The 2023 Canadian Championship () was the sixteenth edition of the Canadian Championship, the premier men's domestic cup competition in Canadian soccer, and the 22nd competition staged to determine the winner of the Voyageurs Cup. It was a knockout tournament with all eleven professional men's soccer teams in Canada, from Major League Soccer and the Canadian Premier League, competing, along with the champions of the three semi-professional League1 Canada competitions. The tournament marked the first Voyageurs Cup campaign for FC Laval, TSS FC Rovers and Vancouver FC.
This tournament was notable for the TSS FC Rovers' performance, as they made the quarter-finals in their debut appearance by upsetting Valour FC in the first round. In doing so, they became the first non-professional team in the history of the competition to advance past a fully professional opponent.
Format The winner of the 2022 Canadian Championship, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and runner-up Toronto FC, both received byes to the quarter-finals. The remaining 12 teams began the competition from the first round in April. Qualification to the Canadian Championship for 2023 was automatic for Canadian teams within Major League Soccer and for all teams within the Canadian Premier League, Canada's tier-one national league. The 2022 champions from the three regional pro-am leagues of League1 Canada (League1 Ontario, PLSQ, and League1 British Columbia) also qualified.
The 2023 Canadian Championship determined a place in the continental 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup tournament. If the winner had already qualified for the Champions Cup via berths in the 2023 Major League Soccer, 2023 Leagues Cup or 2023 Canadian Premier League, the place would have gone to the runners-up in the final, and then to the "higher-ranked" semi-finalist based on league points totals, if the runners-up had also already qualified.
Matches in the 2023 tournament were each played as a single 90-minute match with additional time. If a match ended in a draw, no extra time was played, and the match went straight to a penalty shoot-out to decide the winner. Each team competing in the tournament could select up to 30 players to their tournament roster. If a player already nominated to a team's tournament roster was transferred to a competing team during the tournament, they were disqualified from further play in the tournament. For each match, teams could select up to 18 players for a match roster, while their starting lineup had to include at least three Canadian players. Both teams could make up to five substitutions and two concussion substitutions throughout the match at up to three stoppages of play, excluding half-time.
Teams
LeagueTeamLocationEntry roundPrevious best performanceMajor League Soccer Toronto FC Toronto, ONQuarter-finals as 2022 finalist 16th Winners (8 times; 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020) Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver, BC 15th Winners (2 times; 2015, 2022) CF Montréal Montreal, QCPreliminary round 15th Winners (4 times; 2013, 2014, 2019, 2021)Canadian Premier League Atlético Ottawa Ottawa, ON 3rd Preliminary round (2 times; 2021, 2022) Cavalry FC Foothills, AB 4th Semi-finals (2019) Forge FC Hamilton, ON 5th Runners-up (2020) HFX Wanderers FC Halifax, NS 4th Quarter-finals (3 times; 2019, 2021, 2022) Pacific FC Langford, BC 4th Semi-finals (2021) Valour FC Winnipeg, MB 4th Quarter-finals (2021) Vancouver FC Langley, BC 1st — York United FC Toronto, ON 4th Semi-finals (2022)League1 Canada(division champions) FC Laval Laval, QC 1st — TSS FC Rovers Burnaby, BC 1st — Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan, ON 2nd First qualifying round (2019)
Draw On January 17, 2023, Canada Soccer announced that the draw for the championship would be held on January 31 at 8:00 pm ET. The draw details and pots were announced on January 24. Due to the early start of the tournament, only 5 of 12 teams were able to host to host a match in the first round. Teams were assigned into pots based on geography (east or west) and hosting ability.
Prior to the commencement of the draw, one club from Pot B1 was moved into Pot A1, then one club from Pot B2 was moved to B1, and then both clubs from Pot C were moved to Pot B2, resulting in an even distribution of three teams in each of the first round pots. Atlético Ottawa and the HFX Wanderers were placed in Pot B2 prior to the draw as the eastern teams that did not commit to hosting a match in the first round. The Wanderers were eventually drawn from Pot A1 as the designated home team for their first round match against Ottawa, and Canada Soccer determined a neutral venue for the match.
Pot A1 Pot A2 Pot B1 Pot B2 Pot C Pot D Final positions West (home) West (away) East (home) East (away) Byes
: Could not host a Preliminary Round match.
Schedule Round Match dates Preliminary round April 18–20 Quarter-finals May 9–10 Semi-finals May 24 Final June 7
Bracket
Preliminary round Summary
Matches
Quarter-finals Summary
Matches
Semi-finals Summary
Matches
Final
Top goalscorers
RankPlayerTeamGoalsBy round 1 Sunusi IbrahimCF Montréal31112 Simon BecherVancouver Whitecaps FC 211 Julian GresselVancouver Whitecaps FC11 Noah JensenForge FC2 Matteo PolisiTSS FC Rovers26 Ali AhmedVancouver Whitecaps FC11 Molham BabouliYork United FC1 Ollie BassettAtlético Ottawa1 Kyle BekkerForge FC1 Myer BevanCavalry FC1 Zachary Brault-GuillardCF Montréal1 Diego EspejoAtlético Ottawa1 Massimo FerrinHFX Wanderers FC1 Ryan GauldVancouver Whitecaps FC1 Josh HeardPacific FC1 Lorenzo InsigneToronto FC1 Levonte JohnsonVancouver Whitecaps FC1 Ariel LassiterCF Montréal1 Ivan MejiaTSS FC Rovers1 Anthony NovakValour FC1 Chinonso OfforCF Montréal1 Easton OngaroPacific FC1 Woobens PaciusForge FC1 Sean ReaCF Montréal1 Adonijah ReidPacific FC1 Austin RicciYork United FC1 Malcolm ShawAtlético Ottawa1 Maxim TissotAtlético Ottawa1 Brian WhiteVancouver Whitecaps FC1
Own goals 1 own goal - Elijah Adekugbe
Awards George Gross Memorial Trophy: Julian Gressel (Vancouver Whitecaps FC) Best Young Canadian Player Award: Ali Ahmed (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)
Broadcasting rights CountryBroadcasterRef.CanadaOneSoccerUnited StatesFox Sports
Notes
References
External links Canadian Championship at Canada Soccer