The issue here is that unlike the EPL, the CPL won't have a large contingent of continental positions to contend for. The EPL has 7 continental spots for the top of the league to compete for and 3 relegation for the bottom of the league to compete to avoid. That's half the spots in the league that have meaning beyond position and results in more teams having "something to play for" further into the season. The CPL is, at most, going to have 3 continental spots to compete for and, probably, 2 relegation spots to avoid. That's likely to be 1/3 of the teams and result in teams being eliminated from both relegation and a continental spot earlier in the season. The "easiest" way to get around this is to have a continental playoff for the top teams to play for.
Not saying you don't have valid points, but the North American style of playoffs doesn't seem to interest them and it's not like fans stop watching football because their teams won't finish top 5 and the 1st overall already are the champions half way through. At best they'd keep the CPL Championship for the Cup (potentially with CCL attached) with the finalist getting (CL). An extra CL could go to best 3rd. If you have 3 to 5 teams within reach of the third place, that's between 5 to 8 teams that have something to play for. No need for multiple rounds of playoffs for this Due to our climate, unlikely you could drag out a playoff system like MLS in Canada.
Looks like CPL may get more CONCACAF League berth and even Champions League berth as of 2023. It's unlikely that the CSA would give more berths to the Canadian Championship 1231015810275201024 is not a valid tweet id
https://www.fifa.com/who-we-are/new...ributes-to-roadmap-to-the-2026-fifa-world-cup is titled "Canadian Premier League contributes to roadmap to the 2026 FIFA World Cup."
I like the balanced schedule and the single season. I actually quite liked the two-teams-only, either-be-the-best-or-go-home playoff format of last year so I'm not super excited about the expanded (diluted) version. I can only see that getting bigger over time as the league expands. As for D2, CCL, CL and all that - let's see what things actually look like in a couple more years before investing too much effort in figuring out all the possible permutations.
D2-Post 2026 CCL-->CPL Champion CL--> CPL runner ups Expending the tournament is the best way to get more fans to follow it. I think they are going back to the group stage for the CCL and for CL they will most likely copy Sudamericana which is a massive knockout stage. This means more spots for Canada which the CSA will flip to CPL
It's a bit of an awkward thing for the CSA. I can see them wanting to flip any extra spots to the CPL. That said, the reason our CCL coefficient is so high is because of the performance of our MLS teams over the years. A CPL team in the CCL would be crushed. So do you really want to automatically give spots earned by one set of teams to a lesser set of teams and see our coefficient get slammed to the point where we don't actually deserve the extra spots? It might be better to funnel any additional CL spots to the CPL but leave any additional CCL spots fully up for grabs.
That is true. However, their mandate is to grow the sport from coast to coast and giving those berths to CPL involves more fans outside of the 3 big cities. 2/3 of Canada don't live in those cities, time to involve those fans in the process as well False, Olimpia was always a Champions League team and Forge got one of them. You're quick to forget that York9 & Cavalry pushed Montreal (A team) to their limit and that Vancouver (A team) were eliminated. We're talking about giving extra spots in an expanded tournament, not taking MLS spots away. CAN1 would most likely stay with the Canadian Championship. CAN2 could be upgraded to CCL while the potential CAN3 & CAN4 would most likely be CL spots. There's lots of MLS fans viewing CL as a beneath MLS so what's the harm in giving them to CPL? Canadian Championship winner: CAN1 = CCL (They aren't losing their berth) CPL Champion: CAN2 = CCL CPL Runner up: CAN3 = CL CPL Regular Season winner: CAN4 = CL There`s no scenario where CPL doesn't get a CCL spot for their champion. All the Central American leagues would regain their CCL spots that were taken away from them. Forge proved capable to compete with them, why would you deny CPL such an opportunity to expose more Canadians to this type of experience?
An alternative spin is: Forge crashed out of the CL against their first real opponent after narrowly squeaking past Antigua 2-1. Calgary just managed to eke out a one goal victory over the most disorganized and in-poor-form team in MLS. York - who came within a goal post of losing to D3 Blainville - lost to Montreal. The Impact then went on to soundly beat the CPL's top team while looking like their minds were more on the upcoming final series with Toronto than anything Calgary was trying to do. This alternative spin, of course, is unnecessarily down on the CPL. The truth is somewhere between this version and overly optimistic claims like "Calvary pushed Montreal to their limit". If you think that CPL teams would be anything other than cannon fodder in the CCL, however, I'm not sure what to say. They'd be a pot 2 team in the 2020 CCL and would have first round match against either a Mexican side (43% likelihood) or an American MLS team (57%). It's not an insult to pick a second year team with a $1 million payroll to get crushed against that. I'm always hesitant to talk about thing being beneath teams. I'm not sure the CL is beneath MLS teams (although I do think the MLS teams would coast through most of it). I'm also not advocating giving a hypothetical CAN2 CCL spot to an MLS team directly. I'm not saying CAN1 = Canadian Championship winner, CAN2 = best Canadian MLS team. I'm advocating leaving it open to the best team - say the runner up in the Canadian Championship - rather than specifically allocating it to a CPL team that is going to get crushed. I actually think the CL would be a great spot for a second CPL slot because they would be facing competition that will challenge them but also give them a chance to win.
1-I was going to break all you points down but I'll point this out You said: Forge crashed out of the CL against their first real opponent after narrowly squeaking past Antigua 2-1. The Impact then went on to soundly beat the CPL's top team while looking like their minds were more on the upcoming final series You do realize that Montreal won both games against Cavalry by 1 goal and the York serie by 1 goal as well. (Using their A Squad) Interesting choice of vocabulary being used for Forge who also won by 1 goal... 2-Second point, CPL teams wouldn't do any worse than Caribbean clubs being guaranteed a sport or any other Central America or TFC getting crushed by a Panama team like last year. Getting successful in CONCACAF is a process, growing pains and everyone had to go through it, yet you're advocating that CPL should be "sparred"... Maybe they need those to grow stronger faster, like everyone else including MLS. 3-You're misunderstanding the CSA role. Their mandate isn't to pander to only 3 clubs who needs to be "forced" to play Canadians in a domestic cup. Their mandate is to grow the game in Canada and improve the National pool. Which scenario accomplishes that better? Which scenario maximize the number of Canadians being involved in that type of competition? MLS fans needs to refrain from projecting their "wants" with the CSA's objectives.
You're missing his point, Robert. He's just applying an overly negative bias to the results in the same way that you are applying on overly positive bias.
My optimism is due to the league overachieving in their inaugural year. No one expected them to win a roulnd for the concacaf league or knock off an MLS side. This isn't about saying that they "are on par" with MLS, they are good enough to compete in this region. Also, please understand that I'm talking about 2023 in regards to CCL berths to CPL. Using the starting point of the league, it will get only better from here* *I feel that if I don't put this disclaimer, people will freak out... *This doesn't mean that a CPL team eliminates concacaf giants in 2023, doesn't mean they get closer to MLS. However, can we expect the league to surpass Caribbean clubs and close the gap with some of the Central American leagues? Allow me to be optimistic and no, I don't expect CPL to do any worse than the rest of the region.
I think you missed my point. I'll let you re-read that bit. Actually I think TFC's performance last year would be pretty much par for the course if CPL teams entered the CCL. They'd go out in the first round. If there were no other alternatives, I'd be fine with that. But we're looking at Canada's entry (entries) in the CCL, not the CPL's entries. Which leads me to: It is not "pandering" any time something is suggested that might not focus exclusively on the interests of CPL clubs. What I was suggesting was letting the best Canadian clubs get into the CCL to best represent Canada there. "Pandering" is stacking things in favour of the "wants" of the CPL teams. I mean, hey, why don't we reserve a CCL or CL spot for the L1O winner? They have even more Canadians than the CPL teams and why not spread the opportunities around to smaller cities that will never get a CPL D1 team? I'd love to see the CPL teams do well in all the competitions they enter, but the CPL is not the sum of Canadian soccer.
Ah. Things become clearer. I still think it is optimistic to expect a 2023 CPL team to do much in the CCL. However, I've been looking at the current offerings. Maybe the CPL will improve more quickly between now and then than their Caribbean and Central American opponents so that they would at least do as well as teams from those countries.
Yeah I did, reread it But the CSA main focus is improving the pool. It isn't that they don't care about a club with a Canadian flag making it far, but they care more about not missing world cup at all level. There's mounting pressure on them to deliver and the whole "MLS club thing" got old under Montagliani. I thought it would be different with Reid but he's managing the CSA the same. You don't have to like it nor agree to it, but it's their mandate to grow the game across the country and improve the pool. If exposing more Canadians to that level is the prefer option, it's hard to disagree with them. BTW, they already inquired for extra CCL spots which would be handed to the CPL. From another optic, they have a Tier 1 league and you can't be surprised that they want their champion to go. Yes, I'm aware of the Canadian Championship but ideally, they want both winners to go. You're better than that.
No one can do much in CCL save the odd MLS team. Not that I don't understand your point of view as a fan, but you're not seeing this from Canada Soccer perspective at all. 1 thing Montagliani era established which I'm surprisingly amazed remained after he left for CONCACAF : Status quo does not work! That was the whole point of creating CPL, it's the answer to status quo not working. If you think CPL won't leverage that asset to help increase the pool, you're being naive. They care WAY more about boosting the pool and performing internationally than the glory of 3 clubs playing outside it's pyramid. Sorry to be blunt, but this is where the CSA is at the moment. I understand your disagreement but there' s a bigger picture than 3 clubs and 3 cities. There's an intent at growing the sport across the country (CanMNT friendly in Victoria). You don't have to agree with the move and I understand it but involving more fans outside the 3 cities is to the benefit of the CSA itself.
https://canpl.ca/article/build-momentum-forge-president-pleased-with-marquee-cpl-year-2-opener This article says that Hamilton will restrict lower bowl seating to the east side of the stadium. Winnipeg does this and the Fury did, too, so I assume Atletico will. In Hamilton, the east side of the lower bowl holds ~6000 people. The Forge drew a regular season average of ~6500 last year including six games over 6000. I'd expect them to sell out the east side lower bowl fairly often and need to open up more seating. For the Forge fans out there: Did they open the upper bowl at all last year aside from the first ever game? How is the view from the east side in terms of the sun being in your eyes in the evening? All the boxes and club seats are on the west side so, by opening the east lower bowl, they are opening things on both sides of the stadium. Any thoughts on why they wouldn't open the west lower bowl instead? Since they're opening lower east, it seems it would be logical to open upper east when they go over 6000. Is that what you'd expect or is there something about the stadium I don't realize since I've never been there? Thanks for indulging my curiosity.
A big test for the Saskatoon group who will use 2 friendlies against FC Edmonton to test the market's interest in CPL Looking forward to coming down to Saskatoon as part as our preseason plans! It will be a fun weekend of terrific soccer & we hope to see the Saskatoon community be apart of it! #FCEd https://t.co/3HMzN5238X— FC Edmonton (@FCEdmontonNow) February 26, 2020
9 out 50 players are from the Canadian Premier League...18% of the roster... 10 players actually played in CPL last year, so 20% of the roster! That's just for the inaugural year! Imagine 4 years from now! Canada Soccer announces Provisional List for Concacaf Men’s Olympic Qualifying Canada Soccer announces Provisional List for Concacaf Men’s Olympic QualifyingSTORY 🍁 https://t.co/DUhB1hgl8L#canm23 #CANMNT pic.twitter.com/hEN0wTaNlN— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) February 26, 2020 GK- Sebastian Breza | ITA / SSD Potenza Calcio GK- Thomas Hasal | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC GK- Matthew Nogueira | POR / CS Maritimo GK- James Pantemis | CAN / Impact de Montréal GK- Dayne St. Clair | USA / Minnesota United FC CB- Robert Boskovic | CAN / Toronto FC II CB- Derek Cornelius | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC CB- Julian Dunn | CAN / Toronto FC CB- Yohan Le Bourhis | CAN / Winnipeg Valour FC CB- Thomas Meilleur-Giguère | CAN / Pacific FC CB- Kamal Miller | USA / Orlando City SC CB- Callum Montgomery | USA / FC Dallas CB- Antonio Rocco Romeo | CAN / Toronto FC CB- Frank Sturing | NED / NEC Nijmegen CB- Karifa Yao | CAN / Impact de Montréal FB- Diyaeddine Abzi | CAN / York9 FC FB- Zorhan Bassong | BEL / Cercle Brugge KSV FB- Gabriel Boakye | GER / FC Köln II FB- Zachary Brault-Guillard | CAN / Impact de Montréal FB- Kadin Chung | CAN / Pacific FC FB- Marcus Godinho | GER / FSV Zwickau FB- Daniel Kinumbe | CAN / Halifax Wanderers FC FB- Émile Legault | Unattached (played with Pacific FC last season) FB- Terique Mohammed | CAN / Toronto FC II M- Clément Bayiha | CAN / Impact de Montréal M- Tristan Borges | BEL / Oud-Heverlee Leuven (Played with Forge FC last season) M- Mathieu Choinière | CAN / Impact de Montréal M- Aidan Daniels | USA / Colorado Switchbacks FC M- Liam Fraser | CAN / Toronto FC M- Patrick Metcalfe | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC M- David Norman | USA / Inter Miami CF (Played with Pacific FC last season, loaned from Inter Miami) M- Noble Okello | CAN / Toronto FC M- Harrison Paton | SCO / Ross County FC M- Ryan Raposo | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC M- Shamit Shome | CAN / Impact de Montréal M- Noah Verhoeven | CAN / Pacific FC F- Theo Bair | CAN / Vancouver Whitecaps FC F- Charles-Andreas Brym | FRA / Lille OSC B F- Tajon Buchanan | USA / New England Revolution F- Terran Campbell | CAN / Pacific FC F- Malik Johnson | USA / Tampa Bay Rowdies F- Aramis Kouzine | Unattached F- Liam Millar | ENG / Liverpool FC F- Jayden Nelson | CAN / Toronto FC F- Easton Ongaro | CAN / FC Edmonton F- Jordan Perruzza | CAN / Toronto FC F- Jacob Shaffelburg | CAN / Toronto FC F- Ballou Jean-Yves Tabla | CAN / Impact de Montréal F- Kris Twardek | IRL / Bohemian FC F- Dario Zanatta | SCO / Partick Thistle FC
I'm counting the following: CPL - 8 Canadian MLS - 21 (TFC 9, Van 5, Mon 7) US - 7 Europe - 12 Unattached FC - 2 The CPL is certainly giving more playing spaces for Canadians which is working out exactly as intended. I'm interested to watch what happens over time. Hopefully we can eliminate Unattached FC as more spots open up for Canadians. We may see the CPL number grow as CPL teams attract and develop players that have previously been falling through the cracks. Alternatively, since these are young players, we may see the CPL percentage hold steady because its best young players move on like Norman and Borges.
Looks like this will be the playoffs format One more thing that was lost in the shuffle at the #PacificFC kit unveiling was Rob Friend announced the 2020 #CanPL play-off schedule format▪️3rd v 2nd in a two-legged Semifinal▪️1st hosting Semifinal winner in a single match Final.Thoughts? I am liking single match Final.— Mike (@VictoriaGooner) February 28, 2020
Here are the seven kits released last night. Ottawa's kits will come at a later date. Six of them are alright but Cavalry's kit has too much going on IMO.
Hearing from different sources that Quebec City and Saskatoon will supposedly be the next expansion sides in the CPL for 2021. #CanPL— Thomas Nef (@ThomasNef) March 3, 2020 This would bring our league to 10 clubs & 7 provinces out of 10! This leaves New Brunswick (Moncton) & Newfoundland (St.John's) Charlottetown in Prince Edward Island is most likely too small and a better fit for a potential Division II club