The Ontario Premier League (formerly League1 Ontario) is a semi-professional women's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league in the Canadian soccer league system. The Ontario Premier League is part of Premier Soccer Leagues Canada, the national third tier with regional divisions, with equivalents in Alberta, British Columbia, the Prairies, and Quebec.
The women's division launched in 2015 with seven clubs and has grown to twenty clubs for the 2022 season. Beginning in 2024, the league became a three-tier league featuring promotion and relegation. In 2026, League1 Ontario rebranded as the Ontario Premier League (OPL).
History
League1 Ontario was founded as a men's semi-professional league on November 15, 2013, in an announcement by the Ontario Soccer Association (OSA).
In January 2015, L1O announced the launch of a women's division. Initially, six teams (ANB Futbol, Durham United FC, North Mississauga SC, ProStars FC, Sanjaxx Lions and Vaughan Azzurri) were to compete, but a seventh team (Woodbridge Strikers) was soon added ahead of the inaugural season. The league kicked off their first matches on May 23 with all seven teams playing matches at Tim Hortons Field in Hamilton (Ottawa Fury FC Academy also fielded a team for an exhibition match to make an even number so that every team could play). Durham United FC defeated North Mississauga SC by a score of 2–0 in the league's first official match. Durham United were the inaugural league champions., while North Mississauga won the first League Cup title.
For the 2016 season, the division grew to nine teams with the addition of four teams, while two clubs departed. The league grew to 11 teams in 2017, with three new additions and one departure. In 2018, the league grew to 13 teams and the league introduced a playoff format for the first time to declare the league champion. For the 2019 season, the league eliminated the League Cup competition.
Beginning in the 2020 season, League1 Ontario and the Première ligue de soccer du Québec had planned to hold a Final Four end-of-season tournament for their women's divisions, from August 14 to 16, pitting the top two sides from each league in an inter-provincial playoff. Also, the league had planned to introduce a Reserve Division for the women for the first time. However, due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the league cancelled the 2020 season and delayed the start of the 2021 season. Due to the delayed start caused by the pandemic, some clubs were unable to field team's in the main division. Consequently, the league also formed a short-season summer division, with teams opting to either play in the full-season Premier division, the short-season Champion, and/or the Reserve division.
On January 25, 2022, League1 Ontario announced a major restructuring of the men's and women's competitions which took effect in 2024. The league was split into three tiers (Premier, Championship, and League2) with promotion and relegation between the tiers. From this point onward, expansion clubs enter at the League2 level and have to win to earn promotion to the Championship and then Premier divisions. Also in 2024 was the return of the L1 Cup, a league cup knockout tournament which features teams from all three tiers in the L1O system.
Management In September 2019, former Canadian national team player Carmelina Moscato was announced as Commissioner of the Women's division (prior to this both the male and female divisions were led by Dino Rossi), however she departed in December 2020 to become the Director of Women's Football for the Bahamas Football Association. In March 2021, Chelsea Spencer and Julie Maheu were announced as Director and Operations Manager, respectively, for the league.
In January 2026, the league re-branded as the Ontario Premier League, in line with a move across all the leagues in Canada.
Competition format
The Ontario Premier League regular season runs from May through September using a single table format, with each team playing one match against all other teams. The top four teams compete in the league playoffs at the end of the season.
Beginning in 2019, the Ron Smale Cup was created by the supporters group of North Mississauga SC to be given to the regular season champions.
OPL Cup The OPL Cup (originally known as the L1 Cup) is a league cup tournament that features all OPL clubs. It runs concurrently with the regular season, with cup games usually taking place during mid-week. It is not a form of playoffs and all matches are separate from the regular season and are not reflected in the season standings. The 2015 cup included a group stage and a knockout stage but from 2016 to 2018 the format was a single-elimination tournament. Following a hiatus from 2019 to 2023, the OPL Cup returned in 2024, coinciding with the league's restructuring.
Yearly results
+ Trophy winners (2015–2023)SeasonTeamsRegular seasonPlayoffsL1 Cup20157 20169 201711 201813Durham United FAWoodbridge Strikers201914Oakville Blue Devils FCFC London—202013Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic20217 FC London Woodbridge Strikers 202220Vaughan AzzurriNDC Ontario—202319NDC OntarioAlliance United FC—
+ Trophy winners (2024–present)SeasonOPL1OPL2OPL3OPL Cup2024NDC OntarioBVB IA WaterlooVaughan Azzurri BFC London2025Simcoe County Rovers FCScrosoppi FCWoodbridge Strikers BNorth Toronto Nitros2026Simcoe County Rovers FCPickering FCSt. Catharines Roma WolvesGuelph United FC
Clubs Current clubs
Currently there are 26 clubs, based mainly in the Greater Toronto Area and other cities in Southern Ontario. There is one club based in Northern Ontario, Sudbury Cyclones.
Ontario Premier League 1 Team City Principal stadium First season FC London London Tricar Field 2016 Guelph United FC Guelph Centennial Bowl 2021 AFC Toronto Academy Vaughan Ontario Soccer Centre 2022 North Mississauga SC Mississauga Churchill Meadows (Mattamy Sports Park) 2015 North Toronto Nitros North York (Toronto) Downsview Park 2020 Scrosoppi FC Milton St. Francis Xavier CSS 2024 Simcoe County Rovers FC Barrie J.C. Massie Field 2022 Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan North Maple Field 2015 Waterloo United Waterloo RIM Park 2021 Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge (Vaughan) Vaughan Grove Field 2015
Ontario Premier League 2 Team City Principal stadium First season Burlington SC Burlington Corpus Christi CSS 2022 Cambridge United Cambridge Fountain Street Soccer Complex 2025 Hamilton United Hamilton Ron Joyce Stadium (McMaster University) 2018 International FC Thornhill (Vaughan) Zanchin Automotive Soccer Centre 2026 Oakville SC Oakville Bronte Athletic Park 2018/2025 Pickering FC Pickering Pickering Soccer Centre/Kinsmen Park 2015 Rush Canada Oakville River Oaks Park 2024 Tecumseh United FC Tecumseh Académie Ste. Cécile International School 2021 Unionville Milliken SC Unionville (Markham) Ontario Soccer Centre 2017 Whitby FC Whitby Telus Dome 2016
Ontario Premier League 3 In 2024, a third tier was introduced featuring new clubs as well as reserve teams. It currently consists of 25 teams, 6 independent and 29 reserve, split into three conferences and eligible to earn promotion to the higher tiers.
Team City Principal stadium First season International FC B Vaughan Dufferin Community Centre Reserve team Kingston Sentinels Kingston CaraCo Home Field 2026 Master's FA Scarborough (Toronto) L'Amoreaux Park 2021 North Toronto Nitros B North York (Toronto) Reserve team Pickering FC B Pickering Reserve team Simcoe County Rovers FC B Barrie Reserve team Unionville Milliken SC B Unionville (Markham) Bill Crothers Turf West Reserve team Whitby FC B Whitby Telus DomeReserve team Burlington SC B Burlington City View Park CentreReserve team North Mississauga SC B Mississauga Mattamy Sports ParkReserve team Oakville SC B Oakville Sheridan Trafalgar StadiumReserve team Richmond Hill SC Richmond Hill Richmond Green Park 2026 Rush Canada SA B Oakville River Oaks Park Reserve team Scrosoppi FC B Milton St. Francis Xavier CSSReserve team Sudbury Cyclones Sudbury James Jerome Sports Complex 2025 Vaughan Azzurri B Vaughan North Maple Regional ParkReserve team Woodbridge Strikers B Vaughan Vaughan Grove ParkReserve team Cambridge United B Cambridge Fountain Street Soccer Field Reserve team FC London B London City Wide Sports Park Reserve team Guelph United FC B Guelph Reserve team Hamilton United B Hamilton Reserve team Railway City FC St. Thomas 1Password Park 2025 St. Catharines Roma Wolves St. Catharines Brock University 2022 Tecumseh United FC B Tecumseh University of Windsor Stadium Reserve team Waterloo United B Waterloo Reserve team
Former clubs
Former teams Team City Stadium First season Final season Alliance United FC Markham/Scarborough Varsity Stadium 2019 2025 ANB Futbol King The Country Day School 2015 Aurora FC Aurora Stewart Burnett Park 2016 2020 DeRo United Futbol Academy Scarborough (Toronto) L'Amoreaux Park 2018 2019 Electric City FC Peterborough Fleming College 2022 2023FC OshawaOshawa Civic Stadium 2019 Kingston Clippers Kingston Tindall Field, Queen's University 2016 Ottawa South United Manotick (Ottawa) Quinn's Pointe 2019 ProStars FC Brampton 2015 2024 Sanjaxx Lions Toronto Monarch Park Stadium 2015 2017 Toronto Azzurri Blizzard Toronto Azzurri Village 2017 2018 West Ottawa SC Kanata (Ottawa) Wesley Clover Park 2017 2018
Timeline
Players who earned national team caps while in OPL The following players have earned a senior national team cap while playing in Ontario Premier League (the year of their first cap while playing in the league is listed). Players who earned caps before or after playing in OPL are not included, unless they also earned caps while in the league. This section also does not include youth caps (U23 or below).
PlayerCountryYearRefKayla Desouza2015Briana DeSouza2015Ashlee Savona2015Kira Bertrand2015Farkhunda Muhtaj2016Ashley Lawrence2016Kadeisha Buchanan2016Calaigh Copland2016Bria Williams2016Sarah Stratigakis2017Alex Lamontagne2017Kylee Bertrand2018Cloey Uddenberg2018Brianne Desa2018Rylee Traicoff2018Julia Gonsalves2018Jade Vyfhuis2018Alicia Zaban2018Nicole Kozlova2019Markela Bejleri2020Gabriella Salvadore2021Serena McDonald2021Yoana Peralta2021Kyra Dickinson2022Justine Rodrigues2022Courtney Douglas2022Savannah Singh2023Hope Windebank2024Alexis Bayley2026
See also
Canadian soccer league system Ontario Premier League United Women's Soccer
References
External links