The Canadian Premier League playoffs (French: les éliminatoires de la Première Ligue canadienne) is the postseason phase of the Canadian Premier League to determine that year's league champion. It was first contested as a multi-round elimination tournament in the 2021 season, to replace previous methods of determining the participants of the Canadian Premier League Finals, which used an Apertura and Clausura format in 2019, and an additional group stage in 2020. The winner of the playoffs is awarded the North Star Cup trophy, and receives the second Canadian berth into the next season's CONCACAF Champions Cup.
| Organising body | Canadian Premier League |
|---|---|
| Founded |
|
| Number of teams | 5 |
| Current champions | Cavalry FC (1st title) |
| Most successful club(s) | Forge FC (4 titles) |
 2024 CPL playoffs | |
Format
editCurrent format
editThe current format of the CPL playoffs utilizes a Page playoff system, where five of the league's eight teams have an opportunity to claim the league championship. The system was brought in for the 2023 Canadian Premier League season to replace the conventional Shaughnessy playoff system used in 2021 and 2022.[1] The Canadian Premier League chose to use the Page playoff system as it puts more emphasis on regular season performances.[2]
| Play-in round | First semifinal | Second semifinal | Final | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | First-place team | First semifinal winner | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Second-place team | Second semifinal winner | ||||||||||||||||
| First semifinal loser | ||||||||||||||||||
| Quarterfinal | Quarterfinal winner | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Third-place team | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Fourth-place team | Play-in round winner | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Fifth-place team | |||||||||||||||||
Past formats
editSummary
edit| Season | League teams | Playoff teams | % of teams | Rounds | Matches | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019[3] | 7 | 2 | 28.6% | 1 | 2 | Final played as a two legged series. |
| 2020[4] | 8 | 2[a] | 25% | 1 | Final played as single match. | |
| 2021[5] | 4 | 50% | 2 | 3 | Single match for all rounds. | |
| 2022[6] | 5 | Two legged semi-finals, final played as single match. | ||||
| 2023[7] | 5 | 62.5% | 4 | Page playoff system, all matches single legged. | ||
| 2024 |
- ^ Originally planned to be a 3 team playoff until season was inturrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic
2019
editThe 2019 finals were contested between the winners of the spring and fall seasons.[8] The championship was contested as a two-legged tie, with each team hosting one leg at home. The winner was determined by aggregate score but if the aggregate score was tied, the team with the most away goals wins the series. A penalty shoot-out was the final tiebreaker.
2020
editThe 2020 season saw the end of the split season format, with the 2020 finals scheduled to be contested between the top-seeded regular season team and the winner of a playoff between the second and third-placed teams.[9] However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season format was scrapped and replaced with a single-site tournament with a two-stage regular season. The 2020 final was contested in a single match between the two top-seeded teams from the four-team second stage.[10]
2021–2022
editThe 2021 season brought in a new four-team single leg knockout playoff with the two first round winners advancing to the final.[11] The higher-seeded finalist hosts the single leg game. If a match is tied at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and, if necessary, followed by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.[12]
Prior to the start of the 2022 season, the league announced that playoff semi-finals would switch to a two-legged format but that the final would continue to be played as a single match hosted by the higher-seeded team.[13]
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Results
editResults by team
editAppearances as of the 2024 season, match results as of 2023 season
| Team | App. | Finals | Series | Match statistics | Best result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pld | W | L | Pld | W | L | Pld | W | D | L | |||
| Forge FC | 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | Champions |
| Pacific FC | 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |
| Cavalry FC | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | Runners-up |
| Atlético Ottawa | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |
| HFX Wanderers FC | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
| York United FC | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | Semi-finalists |
| Valour FC | 0 | Active team has never qualified for playoffs | N/A | |||||||||
| Vancouver FC | 0 | |||||||||||
| FC Edmonton | 0 | Defunct team has never qualified for playoffs | N/A | |||||||||
Year-by-year
edit| § | Won CPL Shield |
| Season | Champion | Runner-up | Semi-finalist(s) | Top scorer | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Details |
Forge FC | Cavalry FC § | N/A |  Tristan Borges David Choinière |
1 |
| 2020 Details |
Forge FC | HFX Wanderers FC | N/A[a] |  Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson Maxim Tissot |
1 |
| 2021 Details |
Pacific FC | Forge FC § | Cavalry FC York United FC |
7 players tied | 1 |
| 2022 Details |
Forge FC | Atlético Ottawa § | Cavalry FC Pacific FC |
Woobens Pacius David Choinière |
2 |
| 2023 Details |
Forge FC | Cavalry FC § | Pacific FC[b] |  Ali Musse |
2 |
| 2024 Details |
Cavalry FC | Forge FC § | Atlético Ottawa[b] |  Molham Babouli  Tobias Warschewski |
2 |
Records and statistics
editActive streaks
editPlayoff appearances
editUpdated through 2024 Canadian Premier League season. This list includes the five clubs that made the post-season in 2024. For the purposes of this section, the four-team group stage in 2020 is considered to be part of the post-season.
| Club | Last miss of post-season | Length of streak |
|---|---|---|
| Cavalry FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| Forge FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| Pacific FC | 2019 | 5 seasons |
| York United FC | 2022 | 2 season |
| Atlético Ottawa | 2023 | 1 season |
Finals appearances
editUpdated through 2024 Canadian Premier League final. This list includes the two finalist clubs from 2024.
| Club | Last miss of finals | Length of streak |
|---|---|---|
| Forge FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| Cavalry FC | 2022 | 2 seasons |
Active droughts
edit† – team is no longer playing in the Canadian Premier League.
Playoff appearances
editUpdated through 2024 Canadian Premier League season. This list does not include clubs that made the post-season in that year. For the purposes of this section, the four-team group stage in 2020 is considered to be part of the post-season.
| Club | Last appearance in post-season |
Length of drought |
|---|---|---|
| Valour FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| FC Edmonton † | never (club joined in 2019, folded after 2022) | 4 seasons |
| Vancouver FC | never (club joined in 2023) | 2 season |
| HFX Wanderers FC | 2023 | 1 season |
Finals appearances
editUpdated through 2024 Canadian Premier League final. This list does not include the clubs that qualified in that year.
| Club | Last appearance in finals |
Length of drought |
|---|---|---|
| Valour FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| York United FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| FC Edmonton † | never (club joined in 2019, folded after 2022) | 4 seasons |
| HFX Wanderers FC | 2020 | 4 seasons |
| Pacific FC | 2021 | 3 seasons |
| Atlético Ottawa | 2022 | 2 seasons |
| Vancouver FC | never (club joined in 2023) | 2 seasons |
Championships
editUpdated through 2024 Canadian Premier League final. This list does not include the club that won the championship in that year.
| Club | Last championship | Length of drought |
|---|---|---|
| HFX Wanderers FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| Valour FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| York United FC | never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons |
| Atlético Ottawa | never (club joined in 2020) | 5 seasons |
| FC Edmonton † | never (club joined in 2019, folded after 2022) | 4 seasons |
| Pacific FC | 2021 | 3 seasons |
| Vancouver FC | never (club joined in 2023) | 2 seasons |
| Forge FC | 2023 | 1 season |
Goalscorers
edit- As of October 28, 2023
| Rank | Player | Club(s) | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tristan Borges |
Forge FC | 3 |
| David Choinière |
Forge FC | ||
| Alessandro Hojabrpour |
Pacific FC, Forge FC | ||
| Woobens Pacius |
Forge FC | ||
| 2 |  Daan Klomp |
Cavalry FC | 2 |
| Ali Musse |
Cavalry FC | ||
| 3 | Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson |
Forge FC | 1 |
| Béni Badibanga |
Forge FC | ||
| Kyle Bekker |
Forge FC | ||
| Myer Bevan |
Cavalry FC | ||
| Terran Campbell |
Pacific FC, Forge FC | ||
 Kekuta Manneh |
Pacific FC | ||
| Joe Mason |
Cavalry FC | ||
| Thomas Meilleur-Giguère |
Pacific FC | ||
 Joshua Navarro |
Forge FC | ||
| Michael Petrasso |
York United FC | ||
| Adonijah Reid |
Pacific FC | ||
| Malcolm Shaw |
Atlético Ottawa | ||
| Ballou Tabla |
Atlético Ottawa | ||
| Maxim Tissot |
Forge FC, Atlético Ottawa | ||
| Zach Verhoven |
Atlético Ottawa |
See also
editNotes
edit- ^ In 2020, a final four group stage was used instead of a playoff (semi-final) round to determine the finalists. Cavalry FC and Pacific FC were eliminated in that stage.
- ^ a b Due to the Page playoff format, there was only one losing semi-finalist.
References
edit- ^ Jacques, John (March 15, 2023). "The Majority Of CPL Teams Will Be Included In New Playoff Format". Northern Tribune. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ Kristian Jack Joins OneSoccer to Discuss New CPL Playoff Format (video). Canadian Premier League. March 16, 2023. Retrieved February 7, 2024.
- ^ "Canadian Premier League announces 2019 Championship format". Canadian Premier League. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
- ^ Rhodes, Benedict (21 February 2020). "Canadian Premier League releases 2020 schedule and format". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on 2020-02-26. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
- ^ "CPL reveals remainder of 2021 season schedule presented by WestJet". Canadian Premier League. 12 July 2021. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
- ^ "2022 CPL Schedule presented by WestJet: Balanced regular season, more weekend matchups unveiled". Canadian Premier League. 3 February 2022. Retrieved 2 January 2024.
- ^ Jacques, John (15 March 2023). "The Majority Of CPL Teams Will Be Included In New Playoff Format". Northern Tribune. Retrieved 22 January 2024.
- ^ Jacques, John (June 21, 2019). "Canadian Premier League Announces Championship Format". Northern Tribune. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
- ^ Rhodes, Benedict (February 21, 2020). "Canadian Premier League releases 2020 schedule and format". Waking the Red. Archived from the original on February 26, 2020. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
- ^ "The Island Games". canpl.ca. Canadian Premier League. Retrieved August 11, 2020.
- ^ O'Connor-Clarke, Charlie (June 24, 2021). "CPL reveals 2021 season format: 28-game schedule to conclude with four-team playoff for championship". canpl.ca. Canadian Premier League. Retrieved June 24, 2021.
- ^ Thompson, Marty (November 17, 2021). "2021 CPL Final: Tentative dates set for championship match next weekend". canpl.ca. Canadian Premier League. Retrieved November 18, 2021.
- ^ "2022 CPL Schedule presented by WestJet: Balanced regular season, more weekend matchups unveiled". canpl.ca. Canadian Premier League. February 3, 2022. Retrieved August 4, 2022.