The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; French: Première ligue canadienne) is a professional soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league competition. The league consists of eight teams, from five of Canada's ten provinces.[1] Each team plays 28 games in the regular season which is followed by playoffs culminating in the CPL Finals.
The CPL champion earns a berth in the CONCACAF League, playing against teams from Central America and the Caribbean. All CPL teams also play in the Canadian Championship against Canadian clubs from other leagues. Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions League is available to CPL clubs through either the Canadian Championship or CONCACAF League. Commencing in 2024, the CPL will be awarded two slots directly in to the CONCACAF Champions League.[2]
The league was officially sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association on May 6, 2017, originally with a soft launch date of 2018, that was later pushed back to 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.
Since the closure of the original Canadian Soccer League in 1992, there was no fully professional first division domestic league of Canadian soccer.[4] 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.[5][6] Prior to being de-sanctioned, the Canadian Soccer League had been involved in a match-fixing scandal[7] and a majority of the teams reportedly did not meet CSA requirements in the 2012 season.[6]
A new fully professional Canadian soccer league was first publicly reported in June 2013.[8] 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.[9]
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.[8] 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.[8]
In a March 2016 interview, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber indicated that, from his understanding, the league would be a "lower division" of the Canadian soccer league system but he had not discussed the matter with his Canadian counterparts.[10] Reports in June indicated that the Canadian Premier League would avoid current Major League Soccer markets.[11]
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.[12] Beirne would leave his role with the league in October 2019.[13]
On May 6, 2017, the creation of the league was unanimously approved and sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association.[14] Ownership groups in Winnipeg and Hamilton were also approved.[15] On April 27, 2018, the Canadian Premier League unveiled its logo and branding.[16] The three colours of the logo – pitch green, sky navy and ocean blue – signified the "cultural mosaic as seen through the colours in the Northern Lights."[17]
Two days later, Beirne announced that inaugural teams would be revealed on an almost-weekly basis.[18] On May 5, the Canadian Soccer Association accepted club memberships for Halifax, York Region, Calgary, and "Port City" (an undisclosed location in British Columbia), confirming their acceptance into the league.[19] It was confirmed on June 1 that the Port City ownership group's team would be based in Vancouver Island, ending speculation that the team would be located in Surrey[20][21] in the Lower Mainland.
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.[34][35]
The inaugural match of the Canadian Premier League 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.[36]
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.[37] 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.[38] Forge midfielder Tristan Borges was named the first CPL Player of the Year.[39]
On January 29, 2020, Atlético Ottawa was confirmed to be the first CPL expansion team, joining for the 2020 season.[40] The 2020 season, set to start on April 11, was postponed indefinitely due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[41] On July 29, it was announced that the entire 2020 season would be played in Charlottetown beginning August 13.[42] 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.[43]
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.[44] The season culminated with Pacific FC defeating Forge FC 1–0 in the 2021 Final, held in December.[45]
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.[46][47]
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.[48] The top four 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.[49][50][51][52]
The CPL champion qualifies for the CONCACAF League and competes against teams from Central America and the Caribbean for one of six spots in the CONCACAF Champions League. As part of the expanded format begun in 2019, the CPL club enters the tournament in the preliminary round.[54] 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.[55]
Forge FC represented the CPL in the 2019, 2020, and 2021 editions of the CONCACAF League. 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.[56]Pacific FC will represent the CPL in the 2022 CONCACAF League.[57]
Commencing in 2024, two CPL teams will qualify directly to Round 1 of the expanded CONCACAF Champions League.[2]
Eight clubs compete in the Canadian Premier League, seven of whom 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.[58] In 2020, the league expanded to eight teams with the addition of Atlético Ottawa.
The province of Ontario has three teams, Alberta has two, while British Columbia, Manitoba and Nova Scotia each have one. There are two pairs of rivalries between teams in the same province: the Al Classico between Cavalry FC and FC Edmonton, deriving its nickname from the Spanish El Clásico,[59] and the 905 Derby between Forge FC and York United FC, named after the area code shared by both teams.[60]
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 4,476 kilometres (2,781 mi).[60][61] The 905 Derby, between Forge FC and York United FC, is the shortest distance between two clubs at 70 kilometres (43 mi).[62]
It had been speculated that then-existing USL Championship side Ottawa Fury FC would join the league for its 2019 or 2020 season;[73][74] speculation fuelled by the Fury's acquisitions of Canadian players prior to the 2018 season.[75] 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.[76][77]
In January 2020, there had been many reports of an Ottawa-based team owned by Atlético Madrid being formed for the 2020 season.[78][79][80] These reports were later confirmed when the CPL announced Atlético Ottawa as the league's first expansion team on January 29, 2020.[40]
Saskatchewan
On March 12, 2021, the CPL conditionally awarded an expansion club to Living Sky Sports and Entertainment Inc. (LSSE), a Saskatchewan-based company. The expansion is dependent on LSSE delivering a soccer-specific stadium, and the preferred location for that stadium is Prairieland Park in Saskatoon.[65] The team is targeting a debut of 2023 at the earliest.[81] As of April 2021, plans called for the former horse-racing grandstand at the park to anchor the north, shorter, end of the soccer pitch, with new stands facing its other sides.[82]
Vancouver
On November 10, 2021, the CPL officially awarded an expansion club in Vancouver to SixFive Sports and Entertainment LP.[83] The team is set to debut 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.[66]
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. No timetable was presented for the club's launch.[67]
In April 2018, commissioner David Clanachan said that the league was looking at implementing a club-based structure for the Canadian Premier League, rather than a franchise-based system like in Major League Soccer.[84]
League executives
On January 10, 2018, David Clanachan, former president and chief operating officer of Tim Hortons, was named as the first commissioner of the league.[85] On January 24, he announced that Paul Beirne had been named president. Having already worked with the league for over a year, Beirne took on the role of managing the day-to-day league operations.[86] On January 31, the Canadian Premier League named James Easton, a former Canadian international, as vice-president of Soccer Operations.[87] On September 19, 2019, Clanachan announced that Beirne would step down as president of the CPL at the end of the 2019 season in October.[13] On January 10, 2022, David Clanachan resigned from his position as league commissioner.[67]
The Canadian Premier League uses a salary cap.[88] All clubs are required to spend a total of CA$650,000 to $850,000 on player compensation, with a minimum salary of $22,000 per player.[89] The salary range for coaches is between CA$350,000 and $550,000, making a combined cap of $1.2 million. By comparison, the salary cap for clubs in Major League Soccer, was US$9.225 million in 2021.[citation needed]
The league also has several other rules to give Canadian players more opportunities. This includes a minimum of six Canadian starters per game and a limit of seven foreign nationals per team. Additionally, three of the domestic players must be under the age of 21 and play at least 2,000 combined minutes per season.[90] Rosters are limited to a size of 23 players. Given the limit, most teams opt to carry only two goalkeepers, however, teams may sign an emergency goalkeeper, who does not count to the roster limit, when necessary.[91]
On August 27, 2018, the CPL announced that it would hold a series of open tryouts in eight cities across Canada for players 16 and older. The tryouts were led by Alex Bunbury and took place in front of CPL coaching staff from all teams.[92][93]
On October 17, 2018, the CPL and U Sports announced that it would hold an annual draft for university players. Drafted student-athletes are able to play for CPL teams in the spring and summer, and return to their university team by August 15, thereby preserving their eligibility. The first CPL–U Sports Draft took place in Vancouver on November 12, 2018, after the conclusion of the U Sports men's soccer championship.[94]
IG Field is home to Valour FC, and is the largest stadium used by a CPL team.
The Canadian Premier League has used a mix of existing, built for purpose, and upgraded stadiums, many of which are shared with other teams. IG Field (Valour FC), TD Place Stadium (Atlético Ottawa), and Tim Hortons Field (Forge FC) are existing Canadian Football League stadiums, and have the largest capacities in the CPL. York Lions Stadium (York United FC) and Westhills Stadium (Pacific FC) are both pre-existing stadiums that were upgraded in capacity before the 2019 season.[95]Spruce Meadows (ATCO Field) (Cavalry FC) and Wanderers Grounds (HFX Wanderers FC) were new stadiums in 2019, built in pre-existing venues. FC Edmonton continues to use Clarke Stadium.
Broadcast rights
On February 20, 2019, it was announced that Mediapro had acquired the broadcast rights to the league.[96] A streaming service established in 2019, OneSoccer, carries all of the league's matches, including the Canadian Championship.[97][98] Twenty games throughout the inaugural season were also available through CBC Sports, ten of which were on broadcast television, and all 20 on CBC Gem and the CBC website.[99][100]
CBC extended the deal with two games every Saturday during the league's second season, while CHCH also picked-up the rights for one game every Sunday.[101][102] In August 2020, Fox Sports became the CPL's first American broadcast partner.[103] The season was also aired by StarTimes in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1Sports in the Indian subcontinent, and Premier Football in the Philippines.[104] The group stage and Final were broadcast in Latin America by DirecTV Go and Tigo Sports.[105] From 2022, BT Sport started showing live coverage of the league across Ireland and the United Kingdom.[106]
^FC Edmonton is the only Canadian Premier League club that existed before the creation of the league. Before participating in the Canadian Premier League, they competed in the NASL between 2011 and 2017, and have participated in the Canadian Championship since 2011.
