The Canadian Premier League is due to start on 27 April after almost 27 years without a Canadian soccer league, and while it may have flown well under the radar in Australia, it features a heap of factors that are different to what we’re used to.
Teams
There are seven teams in the CPL for its inaugural year: Forge FC (Hamilton), York 9 FC (Toronto area), FC Edmonton, HFX Wanderers (Halifax), Valour FC (Winnipeg), Cavalry FC (Calgary) and Pacific FC (Vancouver Island).
The MLS already comprises three Canadian clubs – Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps – and as the CPL develops they will attempt to bring these teams from the MLS back to the CPL.
Format
We might be used to a knockout finals format in Australia and familiar with a first-past-the-post competition, but the (CPL) will do things differently.
The CPL have their season split into two distinct seasons in one year. The first season will run between 27 April and 1 July, during which time each team will play ten games. The second part starts on 6 July and runs until mid-October, during which each team will play 18 games. This isn’t the first league to do this – the CPL have adopted this from other South American leagues.
But how does a split season work?
The two split seasons are exactly that: split and separate to one another. The winner of each which will be the team on top of the table at the end of each split season, and they’ll go head to head in a one-off championship match. If one club were to win both seasons, it will face the team with the next-best cumulative record from both seasons combined in the championship match.
Other rules
The league rules state that over 50 per cent of each team’s roster must be Canadian. As well as this, each team must also start a minimum of six Canadian players in each game.
Further, at least three Canadians on each team must be under the age of 21 and must combine for a minimum of 1000 minutes per season. Therefore, in the first season, which contains only ten matches, each team must have Canadian youth players play for at least 100 minutes each game. There is also a limit of seven foreign nationals allowed to each team.
Without doubt the CPL is focussing on building youth, and there is no randomness about the creation of this league. With eight years until they co-host the 2026 FIFA World Cup with Mexico and the United States, Canada are trying to build up their national youth players and team.
Going forward it will be interesting to see if the CPL will flourish and manage to grow successfully. Could a similar format be introduced to the A-League? Would the focus on youth development and the time change to coincide with Australian winter help grow Australia’s national team? Let me know your thoughts below.
Freddie
Guest
Dunno about the US being way out in front. They didn't qualify for the last World Cup.
Mister Football
Roar Guru
Back in the 1970s, New York Cosmos would have been one of the most famous soccer clubs in the world, regularly getting 50k attendances at the time.
Paul2
Guest
"But, then you get inanities like in yesterday’s Launceston Examiner: “Hawthorn Hawks v Carlton Blues”." Spot on. References to the “Essendon Bombers”, the “St Kilda Saints” etc are highly irritating. As it happens, the Roar is the worst offender.
northerner
Guest
Unlike Australia, a very large proportion of the Canadian TV market has either cable (60%) or satellite TV (20%) - so the question of whether these games will be broadcast on FTA isn't nearly as relevant there as here.
David V
Guest
It's ironic that the old NASL was a league where Canadian players benefited more than American players did, and Canada's only successful international period was on the back of it. Even the team that faced the Socceroos in 1993 still had players left over from that period, plus a couple of those lucky enough to get an opportunity in Europe. By contrast, until 1990 there were only two American players who looked fit to be on the same field as any of the NASL's foreign stars - Rick Davis and Hugo Perez.
Leonard
Guest
Like the idea of putting "their locations in brackets" for sports entities with trendoid names which look as if generated by computer with 010110001 'issues' - saves the admittedly mild effort of wondering 'Where the bloody hell are they?' Same applies to all those mysteriously located non-Aus and non-Arg entities in the SAANZAR rugby union competition. But, then you get inanities like in yesterday's Launceston Examiner: "Hawthorn Hawks v Carlton Blues". Very few AFL clubs are either colloquially or officially named like that - maybe some online dude-journo from north of the Murray & east of the Darling? Be like referring to the NRL 'Easts Roosters'.
rooland
Guest
seven teams seven different cities and in A league we have six teams from two cities with the two new Sydney and Melbourne teams coming on board next season and they wonder why the A league is suffering and bleeding .
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Will you need to pay to watch the Canadian Premier League? Can you watch NHL, CFL, NBA, MLB and MLS on free-to-air television in Canada?
Nick Symonds
Guest
FAMILIAR ISSUES: Canadian Premier League faces uphill battle for relevancy and respect - The Canadian sports market is incredibly crowded, what with the presence of the NHL, CFL, NBA and Major League Baseball. Major League Soccer has been in Canada since 2007 and boasts three teams, but even today, coverage of MLS is confined to the back pages of the sports section of the daily newspapers (if it appears in the newspaper at all), and garners little mention on nightly network TV shows, or on the vast number of all-sports radio stations across the nation. The daily exploits of the country’s seven NHL teams, the Raptors and Blue Jays (and to a lesser extent the CFL) dominate the media coverage. - Another battle the CPL faces is how it will emerge from the shadows of MLS. The CPL was born out of a need to develop Canadian players, many of whom wouldn’t have the same opportunities in MLS. But while the CPL has the most noble of causes, comparisons with MLS, whether fair or not, are inevitable. You have to think the CPL will lose those comparisons in terms of the standard of play, at least at first. Although billed as Canada’s topflight, the CPL is essentially a tier below MLS and will largely feature youngsters who couldn’t make it in MLS, Canadian veterans in the twilight of their careers, and journeymen international players. This raises another series of pertinent questions: Will hardcore MLS fans support a league that doesn’t feature high-priced Designated Players and international fans? Will Canadian soccer fans, who have regular access to weekly matches from Europe’s top leagues and the UEFA Champions League, invest their time and money in a new league that largely features players they don’t know? - https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/canadian-premier-league-faces-uphill-battle-relevancy-respect/ - Al the same, I wish them well and hope they succeed.
Nick Symonds
Guest
It would be good for CONCACAF if Canada were competitive. At the moment it's America and Mexico way out in front, then daylight. From the Central American zone the only sides to have qualified for the World Cup are Costa Rica, Honduras, El Salvador and Panama. The only sides from the Caribbean to to have qualified for the World Cup are Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. As for Canada, their only ever men's World Cup appearance was in 1986. - "The Cuba National Football Team was the first Caribbean team to participate in the FIFA World Cup, which they did in 1938. Their qualification came about as a result of the decision to hold this the third World Cup tournament in France. The decision to hold the tournament in France was poorly received in the Americas who felt the tournament should have returned to their side of the globe after the second one was held in Italy. Thus, all nations in South America except Brazil withdrew, and all CONCACAF nations except Cuba withdrew, thus the two qualified by default." - https://www.caribbeanandco.com/history-caribbean-teams-fifa-world-cup/
Joshua Kerr
Roar Guru
Great to read that the CPL has put rules in place to help young players through the system. Hopefully by the 2026 World Cup, Canada can have a good men's team like their women's team who recently beat England 1-0 in a friendly.
Nick Symonds
Guest
"The MLS already comprises three Canadian clubs – Toronto FC, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps – and as the CPL develops they will attempt to bring these teams from the MLS back to the CPL." - That would be like having Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch in the A-League then all the other teams in New Zealand wanting them to come back for less money. Deal or no deal?
Nick Symonds
Guest
Teams There are seven teams in the CPL for its inaugural year: Forge FC (Hamilton), York 9 FC (Toronto area), FC Edmonton, HFX Wanderers (Halifax), Valour FC (Winnipeg), Cavalry FC (Calgary) and Pacific FC (Vancouver Island). - I'm glad you put their locations in brackets.