January 24, 2023 – Canadian Premier League (CPL) – Atletico Ottawa News Release
The 2023 Canadian Championship draw is upon us, as fans across the country will learn their club’s path to the Voyageurs’ Cup on Tuesday, Jan. 31, live on OneSoccer (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT).
For the first time ever, 14 teams will be participating in Canada’s professional domestic cup competition, as clubs from five different leagues (including all eight Canadian Premier League teams) vie to lift the Voyageurs’ Cup in June.
Three sides – CPL expansion outfit Vancouver FC, as well as semi-pro representatives TSS Rovers FC (League1 B.C.) and FC Laval (Première ligue de soccer du Québec) – will be making their debut appearances in the tournament.
The Canadian Championship is a special part of the Canadian footballing calendar each year, particularly for CPL teams who get the chance to compete for a prestigious trophy and test themselves against Major League Soccer opposition. Since CPL clubs first joined the tournament in 2019, each edition has seen at least one team from the league advance deep in the competition and contend for the trophy.
Cavalry FC and Pacific FC appeared in the 2019 and 2021 semi-finals, respectively, after defeating MLS side Vancouver Whitecaps, and Forge FC and York United bowed out in the 2021 and 2022 semis, respectively, to eventual champions CF Montréal and the Whitecaps.
Forge FC became the first CPL team to play in the Canadian Championship final last year, doing so in the delayed 2020 matchup against Toronto FC at Tim Hortons Field – which saw Forge play to an impressive 1-1 draw before falling on penalty kicks. In fact, in 17 total matches between a CPL and an MLS team in the Canadian Championship, 13 have been decided by one goal or fewer.
The Canadian Championship also provides Canadian clubs with a path to the Concacaf Champions League, which will debut in its new format in 2024. This competition is one of three avenues to the Champions League available to CPL teams this year, with Concacaf having previously announced that the regular season and playoff champions will also qualify.
Here are some more key details to know for this year’s draw and the tournament itself.
Draw Pots
The 14 teams participating have been separated into various pots for the draw, with 2022 champions Vancouver Whitecaps FC and runners-up Toronto FC both receiving byes to the quarter-final round and thus comprising the first pot.
Aside from the Whitecaps and Toronto, the…
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