The 2023 Challenge Trophy (, part of the Toyota National Championships for sponsorship reasons) was the 99th edition of the

Challenge Trophy The Challenge Trophy () is the trophy presented to Canada's men's amateur soccer champions as part of Canada Soccer's annual National Championships. The men's competition was created with the inauguration of the Dominion of Canada Football As ...

, an annual cup competition contested by

amateur An amateur () is generally considered a person who pursues an avocation independent from their source of income. Amateurs and their pursuits are also described as popular, informal, autodidacticism, self-taught, user-generated, do it yourself, DI ...

teams in men's Canadian soccer. Ten teams participated in the tournament, which took place in Halifax,

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

from 4–9 October 2023. The West Ottawa Warriors won the Challenge Trophy on their debut, defeating host team Western Halifax FC 1–0 in the final.

Teams

Teams were seeded on the basis of their Provincial/Territorial Associations team's final standing in the previous year's championship.

Teams

Each of Canada Soccer's thirteen provincial and territorial associations can send one representative to the Challenge Trophy, with teams generally qualifying through a regional preliminary series such as an open cup or league competition. For the 2023 tournament, nine provincial associations confirmed their participation, with

fielding two teams as the host. :

¹ Bold indicates champion for that year.

² Competed in previous tournaments as ''Central City Breakers FC''.

³ Competed in previous tournaments as ''Winnipeg Sons of Italy''.

Venues

Matches took place at three different venues within the

Halifax Regional Municipality Halifax is the capital and most populous municipality of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the most populous municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of 2024, it is estimated that the population of the H ...

Group stage

Competing teams were divided into two groups of five teams, playing against one another in a single round-robin and advancing to the

final round A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, w ...

based on their group positioning. The preliminary schedule was released by Canada Soccer in August 2023 without locations or kick-off times, which were later confirmed on 15 September. Teams were given bye days based on the pot they were drawn from, with pot 1 teams receiving byes on the 5th day of the group stage, pot 2 teams receiving byes on the 4th day of the group stage, etc.

Group A

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Group B

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Final round

The final round (known as Teck Finals Day for sponsorship reasons) paired equally-ranked opponents from opposite groups to determine a final ranking for the tournament.

^(Note) ''Match was originally scheduled to be played at Bedford-Hammond Plains in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, but was moved indoors to the BMO Soccer Centre in Halifax due to field damage caused by Tropical Storm Philippe.''

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Statistics

Classification

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.

Goalscorers

References

External links

*

National Championships Regulations {{DEFAULTSORT:Challenge Trophy, 2023 2023 in Canadian soccer

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

October 2023 sports events in Canada 2023 in sports in Nova Scotia 2020s in Halifax, Nova Scotia