League structure The Canadian Soccer Association system consists of several unconnected leagues and it does not have
promotion and relegation in the top division. Leagues in the Canadian system are classified as either professional,
pro-am, or amateur. The
Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) is the governing body for the sport in Canada and directly sanctions leagues that operate in more than one province. Leagues operating in a single province receive sanctioning from their provincial soccer association.
Professional The
Canadian Premier League (CPL) is the top division of soccer the Canadian soccer league system. It is the only fully professional, and only fully national, league in the system. Founded in 2019, the CPL is composed of eight teams and is sanctioned by the CSA. Each year, the top CPL clubs qualify for the
CONCACAF Champions Cup. There are also three Canadian teams which play in
Major League Soccer, the division 1 league sanctioned by the
United States Soccer Federation, reflecting a longstanding practice of major Canadian sports teams competing in American leagues. The Canadian clubs in this league are members of the CSA and compete in the
Canadian Championship, rather than in the
U.S. Open Cup, alongside clubs from the CPL and qualified lower division clubs. The three Canadian MLS clubs also compete in the
Leagues Cup, a competition held between MLS and
Liga MX clubs, as the sub-regional competition within
CONCACAF. The CPL does not take part in this competition.
Pro-am Pro-am (or semi-pro) soccer competitions in Canada are regionally-based due to its large geography and dispersed pockets of population. Teams playing in pro-am leagues are permitted to be composed of professional and amateur players. The PLSQ was founded as a semi-pro league in 2012 and is sanctioned by
Soccer Quebec. The league includes a team from Eastern Ontario, who compete with special permission from the CSA. Following the release of
The Easton Report in 2013, the CSA set out to create a Division 3 semi-pro structure divided by region, similar to the major junior hockey leagues in Canada, with regional champions competing in a national tournament. In November 2013, the
Ontario Soccer Association announced the sanction of League1 Ontario as part of this new structure. On October 5, 2021,
BC Soccer announced the establishment of
League1 British Columbia as the nation's third regional pro-am soccer league. The league began play in May 2022 with seven clubs. In 2022,
Toronto FC II and
Whitecaps FC 2 began play in
MLS Next Pro, a USSF-sanctioned division 3 league. Both Canadian clubs are members of the CSA. Toronto FC II had played in the division 2
USL Championship until 2018 and in the division 3
USL League One from 2019 to 2021. In March 2023,
League1 Alberta was founded by the Alberta Soccer Association. With only five teams in the men's and women's division (one short of the requirement for sanctioning), the league played an
exhibition series in 2023. By December 2023, league membership had grown to seven teams and so the league joined League1 Canada and received full sanctioning ahead of the 2024 season. In January 2026, League1 Canada was renamed to Premier Soccer Leagues Canada as part of a larger rebrand that included the CPL and extended to most of PSL Canada's regional leagues. Also announced was a new league for the Prairies provinces of Manitoba and Saskatchewan called the
Prairies Premier League, set for a May launch. Ligue1 Québec was excluded from the rebranding.
Amateur There are various amateur provincial leagues that are sanctioned under their individual provincial or territorial associations. This includes such leagues as the
Pacific Coast Soccer League,
Alberta Major Soccer League,
Manitoba Major Soccer League, and the
Ontario Soccer League. This collection of leagues across the country collectively compete for the
Challenge Trophy. There are 13
provincial and territorial soccer associations in Canada, with a number of leagues organized as amateur competitions at adult and/or youth levels. Typically there is promotion and relegation plus league and cup competitions in each provincial and territorial association, which culminates in the national
Challenge Trophy. However, not all associations consistently send representative teams to national championships. The
United Soccer League (USL) manages several leagues, including the amateur
USL League Two (USL2). USL2 is sanctioned and administered under the
USASA and is below Division 3 in the
United States soccer league system. On November 18, 2015, four Ontario teams (including
FC London, who then moved to L1O) were given notice by the Ontario Soccer Association that they would no longer be permitted to participate in the league starting in 2017. As of 2025, there are no Canadian clubs in USL2.
Pyramid breakdown As of the 2026 season.
National cups The
Canadian Championship is the primary
domestic cup in Canada. It was established in 2008 to determine the nation's representative at the
CONCACAF Champions Cup. The tournament is organized by the Canadian Soccer Association and is open to fully professional Canadian teams (playing in American or Canadian leagues) and the winners of the Canadian regional pro-am leagues. The winner of the Canadian Championship is awarded the fan-created
Voyageurs Cup which predates the tournament. The
Challenge Trophy is Canada's national men's amateur championship. It has been contested since 1913.
Professional leagues background By the mid-1960s, there were four major leagues across Canada including the
Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League (1961–1967). From west to east, the other major leagues were the
Pacific Coast Soccer League (British Columbia), the
Western Canada Soccer League (Alberta, Saskatchewan and eventually Manitoba and British Columbia), and the
National Soccer League (Ontario and Quebec). In 1968, Canadian soccer turned its attention to the cross-nation
North American Soccer League that initially featured professional teams in Vancouver and Toronto. Over the next 15 years, the professional league also featured teams in Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal. After the collapse of the original North American Soccer League, and Canada's participation in the
1986 FIFA World Cup the original
Canadian Soccer League started operations as a nationally based CSA sanctioned Division 1 league. When the original CSL folded in 1993, three Canadian teams moved to the
American Professional Soccer League (APSL) where several had played preseason games and competed in post season tournaments. Later in 1993, Major League Soccer (MLS) beat the APSL and won the USSF's competition for U.S. Division 1 status. Canadian teams continued to participate in the
APSL and subsequently with the United Soccer Leagues merger in the
A League /
USL-1.
FIFA did not allow the U.S. Division 1 sanctioned league to include foreign teams which was why the APSL was never officially recognized as Division 1 before MLS. MLS would eventually expand into Canadian cities with existing U.S. Division 2 teams. Newly created
Toronto FC joined MLS for the 2007 season, whereas the existing
Toronto Lynx self relegated from the USL-1 and began playing in the amateur-only
USL Premier Development League. The owners of
Vancouver Whitecaps FC of the
USSF Division 2 Professional League formed a team that joined MLS in 2011, and the owners
Montreal Impact of the
North American Soccer League created a team that joined in 2012. One of the other original CSL teams did not join the APSL, they joined the National Soccer League based in southern Ontario. The National Soccer League renamed itself the
Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL) with the addition of an out of province team. The CNSL had four teams found the second league named the Canadian Professional Soccer League (1998–2006) or CPSL with four other new teams. In 2006, the CPSL teams restarted in a new league, the second
Canadian Soccer League (CSL). This second version of the CSL was initially sanctioned the
Ontario Soccer Association and later by the
Canadian Soccer Association as Division 3 in 2009. Following a match fixing scandal the league was then de-sanctioned in 2014 and continues to operate as a member of the Soccer Federation of Canada (SFC) that is not associated with any international body. In February 2010, the
Canadian Soccer League was granted full membership by the CSA and sanctioned as a semi-professional league. Sitting behind MLS and the NASL, the CSL operated as one of the Division 3 leagues within the Canadian pyramid. However, following the release of a development study and subsequent change in CSA policy for the future growth and development of regional leagues, also coinciding with
match fixing allegations in 2012, the CSL was de-sanctioned by the CSA in 2013 and would not be considered a CSA sanctioned semi-pro league for the 2014 season. In order to limit the Americanization of all of Canada's professional soccer clubs, the CSA issued a
moratorium on the sanctioning of any new Division 2, 3, or 4 teams on November 15, 2010, which lasted until September 30, 2011. Despite the moratorium, the NASL announced that
Ottawa had been awarded a franchise on June 20, 2011. ==Women==