Expanded 2019 Canadian Championship ‘Battle of the North’ kicks off 15 May

Canada Soccer’s professional club championship, the 2019 Canadian Championship, kicks off on 15 May with an expanded 13 team, 24-match competition format. Teams from League1 Ontario (L1O), Première ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ), United Soccer League (USL), Major League Soccer (MLS) and, for the first time, the Canadian Premier League (CanPL) will participate in the five-round competition. The winner will hoist the Voyageurs Cup after the second leg of the Final Round scheduled for 25 September. All games will be available live on OneSoccer.ca

“The Canadian Championship is the highest-level club competition in our country providing an opportunity for our Provincial amateur club champions to face Canada’s professional clubs with the ultimate goal to reach the international stage,” said Peter Montopoli, Canada Soccer General Secretary. “We are excited to welcome the debutant Canadian Premier League clubs along with first-time entrant League1 Ontario champion Vaughan Azzurri, who will join our returning clubs to compete for the coveted Voyageurs Cup and a chance to compete in the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League.”

PLSQ’s AS Blainville and L10’s Vaughan Azzurri SC will join CanPL teams HFX Wanderers, Cavalry FC and Pacific FC in Qualifying Round 1 with original CanPL teams Valour FC and Forge FC joining FC Edmonton in Qualifying Round 2. MLS clubs Montréal Impact FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC and USL’s Ottawa Fury FC enter in Qualifying Round 3 with three-time defending Canadian Championship winners Toronto FC entering in the Semi-final Round.

Each round features a two-legged, home-and-away, aggregate score format with the away goals rule in effect. Teams who advance from the previous round will host the first leg of subsequent rounds pending facility availability. In the Final round, the higher seed team will select which leg they would like to host.

At the completion of the competition, the tournament MVP is named as the George Gross Memorial Trophy Award winner. The reigning MVP is Toronto FC’s Jonathan Osorio. Added to the competition in 2019 is the Young Canadian Player Award which will go to the best Canadian player in the competition 21 years of age or under.

Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League

After advancing to the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League for a second straight year in 2019 as 2018 Canadian Championship winners, Toronto FC fell in the Round of 16 to Panama’s Club Atletico Independiente de la Chorrera 1:5 on aggregate. Toronto FC’s 2018 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League run equalled the previous 2015 performance of Montréal Impact who also made the 2014-15 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Finals.

FIFA Club World Cup
The Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League winner advances to the FIFA Club World Cup to face the Club Champions of Europe, Africa, South America, Asia, and Oceania. Spain’s Real Madrid are the defending three-time FIFA Club World Cup champions.

2019 Canadian Championship Schedule