Canadian Soccer League

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The name Canadian Soccer League has been used by two different professional sports leagues.


Contents

Canadian Soccer League
Canadian Soccer League
Sport Football (soccer)
Founded 1926
No. of teams 13
Country Flag of Canada Canada
Current champions Italia Shooters

The current Canadian Soccer League (CSL) is Canada's top professional soccer league, featuring teams based in Ontario and Quebec. It replaced the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL), and was officially re-branded on May 17, 2006. The CPSL itself was launched in 1997 and played their first season in 1998. The founding eight teams included teams from the old Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL), which had a history going back to 1922 as the National Soccer League (NSL).

The CSL season runs from May through to October with five teams in a National Division and five teams in the International Division, which debuted in 2006. The climax of the season is the CSL Championship Final, which takes place in October after an 8-team playoffs competition.

The league also operates the Open Canada Cup, a knockout competition starting with preliminary rounds in May and concluding with a final in September. 2006 saw the creation of an international division, to complement the national division, while recognizing the unique nature of Toronto demographics.

The CSL is the top level soccer league within Canada, however three Canadian clubs play in higher leagues based in the United States – Toronto FC in Major League Soccer, Montreal Impact and Vancouver Whitecaps in the USL First Division.

The league is currently managed by former Hamilton Bulldogs (AHL) president, Cary Kaplan (CSL Commissioner), and veteran soccer executive Stan Adamson (Exeuctive Director).

2007 will see the debut of the Trois-Rivières Attak, replacing the existing Laval Dynamites franchise. The new team will be a junior/reserve side for the Montreal Impact USL First Division team. 2008 wil also see the debut of both the FC Quebec City franchise and an additional club in the international division: The African Icons. As well, the Brampton franchise is scheduled to resume play in 2008.

Season Champions Score Runners-up Regular Season Champions Regular Season Runners-up
1998 St. Catharines Wolves 2-2 (pk 4-2) Toronto Olympians Toronto Olympians St. Catharines Wolves
1999 Toronto Olympians 2-0 Toronto Croatia Toronto Olympians Toronto Croatia
2000 Toronto Croatia 2-1 Toronto Olympians Toronto Olympians St. Catharines Wolves
2001 St. Catharines Wolves 1-0 Toronto Supra Ottawa Wizards Toronto Olympians
2002 Ottawa Wizards 2-0 North York Astros Ottawa Wizards Montreal Dynamites
2003 Brampton Hitmen 1-0 Vaughan Sun Devils Ottawa Wizards Hamilton Thunder
2004 Toronto Croatia 4-0 Vaughan Shooters Toronto Supra Metro Lions
2005 Oakville Blue Devils 2-1 Vaughan Shooters Vaughan Shooters Toronto Croatia
2006 Italia Shooters 1-0 Serbian White Eagles Serbian White Eagles Toronto Croatia

Rank
(by
Points)		 Club
[1]		 Seasons Games Wins Draws Losses For Against GD Points PPG Rank
(by
PPG)		 Champions Runners-Up
1 Toronto Croatia 9 (1998-) 165 84 32 49 326 241 +85 284 1.721 4 3
2 Italia Shooters 9 (1998-) 165 74 38 53 310 248 +62 260 1.576 8 1
3 St. Catharines Wolves 9 (1998-) 165 65 37 63 260 278 -18 232 1.406 10 2
4 Durham Storm 8 (1998-2005) 143 69 15 59 319 266 +53 222 1.552 9 3 1
5 Toronto Supra Portuguese 6 (2001-) 123 54 34 35 248 184 +64 196 1.593 7 1
6 Laval Dynamites 5 (2001-2003, 2005-) 103 50 19 34 196 160 +36 169 1.641 6 1
7 Oakville Blue Devils 5 (2002-) 101 48 24 29 200 136 +64 168 1.663 5 1
8 Brampton Stallions 6 (2001-) 123 43 31 49 191 205 -14 160 1.301 12
9 North York Astros 9 (1998-) 165 40 34 91 220 354 -134 154 0.933 14
10 Ottawa Wizards 3 (2001-2003) 59 44 10 5 159 39 +120 142 2.407 2 3
11 London City 9 (1998-) 165 34 36 95 224 409 -185 138 0.836 16
12 Hamilton Thunder 4 (2002-2005) 79 38 22 19 147 88 +59 136 1.722 3 1
13 Windsor Border Stars 3 (2004-) 64 25 14 25 108 97 +11 89 1.391 11
14 York Region Shooters 5 (1998-2002) 83 24 14 45 125 199 -74 86 1.036 13
15 Durham Flames 5 (1999-2003) 87 20 14 53 136 231 -95 74 0.850 15
16 Serbian White Eagles 1 (2006-) 22 17 4 1 66 13 +53 55 2.500 1 1
17 Mississauga Eagles P.S.C. 1 (1998) 14 3 1 10 29 44 -15 10 0.714 17
18 Caribbean Selects 1 (2006-) 22 1 3 18 15 87 -72 4 0.182 18
19 Trois-Rivières Attak 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A

Rank
(by
Points)		 Club
[2]		 Playoffs
Reached
vs
Seasons
Played		 Games Wins Draws Losses For Against GD Points PPG Rank
(by
Champions,
Runners-Up,
PPG)		 Champions Runners-Up
1 Toronto Croatia 7/9 15 10 0 5 27 15 +12 30 2.000 1 2 1
2 Italia Shooters 6/9 16 9 1 6 30 26 +4 28 1.750 3 1 3
3 Durham Storm 5/9 11 7 1 3 27 16 +11 22 2.000 4 1 2
4 St. Catharines Wolves 3/8 7 4 1 2 12 8 +4 13 1.857 2 2
5 Oakville Blue Devils 4/5 7 4 0 3 14 12 +2 12 1.714 5 1
6 Brampton Stallions 3/6 5 2 1 2 5 7 -2 7 1.400 7 1
7 Serbian White Eagles 1/1 3 2 0 1 9 2 +7 6 2.000 8 1
8 Ottawa Wizards 3/3 4 2 0 2 5 6 -1 6 1.500 6 1
9 North York Astros 3/9 6 2 0 4 5 10 -4 6 1.000 9 1
10 Toronto Supra Portuguese 4/6 5 1 0 4 7 14 -7 3 0.600 10 1
11 Windsor Border Stars 3/3 4 1 0 3 5 15 -10 3 0.750 11
12 London City 2/9 3 0 2 1 3 6 -3 2 0.667 12
13 Hamilton Thunder 4/4 4 0 0 4 2 7 -5 0 0.000 13
14 Laval Dynamites 4/5 4 0 0 4 2 9 -7 0 0.000 14

The original Canadian Soccer League was a professional soccer league in Canada that existed between 1987 and 1992 and included teams from in all parts of the country. Three of its teams, Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver, went on to join the APSL in 1993.

The CSL was formed after Canada was a surprise qualifier for the 1986 FIFA World Cup with a club featuring players brought together from a variety of leagues all over the globe.

Even though the Canadian national team had very little opportunity to play together prior to qualifying through the 1985 CONCACAF qualifying rounds, they advanced to the World Cup in November of 1985 with a win over Honduras on a rainy day in St. John's, Newfoundland. The goal was scored by a Victoria-based plumber named George Pakos who played semi-pro soccer in British Columbia.

Given the desire to "bring our players home" as founding CSL commissioner Dale Barnes was quoted, the CSL was established in the summer of 1986 after the World Cup. The CSL gained a big leap in credibility with a television agreement with The Sports Network (TSN) to broadcast a "CSL Game of the Week" on Sunday nights nationwide on the then fledgling cable network. The broadcasts featured Vic Rauter on play-by-play and Graham Leggat as analyst. The league also secured sponsorship packages with Air Canada, Foster's Lager, Gatorade and Hyundai.

Teams were stocked with players throughout their local regions and free agents who decided to ply their trade in other Canadian cities. Many teams featured former NASL stars.

The Canadian Soccer League kicked off its inaugural season when the Ottawa National Capital Pioneers hosted the CSL's first game on May 26, 1987. The game was played in Aylmer, Quebec in a steady drizzle in front of 2,500 fans. The Pioneers played to a 0-0 draw with the visiting Hamilton Steelers.

Season Champions Score Runners-up
1987 Calgary Kickers 2-1 Hamilton Steelers
1988 Vancouver 86ers 4-1 Hamilton Steelers
1989 Vancouver 86ers 3-2 Hamilton Steelers
1990 Vancouver 86ers 6-1 Hamilton Steelers
1991 Vancouver 86ers 5-3 Toronto Blizzard
1992 Winnipeg Fury 3-1 Vancouver 86ers

Note: 1992 was a two-game series. All others were a single game.


Canadian Soccer League
National Division International Division
Border Stars | Brampton Stallions | Laval Dynamites | London City | North York Astros | Oakville Blue Devils | St. Catharines Wolves Caribbean Selects | Italia Shooters | Serbian White Eagles | Toronto Croatia | Toronto Supra Portuguese
Rogers Cup | Open Canada Cup
Soccer in Canada
v • d • e
National Association National Team: M, W List of coaches List of clubs
Hall of Fame SSS List of venues Pyramid
Competitions in Canadian Soccer
MLS USL First Division USL Second Division PDL Super-20
CSL Rogers Cup PCSL CMISL
Open Cup W-League C-NA ST Y-League

  1. ^ The latest names are used for clubs who had name changes, e.g. Italia Shooters was formerly known as Vaughan Shooters.
  2. ^ The latest names are used for clubs who had name changes, e.g. Italia Shooters was formerly known as Vaughan Shooters.
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