The LS Pro (Ligues senior provinciales) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Quebec, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and Soccer Quebec. Founded in 2011 as the Première ligue de soccer du Québec, it re-branded in 2023 to Ligue1 Québec, before eventually adopting the current name in 2025. In 2025, the league expanded and introduced two new divisions Ligue2 Québec and Ligue3 Québec, following the ending of the amateur Ligue de soccer élite du Québec, with the teams being folded into LS Pro. It currently consists of three tiers: Ligue 1, Ligue 2, and Ligue 3.
In the Canadian soccer league system, the men's division is behind the fully-professional Canadian Premier League. It is part of Premier Soccer Leagues Canada, the national third tier with regional divisions, along with four other leagues. The men's league champion qualifies for the Canadian Championship, Canada's domestic cup tournament.
History Background The history of soccer in Quebec dates back to 1884, with the first league established in 1886. In 1911, the Province of Quebec Football Association, now known as the Quebec Soccer Federation was founded. In 1986, a semi-professional league called the Ligue nationale de soccer du Québec (LNSQ) was created, but it merged with different rival leagues to form the Ligue de soccer élite du Québec in 1992. In 1993, five of the former LNSQ clubs Corfinium St-Leonard, Cosmos de LaSalle, Luso Stars Mont-Royal, Montreal Croatia, and Montreal Ramblers joined the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL) to form the league's Eastern Division. Following this, the amateur Ligue de soccer élite du Québec served as the top level of soccer in the province, although Quebec clubs did play in the United Soccer League (Montreal Impact) and the semi-professional Canadian Soccer League (Laval Dynamites/Trois-Rivières Attak and Montreal Impact Academy).
Foundation
In 2011, the Première ligue de soccer du Québec was established, marking the return of a semi-professional soccer league to the province for the first time in 20 years. The league was sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association as a level 3 league, below Major League Soccer (level 1) and the North American Soccer League and United Soccer League (level 2), which were American-based fully professional leagues featuring some Canadian teams, including the Montreal Impact of the MLS.
The league had its debut season in 2012 with a men's division featuring five teams – A.S. Blainville, FC Brossard, FC Boisbriand, FC L'Assomption, and FC Saint-Léonard. FC Saint-Léonard won the inaugural season. The following season, the league added a league cup to its schedule, the Coupe PLSQ, which would take place annually at the conclusion of the season, unrelated to the results of the regular season. In 2014, the province of Ontario created its own semi-professional level 3 league, League1 Ontario, and the Inter-Provincial Cup was established which would be contested between the champions of each league and ran for three years until 2016. In 2015, the league added its first club from outside of the province of Quebec, with the Ottawa Fury FC Academy joining the league.
Beginning in 2018, the league champion qualified to participate in the Canadian Championship for the following season. In 2018, a women's division was added, starting with five teams. The start of the 2020 season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it ultimately resumed with a shortened season, although some teams opted out of playing for the season. However, the remainder of the men's season was cancelled about three-quarters of the way through the season, due to a resurgence of the pandemic (the female season had already concluded).
In 2022, the PLSQ joined League1 Canada along with League1 Ontario and League1 British Columbia. On April 19, 2023, the league rebranded to Ligue1 Québec to align with its partner leagues. In 2024, it was announced that USL League Two club Vermont Green FC would host the reigning L1Q champion each year in a friendly each year, known as the Maple Cup.
Competition format Depending on the number of teams in the league, teams play every other team two to four times per season, for a total of between 15 and 20 games. The winner gets the regular season championship. Each team has a minimum of nine paid players and is subject to a salary cap.
Coupe L1QC At the end of the year, there was a league cup, called the Coupe L1QC (formerly the Coupe PLSQ), which began in 2013. The format varies each season, depending on the number of teams in the league. The most recent cup competition featured the top eight teams from league play in a single-knockout tournament. In the past, the cup has also used a group stage and knockout format where three groups of three teams were formed, and the winner of each group along with the best second-place finisher advanced to the semi-finals.
Coupe du Québec The 2026 season was the first edition of the Coupe du Québec with the teams from Ligue1. Before 2026, the Coupe du Québec was only for teams from Ligue2 and lower divisions. The format had a group phase (13 groups of 4 teams, mostly from same region to reduce the travel) followed by a 32-team knockout phase.
Yearly results + L1QC Men's trophy winnersSeasonTeamsL1QC ChampionsCoupe PLSQ 20125 (1)— 20137 (1) 20146 (1) 20157 (2) 20167 (3) (1) 20177 (1) (2) 20188 (2) 20199 (3) 20206 A.S. Blainville (4) — 202110 CS Mont-Royal Outremont (4) — 202212 (1) (3) 202312 (1) (1) 202411 (2) CS St-Laurent (2)
+ LS Pro Men's trophy winnersSeasonLigue1Coupe L1QLigue2Ligue32025 (4) 2026
Clubs
Over the course of its history, various clubs have joined and departed the league. A.S. Blainville is the only club to have participated in every season since the league's inception. Blainville has been the most successful club, winning both the league championship and the league cup four times. CS Mont-Royal Outremont has been second-most successful with four league championships and one league cup title.
Current clubs Ligue 1 Québec The following twelve teams are members of the league for the 2026 season: Team City Stadium Joined Current teams A.S. Blainville Blainville, Laurentides Parc Blainville 2012Celtix du Haut-RichelieuSaint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Montérégie Parc Pierre-Benoît 2020 AS Laval Laval Parc de Lausanne 2019FC Laval Laval Parc Berthiaume-Du Tremblay 2018 CS Longueuil Longueuil, Montérégie Parc Laurier 2014 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Mount Royal, Montréal Parc Recreatif de TMR 2013 CS Saint-Laurent Montreal Stade Claude-Robillard 2022 CS St-Hubert Longueuil, Montérégie Centre Sportif Roseanne-Laflamme 2017Ottawa South UnitedOttawa, OntarioTAAG Park (Carleton University)2020 Royal-Sélect de Beauport Quebec City Stade Beauport 2021CS LaSalleMontréalParc Riverside2025AS GatineauGatineau, OutaouaisParc Polyvalente le Carrefour2025
Ligue 2 Québec The following teams are members of the league for the 2026 season: Team City Stadium Joined Current teams CF L'International de Québec Quebec CityTerrain Gérard-Chiquette2025 AS Chaudière-Ouest Lévis Parc Renaud-Maillette2025 CS Montréal Centre MontréalComplexe sportif Claude-Robillard2025 CS Roussilion Saint-ConstantCentre Municpal2025 CS Saint-Lazare/Hudson Saint-LazareWestwood Junior2025 CS Trident Quebec CityComplexe Sportif Bonair de L'Ancienne-Lorette2025 CS Rivière-des-Prairies MontrealTerrain de Cégep Marie Victorin2025 Lakeshore SC KirklandParc de Bénévoles 2015 CS Mistral de Sherbrooke SherbrookeParc Sylvie-Daigle2025 Panellinios St Michel FC MontrealParc Jerry2025 Revolution FC Saint-EustacheParc de l'école secondaire des Patriotes2012 CS Union Lanaudière Sud RepentignyParc Maurice-Richard2025
Ligue 3 Québec The following teams are members of the league for the 2026 season: Team City Stadium Joined Current teamsCS Vallée de l'Or (Blizz'Or) Val-d'OrTerrain de soccer synthétique de Val-d'Or2025CS Boréal d'Alma AlmaCEGEP d'Alma2025 Chevaliers NDMC Notre-Dame-du-Mont-CarmelSaint Joseph Seminary Field2025 CS Mondial de Rivière-du-Loup Rivière-du-LoupCegep de Riviere-de-Loup2025 CS Fury de Rimouski RimouskiComplexe sporift Guillaume-Leblanc2025 CS Haute-Saint-Charles Quebec CityComplexe sportif Phil Latulippe2025CS TitansBois-des-FilionParc Andre-Guerard2025 FS Salaberry MontréalParc Champdore2025 Notre-Dame-de-Grâce SA Notre-Dame-de-GrâceParc Martin-Luther-King2025 CS Venturi de Saguenay SaguenayTerrain naturel de l'UQAC2025Cosmos de GranbyGranbyParc Jean-Yves Phaneuf2026West Ottawa SCOttawaSir Guy Charleton Secondary School2026Soccer Pointe ClarePointe-ClaireParc Terracotta2026AS Saint Lambart Saint-LambartParc de la Voie martime2026Dollard SC Dollard-des-OrmeauxParc Dollard-des-Ormeaux2026CS Optimum de Victoriaville VictoriavilleCegep de Victoriaville2026AS MontisSaint-Bruno-de-MontarvilleChalet Du Parc Marie-Victorin2025CS Les Ambassadeurs de Saint-JérômeSaint-JérômeParc Multisport de Saint-Jérôme2025FC BoréalPrévostÉcole secondaire Augustin-Norbert-Morin2025AS BrossardBrossard, MontérégieParc Illinois2012AS St-LéonardSt Leonard, MontrealAntoine de Saint-Exupéry High School2012CS Trois-RivièresTrois-RivièresUniversité du Québec à Trois-Rivières Stadium2025CS BouchervilleBouchervilleParc Pierre-Laporte2025CS Lévis-EstLévisSchool Secondary Les Etchemins2025CS Phénix des RivièresQuebec CityComplexe de soccer Chauveau2025
Former clubs
Club City Stadium Joined Final Former teams ACP Montréal-Nord Montréal-Nord, Montreal Parc Saint-Laurent 2014 2014 FC Lanaudière Terrebonne, Lanaudière Centre de Soccer Multifonctionnel de Terrebonne 2016 2021 Ottawa Fury FC Academy Ottawa, Ontario Algonquin College 2015 2016 FC Gatineau Gatineau, Outaouais Terrain Mont-Bleu 2013 2019Dynamo de QuebecQuebec City, Capitale-NationalePolyvalente L'Ancienne-Lorette20172019CF Montréal U23 Montréal CF Montréal training grounds 2022 2024FC AnjouAnjou 2025 2025CS Lanaudière-NordJoliette, Lanaudière 2012 2025CS Braves d'AhuntsicMontréal 2025 2025
Timeline
Players who earned national team caps The following players have earned a senior national team cap while playing in LS Pro (the year of their first cap while playing in the league is listed). Players who earned caps before or after playing in LS Pro are not included, unless they also earned caps while in the league. This section also does not include youth caps (U23 or below).
PlayerCountryYearRefArmel Dagrou2014Kevin Chan-Yu-Tin2016Zohib Islam Amiri2019Lemus Christopher2022
LS Pro clubs in other competitions Season Club Competition Result 2012 No competition held 2013 2014 CS Longueuil Inter-Provincial Cup Runner-up 0–1–1 2015 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Inter-Provincial Cup Runner-up 0–1–1 2016 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Inter-Provincial Cup Champions 1–1–0 2017 No competition held 2018 A.S. Blainville Second qualifying round 2–0–2 2019 A.S. Blainville First qualifying round 0–1–1 2020 No competition held 2021 A.S. Blainville Preliminary round 0–0–1 2022 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Canadian Championship Preliminary round 0–0–1 2023 FC Laval Preliminary round 0–0–1 2024 CS Saint-Laurent Quarterfinals 0–1–2 2025 FC Laval Preliminary round 0–0–1 2026 CS Saint-Laurent Quarterfinals 1–1–1
See also
Canadian soccer league system Premier Soccer Leagues Canada
References
External links