The Canadian Premier League Final is the annual championship game of the Canadian Premier League (CPL), the top level of Canadian 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 the league's annual playoff. The finals winner is awarded the North Star Cup trophy and earns a berth in round one of the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The CPL uses a playoff tournament following the regular season to determine its annual league champion, a method common to every other major 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 the CPL Shield.
The inaugural finals were played as a two-legged tie on October 26 and November 2, 2019 in which Forge FC defeated Cavalry FC. Forge FC is the most successful team in finals history, winning additional titles in 2020, 2022, and 2023.
Format Many formats and methods of qualification were used over the first several CPL seasons.
2019 The 2019 finals were contested between the winners of the Spring and Fall seasons. The championship was contested as a two-legged tie, with each team hosting one leg at home. The winner was determined by aggregate score but if the aggregate score was tied, the team with the most away goals wins the series. A penalty shoot-out was the final tiebreaker.
2020 The 2020 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. However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season format was scrapped and replaced with a single-site tournament with a two-stage regular season. The 2020 final was contested in a single match between the two top-seeded teams from the four-team second stage.
2021–present Since the 2021 season, the CPL Final has been a single leg match between the two semifinal winners. If the 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 a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.
Results SeasonDateChampionsScoreVenueAttendanceTelevision2019Leg 1October 26Forge FC1–0Cavalry FCTim Hortons Field10,486OneSoccer, CBC SportsNovember 21–0ATCO Field5,8312020Forge FC2–0HFX Wanderers FCAlumni Field0OneSoccer, CBC Sports2021December 5Pacific FC1–0Forge FCTim Hortons Field7,488OneSoccer2022October 30Forge FC 2–0Atlético OttawaTD Place Stadium 14,992OneSoccer2023October 28Forge FC 2–1 Cavalry FCTim Hortons Field 13,925OneSoccer2024November 9Cavalry FC2–1 Forge FC ATCO Field7,052OneSoccer, CBC Sports2025November 9 Atlético Ottawa 2–1 Cavalry FCTD Place Stadium13,132OneSoccer, TSN, FS2
Records and statistics
Finals wins
ClubYears of appearanceForge FC426 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024Cavalry FC134 2019, 2023, 2024, 2025 Atlético Ottawa112 2022, 2025 Pacific FC101 2021HFX Wanderers FC011 2020
Champions records in CONCACAF competitions From 2019 until 2021, the CPL champion earned Canada's berth in the following year's CONCACAF League. Since 2023, the champion has qualified to CONCACAF Champions Cup. + CONCACAF LeagueYearClubResult2019Forge FCRound of 162020Forge FCQuarter-finals2021Forge FCSemi-finals2022Pacific FCRound of 16
+ YearClubResult2022Forge FCRound of 162024Forge FCRound one2025Cavalry FCRound one
Scorers Player Club(s) Goals Appearances Pacific FC, Forge FC 2 (2021, 2022) 4 (2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) Forge FC 2 (2019, 2022) 7 (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) Forge FC 2 (2019, 2023) 6 (2019, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) Forge FC 2 (2020, 2024) 7 (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024) Atlético Ottawa 2 (2025) 1 (2025) Forge FC, Atlético Ottawa 1 (2020) 2 (2020, 2022) Forge FC 1 (2023) 2 (2023, 2024) Cavalry FC 1 (2023) 2 (2023, 2024) Cavalry FC 1 (2024) 1 (2024) Cavalry FC 1 (2024) 5 (2019, 2023, 2024, 2025) Cavalry FC 1 (2025) 3 (2023, 2024, 2025)
Trophy Since 2023, the winning team has been presented with the North Star Cup. The trophy was designed by ÉPICO Studios, a design agency that had previously designed trophies for the Copa América Centenario, CONCACAF Champions Cup, CONCACAF Gold Cup, CONCACAF Nations League, and MLS Cup. The North Star Cup replaced the North Star Shield which had been awarded from 2019 to 2022.
Venues Name Location Hosted Years hosted Tim Hortons Field Hamilton, Ontario 3 2019, 2021, 2023 ATCO Field Foothills County, Alberta 2 2019, 2024 TD Place Stadium Ottawa, Ontario 2 2022, 2025 Alumni Field Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island 1 2020
Discipline Yellow card suspensions Rules concerning yellow 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 FC defender Bertrand Owundi for the first leg of that year's finals. However, when the format changed in 2020, the finals had appeared to have become exempt from suspensions.
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. Although the league later announced changes to yellow card suspensions and their impact on playoffs games on the eve of the 2022 playoffs, this change did not affect the rules for the final.
Red card suspensions In the final match of the 2019 Canadian Premier League fall season, Dominic Samuel of Forge FC received a red card for two cautionable offences, and was subsequently suspended for the first leg of the finals. Forge FC would suffer a similar fate in 2022 when their captain Kyle Bekker was sent off in the second leg of the 2022 CPL semifinals against Cavalry, and prevented him from participating in the final against Atlético Ottawa.
Players sent-off in the finals +List of sent off playersPlayerClubMatchMinuteType Cavalry FC (a) 2019 final (1st leg) 37' 0–0 1–0 Forge FC (h) 69' 1–0 Forge FC (h) 2021 final 90+1' 0–1 0–1
See also Canadian Championship finals MLS Cup
References