With Canadian Clubs having a pretty good coefficient and starting to get things together and with the growing amount of major clubs in the country, should they receive another CL spot? It's a pretty big, successful, well-off (we know how much concacaf likes money) country, and it seems like they deserve another spot based off past performances.
What coefficient? And dont give me any fan made ranking system.... Canadian teams been... reasonable successful in the 5 years of the CCL. Their record stands as: QF, PR, GS, SF, GS. Not too bad for a nation only entering 1 team... but thats it... its just 1 team... so applying a ranking system similar to UEFA will always give Canada a high coefficient (hell... I even have my own system, and Canada are ranked second!!!!!!). In my opinion, Canada shouldnt even get a spot. They dont have a national league. Any professional team play in the MLS (3 teams) and the NASL (2 teams). Ok.. there are other teams, but these play on a regional basic in the PDL and province leagues in Canada. There is no overall national championship. And what do Canadian teams have to do to qualify for the CCL? Play 4 matches.... thats it.... FOUR MATCHES!!!!!! This year Montreal qualified by winning just 1 of them!!!!! What kind of messed up system is that to qualify for the CCL?! Dont get me wrong, Canadian teams are good for the CCL. The two highest attendances have been recorded by Canadian teams (Montreal in 2009 for their QF: 55,571; Toronto in 2012 for their QF: 47,571). Overall, Canadian teams are able to fill their stadiums for matches reasonably well, over 50% full in almost all cases (I know that sounds crap, but compared to other CCL matches... its very good). If Canada did have another team, Im sure that both teams would out perform CCL regulars, both on and off the pitch. Hopefully in a few years... more Canadian teams will enter the NASL (rumors of Hamilton and Winnipeg) or even the MLS, and Canada can create a true national league (which I think they are trying to achieve in the next few years). Then we can get them all together, and have a proper tournament to determine which team gets to the CCL (or even teams!!!). Yes, I know that is going to cause scheduling problems for MLS and NASL clubs, but somewhere down the line, these clubs are going to have to choose... Do they want to be a Canadian club in the MLS? Be a American club based in Canada? Or do they want to be a Canadian Club in a national Canadian League which grants CCL qualification? I know which one I would pick if I owned one of these teams....
Would you recommend Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver leave the MLS if that Canadian league forms? Even for hockey- a huge sport in Canada- they shared a league with the US. I guess you could look at it like Wales- with Swansea and Cardiff taking part in the FA and having to qualify through the FA for UEFA instead of winning Wales. Anyway-Canada has had decent success, and it's teams are definitely doing pretty well. I think a second Canadian team is better than a 3rd Caribbean team from a product and financial standpoint, and one can even argue better than the 4th US spot- although the US is in a similar boat as Canada with a rapidly improving product and good finances.
Yes Only difference is... Swansea and Cardiff can not qualify for UEFA competitions via Welsh tournaments. They can only qualify via the Premier League, FA Cup or League Cup. And when they do play in Europe, they are an English team, not Welsh. They were given the opportunity to become members of the Welsh League when it formed in 1992, but declined, and along with it, any chance to qualify for Europe as a Welsh club. To me, Swansea and Cardiff are not Welsh clubs playing in England. They are English clubs playing in Wales. They have to follow the rules and regulations set by the English FA, Premier League, Football League... And I think the same about the Canadian teams: they are American clubs playing in Canada. The only difference between these and the Welsh clubs is that the CSA allow their clubs to represent them in CONCACAF via the ACC, while the FAW do not allow Cardiff/Swansea to enter their competitions anymore.
I really don't see how or why the three MLS Canadian teams would leave the MLS for a Canadian League. In hockey theres a good amount of Canadian teams in the NHL and its their number one sport. If they can't support a hockey league that would be better for Canadian based teams than playing in a US/CAN league, there's no way that will happen for hockey. Also, unless there is a way to sell their MLS franchise right- teams like Vancouver and Montreal will have wasted money with their franchise fee (TFCs was pretty small). But still, with a weak club nation like CONCACAF, it seems like Canada could have two teams in the CL and it would be beneficial from an on and off the field standpoint.
Canada should get an extra spot because they bring more money and fans to the table than other bottom feeders that draw around 300 fans per game.
If you put it this way, than Mexico should get two more teams from the Liga de Ascenso. They will pack in the crowds and play better football all but Liga MX teams.
Copa MX winners should make the CCL imo. Maybe go to 32 teams for 8 groups of 4. 2 or 3 more LMX 1 Canada 2 CFU 2 or 3 Cental America.
More like should Canada be forced to create their own domestic league then we can talk about giving them a CCL spot.
I think the main reason why canada does not have a second spot at this time is because it does not have a national league. I believe that they should, but they certainly shouldnt be forced to do so. If the CSA feels they need one and can implement one successfully, then great... do it (even if it takes 100 years); if not, dont. One thing I do see happening is a expansion in Canada in both MLS and NASL. When there are high enough numbers, maybe they could artificially create a league (ie have MLS/NASL matches involving Canadian teams count toward a "Canadian National Championship", if you will, as well as the MLS/NASL standings and have NASL v MLS matches to balance out the table, played during mid-week or the US Open Cup dates). This could be quite messy with the MLS unbalanced schedule and uneven canadian teams in MLS/NASL.
I don't really agree on adding Division 2 teams, but Mexico can decide how to stock the CCL as they wish. However, given results on the field and from relative attendance, Mexico should get more teams in the CCL.
Canada will have a fifth team competing next year - the Ottawa Fury. So it will be interesting to see how the Canadian Championship is played out in 2014.
Same as this year.... except Edmonton and Ottawa will play a "play-in" match (not sure if it is over 1 or 2 legs). Winner joins the 3 MLS teams in to Semi Final Stage. Competition will be reviewed for 2015 https://www.bigsoccer.com/community/threads/canadian-championship-changes-for-2014.1986581/
Seems fair to me. We're also assuming that Edmonton sticks around which doesn't seem to be a foregone conclusion at this point.
To me it doesn't seem fair...If no other Canadian teams enter MLS(which is a real possibility),then it means that every Canadian team in the future will have to play more games,go through more rounds than their MLS counterparts?This ain't fair.... I didn't know about this though...Hope their situation improve...
What are you talking about? Montreal had to play 4 games to qualify. The US Open cup is 5 games and you have to win all 5. MLS Cup is 34 games +5 games at the shortest route 6 games if it's a play-in team. Supporter's shield is having the best record through all 34 games. The Canadian qualification spot is by far the easiest of those routes.
Canadian qualification is the easiest of all of CONCACAF. They only have to play 4 matches overall. And Montreal only won 1 of those matches this year!!!
That is the way nearly all domestic cup competitions work. USLPro and NASL teams in the US enter the Open Cup a round earlier than MLS teams. In England, League 1 and League 2 teams enter the FA cup two rounds before League Championship and Premier League teams. In Spain, Segunda Division teams enter 2 round before La Liga teams. etc. In CONCACAF, the US and Canada are the only countries that give lower division teams any opportunity to make the CCL at all.
1 of the 4 Canadian teams qualifies: 25% 4 of the 16 US MLS teams qualify: 25% Edmonton is D2 and a non-MLS squad might win the USOC, but that's the jist of it. On top of that, you have many chances if you're a US team, not if you're a Canadian team. See DCU 2013 and the USOC. I'll just say Canada gets 1 spot, that's what it deserves for now.
I am assuming he means unfair for the non-MLS Canadian teams, NASL (or CSL if allowed) teams would have to play more games than the Canada MLS teams. Then again NASL and USLPRO have to play 1 or 2 more games than the American MLS teams, it is the benefit of being the top league. Edit: PDL, NPSL, USSD teams would have to play a few more games if they were to win the USOC.
Yeah after re-reading it you are right. It makes even less sense to me now. Of course it's going to be harder for non-MLS teams to make the champions league.