2025 Canadian Premier League season

Canadian Premier League
Season2025
DatesApril 5 – October 18 (regular season)
October 22 – November 9 (playoffs)
Matches played51
Goals scored146 (2.86 per match)
Top goalscorerSamuel Salter
(9 goals)
Biggest home winCavalry 4–0 Pacific
(May 17)
Cavalry 4–0 Valour
(May 25)
Biggest away winValour 0–5 Forge
(June 22)
Highest scoringPacific 4–4 Vancouver
(June 27)
Longest winning run5 matches
Atlético Ottawa
(April 13 – May 10)
Longest unbeaten run13 matches
Forge
(April 5 – present)
Longest winless run8 matches
Vancouver
(May 17 – present)
Longest losing run3 matches
Valour
(April 24 – May 10)
York United
(May 2 – May 16)
Vancouver
(June 4 – June 21)
Pacific
(June 7 – June 22)
Valour
(June 15 – present)
Highest attendance17,971
Forge 2–2 Atlético Ottawa
(May 13)
Lowest attendance1,278
Vancouver 1–4 Atlético Ottawa
(April 13)
Total attendance206,890
Average attendance4,222
← 2024
2026 →
All statistics correct as of July 1, 2025.

The 2025 Canadian Premier League season is the seventh season of the Canadian Premier League, the top level of Canadian soccer. Cavalry FC are the defending champions, having defeated Forge FC in the 2024 final.[1]

Rule changes

The CPL's total player compensation budget was increased by $69,500 to a total of $1,182,000 (or $1,282,000 for teams maximizing the U-21 salary incentive).[2][3] Beginning in 2025, players who have three seasons of CPL experience or have lived in Canada for at least three years are considered domestic players for roster purposes.[2]

Teams

Location of the 2025 Canadian Premier League teams

The same eight teams that competed in the 2024 season are competing in the 2025 season, though this is expected to be the last season with eight teams, with expansion anticipated for 2026.[4]

Club Results Location Stadium Capacity
Atlético Ottawa details Ottawa, Ontario TD Place Stadium 24,000
Cavalry FC details Foothills County, Alberta ATCO Field 6,000
Forge FC details Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton Stadium 23,218
HFX Wanderers FC details Halifax, Nova Scotia Wanderers Grounds 6,500
Pacific FC details Langford, British Columbia Starlight Stadium 6,000
Valour FC details Winnipeg, Manitoba Princess Auto Stadium 32,343
Vancouver FC details Langley, British Columbia Willoughby Community Park 6,560
York United FC details Toronto, Ontario York Lions Stadium 4,000

Coaching changes

Team Outgoing coach Manner of departure Date of vacancy Position in table Incoming coach Date of appointment
York United Benjamín Mora[5] End of contract November 10, 2024 Pre-season Mauro Eustáquio[6] November 21, 2024
Atlético Ottawa Carlos González[7] Mutual consent November 21, 2024 Diego Mejía[8] January 15, 2025

Regular season

Format

The regular season is played as a quadruple round-robin, with each team playing the other seven teams twice at home and twice away between April and October. The regular season winner (the team ranked first after all 28 games) will qualify for the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup and the top five teams will qualify for the playoffs; the top two will get byes to the first semifinal. If the regular season winner also wins the 2025 CPL Final, then the second-highest seeded regular season team will qualify for the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup.[9]

Standings

Pos Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts Playoff qualification
1 Atlético Ottawa 13 8 4 1 30 15 +15 28 First semifinal and 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup
2 Forge 13 7 6 0 23 10 +13 27 First semifinal
3 HFX Wanderers 13 7 3 3 18 13 +5 24 Quarterfinal
4 Cavalry 12 6 3 3 20 11 +9 21 Play-in round
5 York United 13 4 3 6 19 18 +1 15
6 Pacific 13 2 3 8 12 24 −12 9
7 Valour 12 2 2 8 10 29 −19 8
8 Vancouver 13 1 4 8 14 26 −12 7
Updated to match(es) played on July 5, 2025. Source: CanPL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Total number of wins; 3) Head-to-head; 4) Goal differential; 5) Goals for; 6) Away goals differential; 7) Away goals for; 8) Home goals differential; 9) Home goals for; 10) Fewest disciplinary points (Yellow cards count for one point and red cards [direct or accumulation of two yellow cards] count as three points); 11) Most under-21 domestic player minutes; 12) Coin toss (tie between two (2) clubs) or drawing of lots (tie between three (3) or more clubs).[10]

Results

Home \ Away ATO CAV FOR HFX PAC VAL VFC YRK
Atlético Ottawa Aug 23 Jul 12 2–2 3–1 5–2 Aug 30 3–2
Sep 27 Sep 21 Jul 18 Sep 6 3–0 Oct 12 Aug 3
Cavalry 1–3 Aug 30 Aug 9 4–0 4–0 1–1 2–1
0–2 Oct 10 Sep 13 1–0 Sep 20 Aug 17 Jul 26
Forge 2–2 1–0 2–1 Jul 18 1–1 2–1 2–2
Aug 17 1–1 Sep 6 Sep 27 Aug 2 Oct 4 Oct 18
HFX Wanderers 2–0 0–3 0–0 3–1 3–1 1–0 Sep 1
Oct 18 1–1 Jul 25 Sep 20 Aug 22 Aug 4 Oct 4
Pacific 0–1 Aug 4 0–2 Jul 12 2–0 4–4 2–1
Jul 26 Oct 5 0–1 Aug 16 Oct 18 Sep 13 1–3
Valour Aug 10 Jul 20 0–5 0–1 0–0 1–3 2–1
Oct 5 Jul 29 Sep 12 Oct 11 Aug 31 3–1 Aug 17
Vancouver 1–4 Jul 13 0–2 0–2 1–1 Jul 25 0–2
2–2 Oct 18 Aug 22 Sep 28 Aug 10 Sep 5 Sep 21
York United 0–0 1–2 2–2 1–2 Aug 24 Jul 13 1–0
Sep 14 Sep 5 Aug 9 2–0 Oct 9 Sep 28 Jul 19
Updated to match(es) played on July 5, 2025. Source: CanPL.ca
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.

Positions by matchweek

Team ╲ Week12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728
Atlético Ottawa52111112111
Cavalry66675433323
Forge31333344442
HFX Wanderers43222221234
Pacific25557555666
Valour87788878877
Vancouver78864667788
York United14446786555
Updated to match(es) played on June 8, 2025. Source: CanPL As It Stands articles, CanPL standings
  = First semifinal;   = Quarterfinal;   = Play-in round

Playoffs

The 2025 season will use the same Page playoff system as the past two seasons. The team who finishes first in the regular season table will play the team who finishes second, with the winner hosting the final. The fourth- and fifth-placed teams will play in a play-in round, and the winner will then play the third-placed team in a quarterfinal. The quarterfinal winner will then play the loser of the game between the first- and second-placed teams for the other spot in the final.[10]

In playoffs, if the scores are equal at the end of normal time, extra time will be played for two periods of 15 minutes each. If still tied, the winner will be decided by a penalty shoot-out.[10]

The winner of the final will qualify for the 2026 CONCACAF Champions Cup.

Bracket

Play-in roundFirst semifinalSecond semifinalFinal
October 25 or 26November 8 or 9
1
2November 1 or 2
Quarterfinal
October 25 or 26
October 223
4 
5 

Statistical leaders

See also: Canadian Premier League records and statistics § Career player records
As of July 5, 2025

Top scorers

Rank Player Club Goals[11]
1 Samuel Salter Atlético Ottawa 9
2 Julian Altobelli York United 7
Brian Wright Forge
4 Tiago Coimbra HFX Wanderers 6
5 Ali Musse Cavalry 5
David Rodríguez Atlético Ottawa
Tobias Warschewski Cavalry
8 Sergio Camargo Cavalry 4
Aly Ndom Pacific
Kévin dos Santos Atlético Ottawa
Ballou Tabla Atlético Ottawa

Hat-tricks

Player For Against Result Date Ref
Samuel Salter4 Atlético Ottawa Valour 5–2 (H) May 10 [12]
Brian Wright Forge Valour 5–0 (A) June 22 [13]

Top assists

Rank Player Club Assists[14]
1 David Rodríguez Atlético Ottawa 5
2 Manny Aparicio Atlético Ottawa 3
Elage Bah Vancouver
Sergio Camargo Cavalry
Juan Castro Atlético Ottawa
Hoce Massunda Forge
Daniel Nimick Forge
Giorgio Probo HFX Wanderers
Samuel Salter Atlético Ottawa
Tobias Warschewski Cavalry

Clean sheets

Rank Player Club Clean sheets[15]
1 Jassem Koleilat Forge 6
2 Rayane Yesli HFX Wanderers 5
3 Marco Carducci Cavalry 4
Nathan Ingham Atlético Ottawa
5 Max Anchor Pacific 2
Ivan Pavela York United
Diego Urtiaga York United

Attendance

As of July 2, 2025
Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Forge FC 50,597 17,971 4,671 8,433 +59.7%†
2 HFX Wanderers 36,861 6,817 5,044 6,144 +1.4%†
3 Valour FC 26,562 11,390 1,591 4,427 +42.5%†
4 Atlético Ottawa 20,844 5,286 3,337 4,169 −24.0%†
5 Cavalry FC 28,437 5,114 3,669 4,062 −3.8%†
6 Pacific FC 19,659 3,420 2,281 2,808 −7.7%†
7 York United 15,142 7,218 1,342 2,524 +68.4%†
8 Vancouver FC 8,788 1,478 1,278 1,465 −53.7%†
League total 206,890 17,971 1,278 4,222 +6.1%†

Source: CanPL


Awards

Team of the Week

The Gatorade Team of the Week are selected by the CPL's Kristian Jack and OneSoccer's Oliver Platt.

Team of the Week
Week Goalkeeper Defenders Midfielders Forwards Ref
1
[16]
2
[17]
3
[18]
4
[19]
5
[20]
6
[21]
7
[22]
8
[23]
9
[24]
10
[25]
11
[26]
12
[27]

Player transfers

According to FIFA, the Canadian Soccer Association's (CSA's) 2025 transfer windows for men's professional teams are open from January 31 to April 23 and from July 24 to August 21.[28]

CPL–U Sports Draft

The 2025 CPL–U Sports Draft took place on December 5, 2024.[29]

Foreign players

Main article: List of foreign CPL players

Canadian Premier League teams can sign a maximum of seven international players, out of which only five can be in the starting line-up for each match.[3]

The following international players were signed for the 2025 season. To be considered domestic for CPL purposes, players must be Canadian citizens, permanent residents, refugees, or (new for 2025) foreign players with at least three seasons spent in the league. Note that these players may still represent other countries in international competitions.[30][31]

Club Player 1 Player 2 Player 3 Player 4 Player 5 Player 6 Player 7 Inactive players[A] Former players
Atlético Ottawa Alberto Zapater Juan Castro David Rodríguez Monty Patterson Iker Moreno Kevin Ortega
Cavalry Nicolas Wähling Levi Laing Jesse Daley
Forge Béni Badibanga Nana Opoku Ampomah Rezart Rama Marko Jevremović
HFX Wanderers Lorenzo Callegari Vitor Dias Giorgio Probo Yohan Baï Jason Bahamboula
Pacific Aly Ndom Daniel de Pauli Lukas Browning Lagerfeldt Pedro Machado Emanuel Montejano Juan Quintana
Valour Kian Williams Diogo Ressurreição Xavier Venâncio Bruno Figueiredo
Vancouver José Navarro Allan Enyou Juan Batista Michel Cavalcante Abdoulaye Ouattara Pathe Ndiaya Nicolás Mezquida
York United Oswaldo León Orlando Botello Diego Urtiaga Bryan Rosa

Players in italic denote players who were new to their respective clubs for the 2025 season, sorted chronologically by their announcement. Players in bold indicate players who have represented their national teams at the senior level.

Notes

  1. ^ Players who remain under contract but have suffered season-ending injury and may not return to play. They do not count towards roster or cap restrictions and as such can be replaced by another foreign player.

References

  1. ^ Hall, Vicki (November 9, 2024). "Calgary's Cavalry FC dethrones Hamilton's Forge FC for 1st-ever Canadian Premier League title". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on November 11, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
  2. ^ a b "Canadian Premier League announces updates to roster rules & regulations, competitions guidelines ahead of 2025 season". Canadian Premier League. April 1, 2025. Retrieved April 2, 2025.
  3. ^ a b Jacques, John (March 13, 2024). "Canadian Premier League Updates Roster Rules For 2024". Northern Tribune. Retrieved March 13, 2024.
  4. ^ Gangué-Ruzic, Alexandre (November 8, 2024). "'There's not a better time to be invested in the CPL': Commissioner Mark Noonan hints at expansion plans". OneSoccer. Archived from the original on November 12, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
  5. ^ Davidson, Neil (November 10, 2024). "CPL coach of the year finalist Benjamin Mora parts ways with York United FC". CBC Sports. The Canadian Press. Archived from the original on November 12, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
  6. ^ Charlie O'Connor-Clarke (November 21, 2024). "Mauro Eustáquio named York United FC head coach; first former CPL player to earn top coaching job". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
  7. ^ "Atlético Ottawa announces departure of Head Coach Carlos González". Atlético Ottawa. November 21, 2024. Retrieved November 21, 2024.
  8. ^ "Atlético Ottawa's new head coach is Mexico's Diego Mejía". CBC News. January 15, 2025. Retrieved January 15, 2025.
  9. ^ "Canadian Premier League announces 2025 regular season schedule presented by WestJet". Canadian Premier League. February 18, 2025.
  10. ^ a b c "2025 CPL Competition Guidelines". Canadian Premier League. April 1, 2025. Archived from the original on April 2, 2025. Retrieved April 2, 2025.
  11. ^ "2025 CPL players statistics". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  12. ^ "Atlético Ottawa vs. Valour - 10 May 2025". Soccerway. Retrieved May 10, 2025.
  13. ^ "Forge vs. Valour - 22 June 2025". Soccerway. Retrieved June 22, 2025.
  14. ^ "2025 CPL players statistics - team play". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  15. ^ "2025 CPL goalkeepers statistics". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved April 5, 2025.
  16. ^ "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 1)". Canadian Premier League. April 7, 2025. Retrieved April 8, 2025.
  17. ^ "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 2)". Canadian Premier League. April 14, 2025. Retrieved April 15, 2025.
  18. ^ "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 3)". Canadian Premier League. April 21, 2025. Retrieved April 22, 2025.
  19. ^ CPL (April 28, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 4)". CPL. Retrieved April 29, 2025.
  20. ^ CPL (May 5, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 5)". CPL. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
  21. ^ CPL (May 12, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 6)". CPL. Retrieved May 15, 2025.
  22. ^ CPL (May 19, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 7)". CPL. Retrieved May 20, 2025.
  23. ^ CPL (May 26, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 8)". CPL. Retrieved May 31, 2025.
  24. ^ CPL (June 2, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 9)". CPL. Retrieved June 14, 2025.
  25. ^ CPL (June 9, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 10)". CPL. Retrieved June 14, 2025.
  26. ^ CPL (June 16, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 11)". CPL. Retrieved June 21, 2025.
  27. ^ CPL (June 16, 2025). "Gatorade Team of the Week 2025 (Week 12)". CPL. Retrieved June 26, 2025.
  28. ^ "Transfer system". Inside FIFA. FIFA. January 15, 2025. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
  29. ^ "Canadian Premier League Announces 2025 CPL-U Sports Draft Presented By Degree" (Press release). U Sports. October 18, 2024. Archived from the original on November 12, 2024. Retrieved November 12, 2024.
  30. ^ "CPL Off-Season Roster Tracker: Who's in and who's out for 2025?". Canadian Premier League. December 9, 2024. Retrieved January 16, 2025.
  31. ^ "2025 CPL Competition Guidelines". Canadian Premier League. April 1, 2025. Retrieved April 1, 2025.
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