Trillium Cup

The Trillium Cup is an annual rivalry cup between Major League Soccer clubs Columbus Crew and Toronto FC. The Trillium Cup is named after the trillium, which is both the official flower of the Canadian province of Ontario, and the official wildflower of the U.S. state of Ohio. The rivalry draws on the teams’ similarities: the teams are geographically adjacent; near the Great Lakes that border the United States and Canada, and each play home matches in their respective soccer-specific stadium.

History The Trillium Cup was instituted in 2008, the second season of Toronto FC's play in Major League Soccer (MLS). The inaugural game of the Trillium Cup was played on March 29, 2008, at Columbus Crew Stadium.

The initial rivalry between the Trillium teams was supported by the mayors of the respective cities. In 2008, Mayor Michael B. Coleman of Columbus and Mayor David Miller of Toronto started a small wager on their respective team for the first installment of the Trillium Cup – the mayor of the losing team was required to wear the winning team's jersey.

The rivalry became more intense when Toronto FC fans bought 2,500 tickets to the inaugural game at Columbus Crew Stadium, with buses organized for fans from Toronto heading to Columbus for the first game on March 29, 2008. The Crew won 2–0 over their new rival. The second and third meetings, at Toronto's BMO Field, were draws; 0–0 and 1–1, respectively. The Crew claimed the inaugural Trillium Cup with a 5–2 score on points earned.

In 2011, Toronto defeated Columbus 4–2, recording their first ever win against the Crew and securing their first Trillium Cup.

In 2017, Toronto and Columbus met for the first time in the MLS Cup Playoffs, in the Eastern Conference Finals, as Toronto advanced to the MLS Cup Final 1–0 on aggregate.

In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed by the Canadian Government forced Toronto to play rivalry matches in Pratt & Whitney Stadium in Connecticut in 2020 followed by Orlando SC's Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida in 2021 where Toronto played home matches in these stadiums as the home team. This marked the first time that the rivalry matches were played on neutral ground. In 2020, Toronto won their only meeting in 2020 with Columbus 3–1 in September 2020. The next year Toronto won the first leg of the rivalry match in 2021 with a score of 2–0. Columbus Crew would later win the second leg of the rivalry in 2021 on the last rivalry match to be taken place at the Historic Crew Stadium before the Columbus Crew moves to Lower.com Field in July 2021. Columbus won the match 2–1.

Winners by year The cup is awarded to the team that wins the most points from the series at the season's end. In the event of a draw on points, the first tiebreak is determined by the away goals rule, then by the team with the largest overall goal differential at the conclusion of the Major League Soccer season. Year Winner Aggregate score 2008 Columbus Crew 3–1 2009 Columbus Crew 5–4 2010 Columbus Crew 4–2 2011 Toronto FC 5–3 2012 Columbus Crew 5–2 2013 Columbus Crew 4–2 2014 Toronto FC 8–4 2015 Columbus Crew SC 7–3 2016 Toronto FC 4–1 2017 Toronto FC 8–3 2018 Columbus Crew SC 5–3 2019 Toronto FC 3–2 2020 Toronto FC 3–1 2021 Toronto FC 3–2 2022 Columbus Crew 4–2 2023 Columbus Crew 3–1 2024 Columbus Crew 6–0 2025 Columbus Crew 2–2

Series results

Winners by year Individual results Competition Year Winners Aggregate score Venue Date Score Recap Columbus Toronto Major League Soccer 2007 Columbus Crew 6–3 Columbus Crew Stadium May 26, 2007 2 2 Columbus Crew Stadium July 22, 2007 2 0 BMO Field September 22, 2007 2 1 Major League Soccer 2008 Columbus Crew 3–1 Columbus Crew Stadium March 29, 2008 2 0 BMO Field May 17, 2008 0 0 BMO Field September 13, 2008 1 1 Major League Soccer 2009 Columbus Crew 5–4 Columbus Crew Stadium March 28, 2009 1 1 BMO Field May 2, 2009 1 1 Columbus Crew Stadium July 25, 2009 3 2 Major League Soccer 2010 Columbus Crew 4–2 Columbus Crew Stadium March 27, 2010 2 0 BMO Field October 16, 2010 2 2 Major League Soccer 2011 Toronto FC 5–3 BMO Field April 23, 2011 1 1 Columbus Crew Stadium September 10, 201124 Major League Soccer 2012 Columbus Crew 5–2 BMO Field March 31, 2012 1 0 Columbus Crew Stadium August 22, 2012 2 1 Columbus Crew Stadium October 28, 2012 2 1 Major League Soccer 2013 Columbus Crew 4–2 BMO Field May 18, 2013 1 0 BMO Field July 27, 201312 Columbus Crew Stadium August 17, 2013 2 0 Major League Soccer 2014 Toronto FC 8–4 Columbus Crew Stadium April 5, 201402 BMO Field May 31, 201423 Columbus Crew Stadium August 9, 201423 Major League Soccer 2015 Columbus Crew SC 7–3 Mapfre Stadium March 14, 2015 2 0 Mapfre Stadium July 25, 2015 3 3 BMO Field October 17, 2015 2 0 Major League Soccer 2016 Toronto FC 4–1 BMO Field May 21, 2016 0 0 Mapfre Stadium July 13, 2016 1 1 BMO Field July 31, 201603 Major League Soccer 2017 Toronto FC 8–3 Mapfre Stadium April 15, 2017 2 1 Mapfre Stadium May 10, 201712 BMO Field May 26, 201705 MLS Cup Playoffs Toronto FC 1–0 Mapfre Stadium November 21, 2017 0 0 BMO Field November 29, 201701 Major League Soccer 2018 Columbus Crew SC 5–3 BMO Field March 3, 2018 2 0 Mapfre Stadium June 2, 2018 3 3 Major League Soccer 2019 Toronto FC 3–2 Mapfre Stadium August 17, 2019 2 2 BMO Field October 6, 201901 Major League Soccer 2020 Toronto FC 3–1 Pratt & Whitney Stadium September 27, 202013 Major League Soccer 2021 Toronto FC 3–2 Exploria Stadium May 12, 202102 Historic Crew Stadium May 29, 2021 2 1 Major League Soccer2022Columbus Crew4–2Lower.com FieldMarch 12, 2022 2 1BMO FieldJune 29, 2022 2 1Major League Soccer2023Columbus Crew3–1BMO FieldMarch 11, 2023 1 1Lower.com FieldAugust 26, 2023 2 0Major League Soccer2024Columbus Crew6–0Lower.com FieldJuly 6, 202440BMO FieldSeptember 18, 202420Major League Soccer2025Columbus Crew2–2BMO FieldAugust 16, 202511Lower.com FieldSeptember 20, 202511Major League Soccer2026BMO FieldMarch 21, 202621Lower.com FieldOctober 24, 2026

+ Points based on wins (3), draws (1) and losses (0) – Tiebreakers: 1) away goals for, 2) goal differential, 3) previous year winners

Statistics

Competition Matches Wins Draws Goals CLB TOR CLB TORMLS regular season 47 20 12 15 71 61MLS Cup playoffs 2 0 1 1 0 1Total 49 20 13 16 71 62

Trillium Cup

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