Ligue1 Québec (L1QC) is a

semi-professional Semi-professional sports are sports in which athletes are not participating on a full-time basis, but still receive some payment. Semi-professionals are not amateur because they receive regular payment from their team, but generally at a cons ...

men's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league in

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

, Canada. Founded in 2011 as the Première ligue de soccer du Québec, the league is sanctioned by the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (; branded as Canada Soccer) is the governing body for soccer in Canada. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the international, professional, a ...

and the

Quebec Soccer Federation Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. In 2025, the league expanded and introduced two new divisions Ligue2 Québec and Ligue3 Québec, following the ending of the amateur

Ligue de soccer élite du Québec The Ligue de soccer élite du Québec () was the top amateur league in Quebec, operating at a level below the semi-professional Première ligue de soccer du Québec. It operates a number of youth and gender specific divisions and is operated by the ...

, with the teams being folded into L1Q. In the

Canadian soccer league system The Canadian soccer league system, also called the Canadian soccer pyramid, is a term used in soccer to describe the structure of the league system in Canada. The governing body of soccer in the country is the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), ...

, the men's division is behind the fully-professional

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

. It is part of

League1 Canada League1 Canada (L1C; ) is a national pro–am Association football, soccer organization in Canada. It consists of four regional leagues; League1 Alberta, League1 British Columbia, League1 Ontario, and Ligue1 Québec with each league operating m ...

, the national third tier with regional division, along with three other provincial leagues. The men's league champion qualifies for the

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

, Canada's domestic cup tournament.

History

Background

The history of soccer in Quebec dates back to 1884, with the first league established in 1886. In 1911, the Province of Quebec Football Association, now known as the

was founded. In 1986, a semi-professional league called the Ligue nationale de soccer du Québec (LNSQ) was created, but it merged with different rival leagues to form the

in 1992. In 1993, five of the former LNSQ clubs Corfinium St-Leonard, Cosmos de LaSalle, Luso Stars Mont-Royal, Montreal Croatia, and

Montreal Ramblers New Hampshire Ramblers were an American soccer club. In 1995, the club was originally called the Montreal Ramblers, but were forced to move by FIFA before playing any games. They are most notable for having Khalil Azmi as their goalkeeper. The ...

joined the

Canadian National Soccer League The National Soccer League was a soccer league in Canada that existed from 1926 to 1997. Teams were primarily based in the provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The league was renamed to Canadian National Soccer League in 1993 following the folding ...

(CNSL) to form the league's Eastern Division. Following this, the amateur

served as the top level of soccer in the province, although Quebec clubs did play in the United Soccer League ( Montreal Impact) and the semi-professional

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

( Laval Dynamites/

Trois-Rivières Attak Trois-Rivières Attak was a Canadian Association football, soccer team that played three seasons in the Canadian Soccer League. They formally served as a reserve and academy team for the USL First Division side Montreal Impact (1992–2011), Mont ...

and

Montreal Impact Academy Montreal is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest in Canada, and the ninth-largest in North America. It was founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", and is now named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

Foundation

In 2011, the Première ligue de soccer du Québec was established, marking the return of a semi-professional soccer league to the province for the first time in 20 years. The league was sanctioned by the

as a level 3 league, below

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(level 1) and the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League (NASL) was the top-level major professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that operated from 1968 to 1984. It is considered the first soccer league to be successful on a national scale in the ...

and

United Soccer League The United Soccer League (USL) is an organizer of various professional and amateur soccer leagues in the United States league system. It currently organizes its Championship, League One, and League Two for men, its Super League and W Leag ...

(level 2), which were American-based fully professional leagues featuring some Canadian teams, including the Montreal Impact of the MLS. The league had its debut season in 2012 with a men's division featuring five teams –

A.S. Blainville Association de Soccer de Blainville, commonly referred to as A.S. Blainville, is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in the Montreal suburb of Blainville, Quebec, that plays in Ligue1 Québec. They are the only club to have participate ...

, FC Brossard, FC Boisbriand,

FC L'Assomption FC may refer to: Businesses, organisations, and schools * Fergusson College, a science and arts college in Pune, India * Finncomm Airlines (IATA code) * FranklinCovey company, NYSE stock symbol FC * Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakist ...

, and FC Saint-Léonard. FC Saint-Léonard won the inaugural season. The following season, the league added a league cup to its schedule, the Coupe PLSQ, which would take place annually at the conclusion of the season, unrelated to the results of the regular season. In 2014, the province of Ontario created its own semi-professional level 3 league,

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

, and the Inter-Provincial Cup was established which would be contested between the champions of each league and ran for three years until 2016. In 2015, the league added its first club from outside of the province of Quebec, with the

Ottawa Fury FC Academy Ottawa Fury FC Academy was the youth academy and development system of Canadian soccer club Ottawa Fury FC. In 2015 and 2016, they played in the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. History The Fury Academy was launched in 2006, under the um ...

joining the league. Beginning in 2018, the league champion qualified to participate in the

for the following season. In 2018, a women's division was added, starting with five teams. The start of the 2020 season was delayed due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, but it ultimately resumed with a shortened season, although some teams opted out of playing for the season. However, the remainder of the men's season was cancelled about three-quarters of the way through the season, due to a resurgence of the pandemic (the female season had already concluded). In 2022, the PLSQ joined

along with League1 Ontario and

League1 British Columbia League1 British Columbia (L1BC) is a Semi-professional sports, semi-professional men's and women's association football, soccer league in British Columbia, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the British Colu ...

. On April 19, 2023, the league rebranded to Ligue1 Québec to align with its partner leagues. In 2024, it was announced that

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

club Vermont Green FC would host the reigning L1Q champion each year in a friendly each year, known as the Maple Cup.

Competition format

Depending on the number of teams in the league, teams play every other team two to four times per season, for a total of between 15 and 20 games. The winner gets the regular season championship. Each team has a minimum of nine paid players and is subject to a salary cap.

Coupe L1QC

At the end of the year, there is a league cup, called the Coupe L1QC (formerly the Coupe PLSQ), which began in 2013. The format varies each season, depending on the number of teams in the league. The most recent cup competition featured the top four teams from league play in a single-knockout tournament. In the past, the cup has also used a group stage and knockout format where three groups of three teams were formed, and the winner of each group along with the best second-place finisher advanced to the semi-finals.

Yearly results

Clubs

Over the course of its history, various clubs have joined and departed the league.

is the only club to have participated in every season since the league's inception. Blainville has been the most successful club, winning the league championship four times and the league cup twice and

CS Mont-Royal Outremont Club Soccer Mont-Royal Outremont is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in the Montreal boroughs of Mount Royal and Outremont. Since 2013, the club has competed in Ligue1 Québec. Their women's team has competed in the women's divi ...

has been second-most successful with four league championships and one league cup title.

Current clubs

Ligue1 Québec

The following ten teams are members of the league for the 2025 season:

Ligue2 Québec

The following teams are members of the league for the 2025 season:

Ligue3 Québec

The following teams are members of the league for the 2025 season:

Former clubs

Timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:20 right:20 bottom:60 top:20 Period = from:2012 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy AlignBars = justify Legend=orientation:vertical position:bottom columns:1 Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:pink id:bg value:white id:L1 value:blue legend:Ligue1_QC id:L2 value:rgb(0.66,0.90,1) legend:Ligue2_QC id:L3 value:rgb(0.1,0.5,0.1) legend:Ligue3_QC id:Former value:gray(0.3) legend:Former id:Hiatus value:rgb(0.9, 0.7, 0.7) legend:On_hiatus PlotData= width:20 textcolor:white shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:end text:AS Blainville bar:2 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2013 text:FC Boisbriand bar:2 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Revolution FC bar:3 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2013 text:FC Brossard bar:3 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:AS Brossard bar:4 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2015 text:FC L'Assomption-Lanaudière bar:4 color:L1 from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text:CS Lanaudière-Nord bar:4 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text: bar:5 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2013 text:FC St-Léonard bar:5 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:AS St-Léonard bar:6 color:Former from:01/01/2013 till:12/31/2019 text:FC Gatineau bar:7 color:L1 from:01/01/2013 till:12/31/2019 text:CS Mont-Royal Outremont bar:7 color:Hiatus from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2020 text: bar:7 color:L1 from:01/01/2021 till:end text: bar:8 color:Former from:01/01/2014 till:12/31/2014 text:ACP Montréal-Nord bar:9 color:L1 from:01/01/2014 till:end text:CS Longueuil bar:10 color:L1 from:01/01/2015 till:12/31/2016 text:Lakeshore SC bar:10 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text: bar:11 color:Former from:01/01/2015 till:12/31/2016 text:Ottawa Fury FC Academy bar:12 color:Former from:01/01/2016 till:12/31/2019 text:FC Lanaudière bar:12 color:Hiatus from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2020 text: bar:12 color:Former from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2021 text: bar:13 color:Former from:01/01/2017 till:12/31/2019 text:Dynamo de Quebec bar:14 color:L1 from:01/01/2017 till:end text:CS St-Hubert bar:15 color:L1 from:01/01/2018 till:12/31/2020 text:CS Fabrose bar:15 color:L1 from:01/01/2021 till:end text:FC Laval bar:16 color:L1 from:01/01/2019 till:12/31/2019 text:CS Monteuil bar:16 color:Hiatus from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2020 text: bar:16 color:L1 from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2021 text: bar:16 color:L1 from:01/01/2022 till:end text:AS Laval bar:17 color:L1 from:01/01/2020 till:end text:Celtix du Haut-Richelieu bar:18 color:L1 from:01/01/2020 till:end text:Ottawa South United bar:19 color:L1 from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Royal-Sélect Beauport bar:20 color:Former from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2024 text:CF Montréal U23 bar:21 color:L1 from:01/01/2022 till:end text:CS Saint-Laurent bar:22 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Ambassadeurs Saint-Jérôme bar:23 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:FC Anjou bar:24 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:FC Boréal bar:25 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Boréal d'Alma bar:26 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Boucherville bar:27 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Braves d'Ahuntsic bar:28 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:AS Chaudière-Ouest bar:29 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Chevaliers NDMC bar:30 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Fury Rimouski bar:31 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:AS Gatineau bar:32 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Haute-Saint-Charles bar:33 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CF L'International Québec bar:34 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS LaSalle bar:35 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Lévis-Est bar:36 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Mistral Sherbrooke bar:37 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Mondial de Rivière-du-Loup bar:38 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:AS Montis bar:39 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Montréal Centre bar:40 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Notre-Dame-de-Grâce bar:41 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Panellinios St Michel FC bar:42 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Phénix des Rivières bar:43 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Rivières-des-Prairies bar:44 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Rousillon bar:45 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Saint-Lazare/Hudson bar:46 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:FS Salaberry bar:47 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Titans bar:48 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Trident bar:49 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Trois-Rivières bar:50 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Union Lanaudière Sud bar:51 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Vallée de l'Or bar:52 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Venturi de Saguenay ScaleMajor =gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2012 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:

Players who earned national team caps while in the L1QC

The following players have earned a senior national team cap while playing in the L1QC (the year of their first cap while playing in the league is listed). Players who earned caps before or after playing in the L1QC are not included, unless they also earned caps while in the league. This section also does not include youth caps (U23 or below).

L1QC clubs in other competitions

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ligue1 Quebec Soccer leagues in Canada Soccer leagues in Quebec Canada, Quebec Sports leagues established in 2012 2012 establishments in Quebec League1 Canada