a 13 point margin. In the CPL final, Forge FC defeated Cavalry FC 2–1 in Hamilton to capture the North Star Cup. In doing so, Forge became league champions for the fourth time in five seasons. Both title winning clubs qualified for the newly expanded 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Team and rule changes

Eight teams competed in the 2023 season with the debut of Vancouver FC, and the dissolution of FC Edmonton. The league's playoff structure changed to a five-team Page playoff system with four elimination matches and one non-elimination match.

The league's player compensation budget increased by $175,000 compared to 2022. Teams were required to spend between $750,000 and $1,025,000 on their 20–23 player rosters with a minimum of $30,000 per player. A team making full use of the U-21 salary rule could reach a compensation maximum of $1,125,000. In July 2023, the CPL introduced the Exceptional Youth Talent (EYT) designation which teams can apply to two U-18 players who are on standard contracts. EYT players do not count towards the 23 player roster limit and a portion of their salaries do not count towards the cap.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Number of teams by province or territory

Coaching changes

Regular season

Format

The regular season was played as a quadruple round-robin, with each team playing the other seven teams twice at home and twice away between April 15 and October 7. The regular season winner (the team ranked first after all 28 games) qualified for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup and the top five teams qualified for the playoffs.

Standings

Results

U-21 minute standings

In order to qualify for the playoffs, clubs were also required to accumulate at least 2,000 minutes played by U-21 domestic players during the regular season. Additionally, only 1,000 of these minutes could be played by players on loan from other clubs. Clubs that do not meet the 2,000 minute threshold may also incur financial penalties from the league.

Playoffs

The 2023 season used the Page playoff system. The team who finished first in the regular-season table would play the team who finished second, and the winner would host the final. The fourth- and fifth-placed teams would play in a play-in round, and the winner of this game would then play the third-placed team in a quarter-final. The quarter-final winner would play the loser of the game between the first and second-placed teams for the other spot in the final.

Bracket

Matches

Play-in round

Quarterfinal

First semifinal

Second semifinal

Final

Attendance

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Top assists

Clean sheets

Hat-tricks

Awards

Canadian Premier League Awards

The 2023 Canadian Premier League Awards were held in Hamilton, Ontario, on October 26, 2023.

Canadian Premier League Best XI

Team of the Week

The Gatorade Team of the Week was selected by the CPL's Kristian Jack and OneSoccer's Oliver Platt.

Monthly Awards

Player transfers

U Sports Draft

The 2023 CPL–U Sports Draft took place on December 15, 2022. Each team made two picks in the draft for a total of 16 selections with expansion club Vancouver FC selecting first.

Foreign players

Canadian Premier League teams can sign a maximum of seven international players, out of which only five can be in the starting line-up for each match. At least 50% of a team's international players must be U-23 at all times. If a club wishes to utilize the maximum 7 slots, the 7th player must be U-21.

The following international players were signed for the 2023 season. Note that players may be considered domestic for CPL purposes (Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees) while still representing other countries in international competitions.

Players in ''italic'' denote players who were new to their respective clubs for the 2023 season, sorted chronologically by their announcement. Players in Bold indicate players who have represented their national teams at the senior level.

2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup

Forge FC and Cavalry FC both earned berths in the newly expanded 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup as CPL champions and regular season champions respectively. The newly expanded tournament has teams from across North America, Central America, and the Caribbean compete for a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup. Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup was also available to CPL clubs if they won the Canadian Championship; however, the 2023 Canadian Championship was not won by a CPL team.

References

Further reading

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{{Canada D1 soccer seasons

Canadian Premier League seasons
Canadian Premier League