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| Organiser(s) | Canadian Premier League |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2019 |
| Region | CONCACAF |
| Qualifier for | CONCACAF Champions Cup |
| Current champions | Atlético Ottawa (2025, 1st title) |
| Most championships | Forge FC (4 titles) |
| Broadcaster | OneSoccer |
 2025 Canadian Premier League final | |
TheCanadian Premier League Final is the annual championship game of theCanadian Premier League (CPL), thetop level ofCanadian soccer. It is played as a single match hosted by the winner of the first semifinal against the winner of the second semifinal at the conclusion of theleague's annual playoff. The finals winner is awarded theNorth Star Cup trophy and earns a berth in round one of theCONCACAF Champions Cup.
The CPL uses a playoff tournament following the regular season to determine its annual league champion, a method common to every othermajor North American sports league. This format differs from most soccer leagues around the world, which consider the club with the most points at the end of the season to be the champion. Since 2023, the league has honoured the regular season winners with theCPL Shield.
Theinaugural finals were played as atwo-legged tie on October 26 and November 2, 2019 in whichForge FC defeatedCavalry FC. Forge FC is the most successful team in finals history, winning additional titles in2020,2022, and2023.
Different formats and methods of qualification were used for each of the first five CPL seasons. As of 2025[update] the method has remained the same since 2023.
The2019 finals were contested between the winners of the Spring and Fall seasons.[1] The championship was contested as atwo-legged tie, with each team hosting one leg at home. The winner was determined byaggregate score but if the aggregate score was tied, the team with the mostaway goals wins the series. Apenalty shoot-out was the final tiebreaker.
The2020 season saw the end of the split season format, with the 2020 finals scheduled to be contested between the top-seeded regular season team and the winner of a playoff between the second and third-placed teams.[2] However, as a result of theCOVID-19 pandemic, the season format was scrapped and replaced with a single-site tournament with a two-stage regular season. The2020 final was contested in a single match between the two top-seeded teams from the four-team second stage.[3]
The2021 season brought in a new four-team single leg knockoutplayoff with the two first round winners advancing to the final.[4] The higher-seeded finalist hosts the single leg game. If a match is tied at the end of normal playing time,extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and, if necessary, followed by apenalty shoot-out to determine the winners.[5]
Prior to the start of the2022 season, the league announced that playoff semi-finals would switch to a two-legged format but that the final would continue to be played as a single match hosted by the higher-seeded team.[6]
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Beginning with the2023 season, the league introduced a five-teamPage playoff format.[7] The league retained this format for the2024 and2025 seasons.[8]
| Play-in round | First semifinal | Second semifinal | Final | |||||||||||||||
| 1 | First-place team | First semifinal winner | ||||||||||||||||
| 2 | Second-place team | Second semifinal winner | ||||||||||||||||
| First semifinal loser | ||||||||||||||||||
| Quarterfinal | Quarterfinal winner | |||||||||||||||||
| 3 | Third-place team | |||||||||||||||||
| 4 | Fourth-place team | Play-in round winner | ||||||||||||||||
| 5 | Fifth-place team | |||||||||||||||||
| Season | Date | Champions | Score | Runners-up | Venue | Attendance | Television | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Leg 1 | October 26 | Forge FC | 1–0[9] | Cavalry FC | Tim Hortons Field | 10,486 | OneSoccer,CBC Sports |
| Leg 2 | November 2 | 1–0[10] | ATCO Field | 5,831 | ||||
| 2020 | September 19 | Forge FC | 2–0 | HFX Wanderers FC | Alumni Field | 0[a] | OneSoccer,CBC Sports | |
| 2021 | December 5 | Pacific FC | 1–0 | Forge FC | Tim Hortons Field | 7,488 | OneSoccer | |
| 2022 | October 30 | Forge FC | 2–0 | Atlético Ottawa | TD Place Stadium | 14,992[11] | OneSoccer | |
| 2023 | October 28 | Forge FC | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Cavalry FC | Tim Hortons Field | 13,925 | OneSoccer | |
| 2024 | November 9 | Cavalry FC | 2–1 | Forge FC | ATCO Field | 7,052 | OneSoccer,CBC Sports | |
| 2025 | November 9 | Atlético Ottawa | 2–1 (a.e.t.) | Cavalry FC | TD Place Stadium | 13,132 | OneSoccer,TSN,FS2 | |
| Club | W | L | App | Years of appearance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Forge FC | 4 | 2 | 6 | 2019,2020,2021,2022,2023,2024 |
| Cavalry FC | 1 | 3 | 4 | 2019,2023,2024,2025 |
| Atlético Ottawa | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2022,2025 |
| Pacific FC | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2021 |
| HFX Wanderers FC | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2020 |
From 2019 until 2021, the CPL champion earned Canada's berth in the following year'sCONCACAF League.[12][13] Since 2023, the champion has qualified toCONCACAF Champions Cup.
| Year | Club | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Forge FC[a] | Round of 16 |
| 2020 | Forge FC | Quarter-finals |
| 2021 | Forge FC | Semi-finals |
| 2022 | Pacific FC | Round of 16 |
| Year | Club | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Forge FC[b] | Round of 16 |
| 2024 | Forge FC | Round one |
| 2025 | Cavalry FC | Round one |
| Player | Club(s) | Goals | Appearances |
|---|---|---|---|
 Alessandro Hojabrpour | Pacific FC, Forge FC | 2 (2021, 2022) | 4 (2021,2022,2023, 2024) |
| David Choinière | Forge FC | 2 (2019, 2022) | 7 (20192,2020, 2021,2022,2023, 2024) |
| Tristan Borges | Forge FC | 2 (2019, 2023) | 6 (20192, 2021,2022,2023, 2024) |
 Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson | Forge FC | 2 (2020, 2024) | 7 (20192,2020, 2021,2022,2023, 2024) |
 David Rodríguez | Atlético Ottawa | 2 (2025) | 1 (2025) |
| Maxim Tissot | Forge FC, Atlético Ottawa | 1 (2020) | 2 (2020, 2022) |
 Béni Badibanga | Forge FC | 1 (2023) | 2 (2023, 2024) |
 Ali Musse | Cavalry FC | 1 (2023) | 2 (2023,2024) |
 Tobias Warschewski | Cavalry FC | 1 (2024) | 1 (2024) |
| Sergio Camargo | Cavalry FC | 1 (2024) | 5 (20192, 2023,2024, 2025) |
| Fraser Aird | Cavalry FC | 1 (2025) | 3 (2023,2024, 2025) |
Since 2023, the winning team has been presented with theNorth Star Cup. The trophy was designed by ÉPICO Studios, a design agency that had previously designed trophies for theCopa América Centenario,CONCACAF Champions Cup,CONCACAF Gold Cup,CONCACAF Nations League, andMLS Cup. The North Star Cup replaced theNorth Star Shield which had been awarded from 2019 to 2022.[15][16][17]
Rules concerningyellow card accumulation in regular season and playoff games and its impact on suspensions in the finals have changed over time. In 2019, yellow card accumulation in regular season games resulted in a suspension of Forge FCdefenderBertrand Owundi for thefirst leg of that year's finals.[18] However, when the format changed in 2020, the finals had appeared to have become exempt from suspensions.[19]
The CPL's 2022 Competition Guidelines established that the league's "Championship matches" would be exempt from any yellow card accumulation suspensions and that a fines would replace any suspensions.[20] Although the league later announced changes to yellow card suspensions and their impact on playoffs games on the eve of the2022 playoffs, this change did not affect the rules for thefinal.[21]
In the final match of the2019 Canadian Premier League fall season,Dominic Samuel ofForge FC received a red card for two cautionable offences, and was subsequently suspended for the first leg of thefinals.[22]Forge FC would suffer a similar fate in 2022 when their captainKyle Bekker was sent off in the second leg of the2022 CPL semifinals againstCavalry, and prevented him from participating in thefinal againstAtlético Ottawa.
| Player | Club | Match | Minute | Type | Score | Final |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joel Waterman | Cavalry FC (a) | 2019 final(1st leg) | 37' |  | 0–0 | 1–0 |
| Tristan Borges[a] | Forge FC (h) | 69' | [a] | 1–0 | ||
 Omar Browne | Forge FC (h) | 2021 final | 90+1' |   | 0–1 | 0–1 |
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