Canadian Premier League 2024 preview

Although there have been many attempts to organise a professional national soccer league in Canada, with the first coming as early as 1926 with the establishment of the (admittedly Ontario and Quebec focussed and mostly semi-professional) National Soccer League, the establishment of the Canadian Premier League in 2017 - to begin play two years later - was the first since the NSL collapsed in 1997. In between, the Canadian National Soccer League (1983) and Canadian Soccer League (1987-92) had both tried to bring professional soccer to the masses, with the NSL taking a back seat while those attempts were underway, but professional soccer in Canada has usually meant taking part in US leagues such as the North American Soccer League, A League, and Major League Soccer. Even with the existence of the CPL, Canada's top clubs still play in MLS, with a separate Canadian Championship the only time they cross paths with their CPL equivalents.

Talk of a new league began as early as 2013, with Bob Young (owner of the Canadian Football League's Hamilton Tiger-Cats franchise) the prime mover for such a competition. After years of behind the scenes discussion, the league was tentatively agreed at the 2016 AGM of the Canadian Soccer Association, with its first employee hired in November that year. At the 2017 AGM, the Canadian Premier League was formally announced, with ownership groups ratified for Hamilton and Winnipeg, both in association with their cities' CFL operations. The league would operate at a division II level (with the Canadian clubs participating in MLS given division I status), and more teams were accepted in May 2018, with the first - York9 FC, based in the Toronto suburb of North York - unveiled on May 10th. They were followed a week later by Calgary, Alberta, club Cavalry FC, and then by HFX Wanderers (Halifax, Nova Scotia), Valour FC (Winnipeg, Manitoba), and FC Edmonton, an Alberta club who had formerly competed in the second NASL. Further announcements were made in subsequent weeks, with Forge FC (Hamilton, Ontario) and Pacific FC from Vancouver Island, British Columbia, completing the inaugural class of seven.

The first match in CPL history took place at Tim Horton's Field in Hamilton, where Forge and York9 drew 1-1. The schedule was split into Spring and Fall seasons, with Cavalry winning and Forge finishing second in both, earning them a two-legged play-off final which was won by the Hamilton outfit. In January 2020, Atletico Ottawa - owned by Spanish club Atletico Madrid - were announced as the first expansion side and the 2020 season was to have kicked off with eight clubs, only for the COVID-19 pandemic to put a stop to things before it could start. A shortened 2020 season was played later in the year, however, with all games played on Prince Edward Island, again won by Forge, this time beating HFX Wanderers in the final.

York9 rebranded as York United ahead of the 2021 season, which started late due to further COVID-19 protocols. A full season was played, however, resulting in Pacific beating Forge in a one-off final in Hamilton, a 1-0 win thanks to an Alessandro Hojabrpour sending the title west for the first time. Forge regained their crown in 2022, goals from David Choiniere and new signing Hojabrpour enough to beat Atletico Ottawa 2-0 at TD Place in the nation's capital, but news broke in November that the league would be removing Edmonton from the competition, citing poor performance (they'd finished eighth, seventh, and eighth in their final three seasons), low crowds, and an outdated stadium as the reasons.

Their place was taken for the 2023 season by Vancouver FC, a new expansion side based in the Vancouver suburb of Langley, and the eight teams played a regular schedule of 28 games (playing each team home and away twice), with the top five moving on to a complicated play-off series (which has been retained for 2024 and will be explained below). Forge once again made the play-off final, facing Cavalry in front of over 13,000 fans in Hamilton, and carried off their third title with a 2-1 extra-time win after the game had finished 0-0 after ninety minutes. Both Forge and Cavalry (as regular season winners) qualified for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup as a result, alongside 2023 Canadian Championship winners Vancouver Whitecaps. Average crowds for the 2023 season varied between a low of 1,221 at York United to a high of 5,854 in Halifax, a total average of 3,716 fans per game.

2024 Canadian Premier League preview

Eight teams will once again compete for the title of Canada's top team (sort of), with a regular season of 28 games consisting of each side playing their rivals home and away twice. After the end of the regular season in October, the top five will move forwards to the play-offs, which will begin with a clash between fourth and fifth. The winner of that game plays the third place side for the chance to play the loser of a game between first and second. The play-off final will be contested between the winner of the game between first and second, and the winner of the game between the loser of the the game between first and second and the winner of the game between third and fourth/fifth!

Both Cavalry and Forge were eliminated in the first round of the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup, with Cavalry losing both legs to Orlando City of MLS, going out 6-1 on aggregate, and Forge beaten by Liga MX side Chivas Guadalajara 3-1 at home and 2-1 away, earning more than a few plaudits from neutral onlookers in that second leg.

With their overseas ownership and exotic name, Atletico Ottawa are one of those teams it's easy to dislike but they play some of the CPL's best soccer, even if they've only reached the play-offs once in their four-season history. They play at TD Place in Ottawa, formerly home to Ottawa Fury, who played in the second NASL and the USL Championship before US Soccer and CONCACAF outlawed Canadian sides at division II level in order to give the CPL a clean run at that level. Former Kuwait national team manager Carlos Gonzalez has been coach since the beginning of the 2022 season and oversees a team built around creative midfielder Ollie Bassett, a former Northern Ireland youth international who began his career with Yeovil Town in England. Goals chiefly come from Bassett and Canadian striker Samuel Salter, with former Darlington man Kevin dos Santos, Balou Tabla (returning to the club after a spell in Turkey), and last year's young player of the year Matteo de Briane (who has signed from Valour FC) the other players to watch.

Calgary is a horse city, home to the famous Calgary Stampede, and Cavalry FC's home stadium at Spruce Meadows is possibly unique in professional soccer in that also hosts several equestrian events throughout the year. The club is owned by the Southern family's Spruce Meadows Sport & Entertainment Group and head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr - a Scouser who played for Swindon Town, Torquay United, and Yeovil Town before moving to the A League's Calgary Storm in 2002 - has been in charge for their entire history. The bulk of the side that finished top of the regular standings last season is still in place, including top scorer Myer Bevan, a New Zealand international, and his Somalian strike partner Ali Musse. Dutchman Daan Klomp, who came through the NAC Breda youth system, and goalkeeper Mario Carducci keep things tidy at the back. Big things are also expected from Diego Gutierrez, signed from Valour FC over the winter. Cavalry used to enjoy a healthy rivalry with FC Edmonton - known as the Al Classico - but since their provincial rivals were closed down they have transferred their main antagonism to Forge FC.

Forge FC are the undoubted powerhouse of the CPL, ever-presents in the play-off finals and champions four seasons out of five. Their domination has brought welcome respite to owner Bob Young, whose Hamilton Tiger-Cats franchise haven't won a CFL title since 1999. As with Cavalry's Tommy Wheeldon, Bobby Smyrniotis has been in charge since Forge made their CPL debuts in April 2019, the young Canadian coach having cut his teeth as an assistant at the Olimpiacos academy in 2002-04 before managing League 1 Ontario side Sigma FC for fourteen years. Smyrniotis has an embarrassment of talents at his disposal, although two of last season's crop - young Canadians Manjrekar James and Woobens Pacius - have moved on to Costa Rica's Alajuense SC and MLS side Nashville SC, respectively. Forge have an extremely strong spine, from goalkeeper Triston Henry, through Haitain international centre-back Garven Metsuala, midfielder and captain Kyle Bekker, to top scorer Terran Campbell, and will be very hard to beat again this year. The Forge name comes from Hamilton's industrial past.

Based far out east on Nova Scotia, HFX Wanderers are owned by Sports & Entertainment Atlantic, an event management company operated by Derek Martin. Martin was on board with the CPL idea as early as 2016 and got the backing of Halifax City Council a year later, partnering with them to build the Wanderers Grounds, their pop-up stadium in downtown Halifax. Head coach Patrice Gheisar arrived for the 2022 season having coached at League 1 Ontario Vaughn Azzuri for eight years and took Wanderers to a third-place finish last year, although they bowed out of the play-offs at the first hurdle. French midfielder Lorenzo Callegari, who grew up in the Paris Saint-Germain system and made one first team appearance, and centre-back Daniel Nimick both made the 2023 CPL team of the year and Gheisar will hope that Massimo Ferrin can find himself among the goals again.

First mooted as Port City FC, Pacific FC are based at Starlight Stadium in Langford, on Vancouver Island, reputedly the third fastest growing city in Canada. Former Danish international midfielder was the man in charge when they took part in the inaugural CPL in 2019 but lasted just a year; current head coach James Merriman took over from ex-Norway international Pa-Moudou Kah in January 2022. The club's ownership is in the hands of SixFive Sports & Entertainment, a self-described football investment group, but Starlight Stadium is owned by the city of Langford and is also home to Rugby Canada. Outside of their title win in 2021, Pacific are usually there or thereabouts at season's end but lost Argentinian midfielder Manny Aparicio to Atletico Ottawa in the close season and will once again rely on the goals of ex-NEC Nijmegen man Ayman Sellouf and Welsh striker Josh Heard, with back-up from creative midfielders Sean Young and defensive rock Thomas Meilleur-Giguere, formerly of Ottawa Fury.

Winnipeg isn't exactly a hotbed of soccer, with Manitoba not among the four Canadian provinces to have staged professional soccer in either the NASL or MLS days, but Valour FC are making a decent fist of things as a central Canadian outpost, buoyed by their connection to the CFL's Winnipeg Blue Bombers, twelve times Grey Cup winners, with whom they share the Princess Auto Stadium. The club are named for Valour Road, a street that was home to three Canadian soldiers who died in the First World War and became a memorial to the men, who all received the Victoria Cross, the club's maroon shirts matching the colour of the Victoria Cross ribbon. Head coach Philip Dos Santos has been in charge since 2021 and was formerly an assistant at Vancouver Whitecaps under his brother Marc. He lost goalkeeper Rayane Yesli and promising youngster Matteo de Brienne to Atletico Ottawa, and exciting midfielder Diego Gutierrez to Cavalry, in the winter, but kept hold of English midfielder Kian Williams, a former Leicester City player who spent much of his career in Iceland before signing with Valour last year. Dos Santos has made a number of signings, including former Vancouver man Shaun Hundal, midfielder Zachary Sukunda, and Australian striker Jordi Swibel, and the wholesale changes mean that Pacific could be the surprise team of the season.

The league's newest side did not have a stellar first season, finishing one off the bottom and nine points from making the play-offs, but there were nonetheless encouraging signs for Vancouver FC in their debut campaign. They drew an average of 2,774 fans to Willoughby Community Park in Langley for each game, impressive for a side that is very much the second option for soccer fans in Gastown. Like their local rivals on Vancouver Island, the club is owned by SixFive Sports & Entertainment and overseen by former Canadian international Rob Friend, with head coach Afshin Ghotbi, a former Iran national team manager, in place since the formation of the club in November 2022. They lost striker Shaun Hundal to Valour over the winter but have retained the services of Lebanese international midfielder Gabriel Bitar and Haitian striker Mikael Cantave, as well as securing an extended loan deal for Mexican forward Alejandro Diaz. Possibly their most interesting acquisition in the off-season was Grady McDonnell, at sixteen-years-old the youngest Canadian ever to sign a professional deal and an international at under-15, under-16, and under-17 levels with the Republic of Ireland.

York United are in a tough spot, the league's least-supported side in the country's most crowded soccer market. Not only do they have to contest with Toronto FC of MLS but there are several well-established amateur and semi-professional sides in the city that compete for their attention. Still, they squeaked into the play-offs last season and won plaudits from neutrals when head coach Martin Nash dropped Mo Babouli, Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy, and Brian Wright when they protested against having to wear rainbow numbers on their shirts in support of the LGBTQ+ community. All three were brought back and Babouli was joint top scorer at the end of the season, alongside Osaze de Rosario and Kevin dos Santos, both of whom left the club over the winter. They also lost Jeremy Gagnon-Lapare to HFX Wanderers but Nash has brought in a trio of new players from overseas in the shape of Mexican centre-back Oswaldo Leon, Chile-born former Canadian international Juan Cordova, and winger Dennis Salanovic, a Liechtenstein international who played in the Spanish fourth tier last season. An honest appraisal of their chances might bring slim pickings but the club are under new, ambitious owners based in Mexico and shouldn't be counted out just yet.