CanPL

The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of Canada's ten provinces. Each team plays 28 games in the regular season which is followed by playoffs culminating in the CPL Finals.

The CPL champion and regular season winner earn berths in the CONCACAF Champions Cup, competing against teams from across North America, Central America and the Caribbean for a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup. All CPL teams also play in the Canadian Championship, alongside Canadian clubs from other leagues. Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup is also available to CPL clubs by winning the Canadian Championship.

The league was officially sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association on May 6, 2017, and has played an annual season since 2019. The league's focus is to improve national soccer talent and the sport in Canada, with several rules in place to ensure this. These include a minimum quota of Canadian players on team rosters and starting line-ups, requirements for domestic under-21 players, and a Canadian university draft.

The CPL's first season included seven teams, while an eighth, Atlético Ottawa, joined for the second season in 2020. Vancouver FC debuted in 2023, while FC Edmonton folded before the start of that season. The CPL is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

History

After the closure of the original Canadian Soccer League in 1992, there was no fully professional first division domestic league of Canadian soccer. The only national Canadian competition was the Canadian Championship, a domestic cup which has been played since 2008. Canadian teams played in American leagues, such as Major League Soccer, NASL and the USL Championship, while the L1O and PLSQ were created as provincial-level leagues. A new version of the Canadian Soccer League was briefly sanctioned as a third-division semi-pro league by the CSA from 2010 to 2013, losing the sanction after the CSA board of directors adopted a new soccer structure in Canada.

A new fully professional Canadian soccer league was first publicly reported in June 2013. The reports suggested that Hamilton Tiger-Cats owner Bob Young was part of a core group of investors working with the Canadian Soccer Association and its president Victor Montagliani to create a new set of fully professional teams or a league in Canada. The Tiger-Cats ownership group was granted exclusive rights by the Canadian Soccer Association until 2017 to establish a team that would play in the under-construction Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton.

In February 2016, reports of the league emerged again when Young spoke to Hamilton City Council requesting permission to erect an air-dome over the Tim Hortons Field playing surface between December 1 and April 30 yearly to allow for year-round training for a professional soccer team owned by the Tiger-Cats that would call the stadium home. During questions by the elected council members, it was revealed that the name of the league would be the Canadian Premier League and that the Hamilton team was expected to be the flagship franchise. Further details were expected following the Canadian Soccer Association's annual meeting in May 2016. Reports in June 2016 indicated that the Canadian Premier League would avoid current Major League Soccer markets.

On November 14, the first official employee of the Canadian Premier League was announced. Paul Beirne, a Canadian who was also the first employee of Toronto FC, was hired as project manager for the new league. On May 6, 2017, the creation of the league was unanimously approved and sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association. Ownership groups in Winnipeg and Hamilton were also approved. On May 5, 2018, the Canadian Soccer Association accepted club memberships for Halifax, York Region, Calgary, and "Port City" (later confirmed to be based in Greater Victoria, rather than Surrey as speculated).

The unveiling of the first team, York9 FC, took place on May 10. This was followed by Calgary-based Cavalry FC on May 17, 2018, Halifax's HFX Wanderers FC on May 25, Valour FC in Winnipeg on June 6, and the rebranded former NASL side FC Edmonton on June 8. After a break from announcements to accommodate the 2018 FIFA World Cup, Hamilton's Forge FC was next unveiled on July 12, followed by Pacific FC of Langford in Greater Victoria on July 20.

On August 27, 2018, the CPL announced that it would hold a series of open tryouts in eight cities across Canada for players age 16 and older. The tryouts were led by Alex Bunbury and took place in front of CPL coaching staff from all teams. On September 28, 2018, Italian sportswear company Macron was announced as the official apparel supplier of the CPL. Macron supplies training gear and custom made kits for each CPL team.

Launch (2019–present)

The CPL's inaugural match between Forge FC and York9 FC took place at Tim Hortons Field on April 27, 2019, and resulted in a 1–1 draw. Ryan Telfer of York9 FC scored the first goal in Canadian Premier League history in the third minute of the inaugural match.

In advance of the 2019 Finals, the league's trophy was unveiled. The North Star Shield is a crystal shield engraved with the logo of the Canadian Premier League. The inaugural season finished on November 2, 2019, when Forge FC became the first Canadian Premier League Champions, defeating Cavalry FC 2–0 over two legs in the Finals. Forge midfielder Tristan Borges was named the first CPL Player of the Year.

On January 29, 2020, Atlético Ottawa was confirmed to be the first CPL expansion team, joining for the 2020 season. The 2020 season, set to start on April 11, was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On July 29, it was announced that the entire 2020 season would be played in Charlottetown beginning August 13. The shortened 2020 season, known as "The Island Games" ended on September 19 when Forge FC won their second Canadian Premier League title in a 2–0 victory over HFX Wanderers.

The 2021 season did not begin until June 26 due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, each team was able to play a full schedule of 28 matches. The season culminated with Pacific FC defeating Forge FC 1–0 in the 2021 Final, held in December.

On November 21, 2022, the Canadian Premier League announced that FC Edmonton would be removed from the league, effective immediately. The league commissioner cited poor on-field performance as well as low attendance and an outdated stadium as reasons for the termination. For the 2023 season, Vancouver FC from Langley, British Columbia entered the league, joining as an expansion team. Following the 2024 season, the league was valued at US$300M (CA$431M).

Competition format

The inaugural 2019 season of the league included a split season format similar to soccer leagues in Latin America. The winners of the two seasons competed in the two-legged CPL Finals.

With the addition of an eighth club in 2020, the league moved to a single season format with expanded playoffs. The Canadian Premier League regular season runs from April to October. Each team plays 28 games, including 14 at home and 14 away games. Since 2023, the top five teams in the regular season qualify for the playoffs to determine which two teams play in the final.

On multiple occasions, then league commissioner David Clanachan stated his goal of having promotion and relegation in the Canadian soccer league system as more teams join the league.

Other competitions featuring CPL clubs

All Canadian Premier League teams also participate in Canada's domestic cup competition – the Canadian Championship. CPL teams compete against Canadian teams in Major League Soccer and Tier 3 league champions for a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Since 2023, the CPL regular season and playoff champion have also qualified for the Champions Cup.

From 2019 to 2022, one CPL club participated in the CONCACAF League and competed against teams from Central America and the Caribbean for one of six spots in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. For the 2019 edition only, this slot was granted to one of the league's 'inaugural teams' (FC Edmonton, Forge FC, or Valour FC) based on their home and away matches in the 2019 spring season. In all other editions, the berth was awarded to the previous year's playoff champion.

Forge FC represented the CPL in CONCACAF League on three occasions. In the 2021 CONCACAF League, Forge advanced to the semi-finals of the competition to qualify for the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League, becoming the first CPL club to do so.

Clubs

Eight clubs compete in the Canadian Premier League. Seven clubs competed in the inaugural season. Only FC Edmonton predated the CPL, having been members of the North American Soccer League, and also having competed in the Canadian Championship seven times before joining the league. The league expanded to eight teams with the addition of Atlético Ottawa in 2020. For 2023, Vancouver FC was added as an expansion club, while FC Edmonton was dissolved, keeping the league at eight clubs.

The province of Ontario has three teams, British Columbia has two clubs, while Alberta, Manitoba and Nova Scotia each have one. There is one pair of rivalries between teams in the same province: the 905 Derby between Forge FC and York United FC, named after the area code shared by both teams.

Matches between Pacific FC and HFX Wanderers FC require the third-longest away trips of any domestic professional soccer league in the world, with the two teams separated by . The 905 Derby, between Forge FC and York United FC, is the shortest distance between two clubs in the CPL at .

;Notes

Timeline

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Expansion

As CPL commissioner, David Clanachan expressed on numerous occasions the league's plans to expand gradually up to 16 clubs by 2026. He also stated that the biggest issue for potential expansion teams is lack of facilities. Clanachan mentioned that the league was looking at regions and owners in St. John's, Moncton, Laval, Quebec City, Kitchener-Waterloo, the Niagara Region, the Durham Region, Mississauga, Regina, Saskatoon, and Kelowna as well as the Fraser Valley area of British Columbia. Other areas with CPL interest include Barrie, Montreal, and Saint John.

On August 25, 2022, ARS de Quebec's Director General Philippe Bernard was quoted in ''Le Journal de Québec'' announcing that Léger Marketing had been commissioned to launch a market study to verify interest in the province for a CPL team. He also confirmed that Soccer Quebec had determined that Quebec City was the best market in the province for a new team. Although there isn't an ownership group yet, Bernard explained that the market study would help facilitate investment in a new team. In March 2025, CPL commissioner Mark Noonan and executive Vice President of Infrastructure Marni Dicker met with Quebec City mayor Bruno Marchand to discuss potential stadium sites, as the league was taking on the task of securing a stadium site rather than leaving that task to potential ownership groups.

Also in 2022, the CPL began considering a "serious expansion bid" for Kelowna that includes a multi-use development proposal for a stadium site at the city's Recreation Avenue Park. In June 2024, Kelowna hosted a neutral site regular season game as part of the CPL's "On Tour" series.

In January 2025, Kingston City Council passed a motion to work with Victory Grounds Ventures on developing a long-term lease for a multi-use stadium at the city's Memorial Centre for a proposed CPL team. Victory Grounds Ventures withdrew their proposal in March 2025, citing "potential legal issues" which were identified during the due diligence process, which "unfortunately made this project at the Memorial Centre not feasible."

Completed

Ottawa

It had been speculated that then-existing USL Championship side Ottawa Fury FC would join the league for its 2019 or 2020 season; speculation fuelled by the Fury's acquisitions of Canadian players prior to the 2018 season. While the club remained in the USL for 2019, two of the three governing bodies of the USL (United States Soccer Federation and CONCACAF) refused to sanction the Canadian club to continue play in the US league, and the club ceased operations in November 2019.

In January 2020, there had been many reports of an Ottawa-based team owned by Atlético Madrid being formed for the 2020 season. These reports were later confirmed when the CPL announced Atlético Ottawa as the league's first expansion team on January 29, 2020.

Vancouver

On November 10, 2021, the CPL awarded an expansion club in Vancouver to SixFive Sports and Entertainment LP to begin play in 2023. On April 13, 2022, the CPL and SixFive Sports and Entertainment LP announced that the club would begin playing in Langley, British Columbia at the Willoughby Community Park adjacent to the Langley Events Centre. On November 2, 2022, the club announced its name as Vancouver FC along with a crest and team colours.

Pending

Windsor/Essex County

On January 10, 2022, the CPL announced that commissioner David Clanachan had stepped down and was awarded exclusive expansion rights for Windsor, Ontario. In June 2022, it was revealed that Clanachan had partnered with Windsor City FC owner Vancho Cirovski, setting a launch date goal of 2026. The pair had targeted Windsor Stadium as a potential home for the club. In October 2022, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens

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