League1 Ontario

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This article is about the men's division. For the women's division, see League1 Ontario (women).
League1 Ontario
Men's Division
File:League1 Ontario 2021 logo.png
Country Canada
Province Ontario
Confederation CONCACAF
Founded November 15, 2013; 10 years ago (2013-11-15)
First season 2014
Number of teams 22
Level on pyramid 3
Domestic cup(s) Canadian Championship
League cup(s) L1 Cup (2024)
Current champions Vaughan Azzurri
(2022)
Most championships Vaughan Azzurri
(3 titles)
Most L1 Cups Vaughan Azzurri (3)
TV partners OneSoccer (future)[when?]
Website League website
2023 League1 Ontario season

League1 Ontario (L1O or L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada.[1] 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.[2] Beginning in 2024, the league will become a three-tier league featuring promotion and relegation.[3]

In the Canadian soccer league system, the men's division is behind the Canadian Premier League (CPL). It is part of League1 Canada, the national third tier with regional division, along with Ligue1 Québec and League1 British Columbia. The league champion qualifies for the Canadian Championship, the domestic cup championship, for the following season. Dino Rossi serves as the commissioner of the league.[4][5]

History

League1 Ontario was founded on November 15, 2013, in an announcement by the Ontario Soccer Association (OSA) that it would pilot the semi-professional league in 2014 and 2015 as a key pillar of long-term player development in Canada. The league would be administered by DG Sports, who also operate the province's amateur Ontario Soccer League, with Dino Rossi serving as commissioner. OSA President Ron Smale stated that the league's core group of players are to consist of U-23s, with League1 complementing the newly formed Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) elite youth league as a pathway for professional player development.[6]

On April 8, 2014, the OSA revealed its plans for the inaugural season of League1 which would begin during the final weekend in May 2014. The season featured 10 teams, chosen through a standards-based application process, which were: ANB Futbol, Durham Power FC, Internacional de Toronto, Kingston Cataraqui Clippers, Master's FA, Sigma FC, Toronto FC Academy, Vaughan Azzurri, Windsor Stars and Woodbridge Strikers.[7] The league champion would face the champion of the Première ligue de soccer du Québec in the Inter-Provincial Cup to determine the national Division III champion.[8]

Dylan Sacramento of Toronto FC Academy scored the first ever goal in the league with a 10th-minute strike against Vaughan Azzurri.[9] In the same game, Mateo Restrepo received the league's first red card.[9] On July 22, 2014, the league and the Ontario Soccer Association announced the termination of Internacional de Toronto's license agreement due to "failure to comply with agreed-upon league standards,"[10][11] with league matches rescheduled for the season to accommodate the change. Toronto FC Academy were crowned the inaugural league champions on October 4, 2014, after defeating the Cataraqui Clippers 3–1 to secure the top place in the regular season standings.[12][13] Vaughan Azzurri and Sigma FC contested the inaugural League1 Cup on October 19, 2014, at BMO Field, with the Azzurri winning the single-game cup final 2–1 to be crowned champions.[14][15]

As the number of teams in the league continued to grow through expansion, the league introduced a two-conference format with the winner of each conference facing off in a championship match.[16] After the 2016 season, the Inter-Provincial Cup was cancelled, with the winners of League1 Ontario and the PLSQ instead advancing to the national Canadian Championship the following season, beginning in 2018.[17]

In 2018, the league returned to a single division, introducing playoffs for the top finishers of the league to decide the league champion.[18] The League Cup tournament was eliminated the following season.[19]

On November 14, 2018, the Canadian Premier League announced its purchase of League1 Ontario. According to L1O commissioner Dino Rossi, L1O would serve as "CPL's official development league."[20]

Due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the league cancelled the 2020 season[21][22] and delayed the start of the 2021 season.[23]

On January 25, 2022, League1 Ontario announced a major restructuring of the men's and women's competitions to commence in 2024.[24] The league will be split into three tiers (Premier, Championship, and League2) with promotion and relegation between the tiers.[25] Future expansion clubs will enter at the League2 level and will have to win to earn promotion to the Championship and then Premier divisions. Also in 2024 will be the return of the L1 Cup, a league cup knockout tournament which will feature teams from all three tiers in the L1O system.[25]

Competition format

The League1 Ontario regular season runs from May through October using a single table format, with each team playing one match against all other teams. The top eight teams compete in the league playoffs at the end of the season.[26] Since 2017, the league champion has qualified for the Canadian Championship.

Beginning in 2019, the Supporters Trophy was created by the Rogue Street Elite supporter group of North Mississauga SC to be given to the regular season champions.[27]

For the 2024 season, the League will be split into two divisions: the L1O Premier League and the L1O Championship, with teams being promoted and relegated between them at the end of each season.[28] The reserve league will also be renamed League2 Ontario.

L1 Cup

The L1 Cup is a league cup tournament that features all L1O clubs.[29] It runs concurrently with the regular season, with cup games usually taking place 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 2014 and 2015 cups 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,[19] the L1 Cup will return in 2024 to coincide with the league's restructuring.[25]

Yearly results

L1O Men's trophy winners
Season Teams Regular season Play-offs L1 Cup
2014 9[note 1] Toronto FC Academy — Vaughan Azzurri
2015 12 Oakville Blue Devils — Woodbridge Strikers
2016 16 Vaughan Azzurri (E)
FC London (W)		 Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri
2017 16 Woodbridge Strikers (E)
Oakville Blue Devils (W)		 Oakville Blue Devils Woodbridge Strikers
2018 17 FC London Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri
2019 16 Oakville Blue Devils Master's Futbol —
2020 17 Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2021 15[note 2] Vaughan Azzurri (E)
Guelph United (W)		 Guelph United —
2022 22 Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri —
  1. ↑ Originally, 10 clubs were in the league, but Internacional de Toronto was removed from the league mid-season.
  2. ↑ Originally, 21 clubs were set to participate, but some clubs opted out of the main division due to scheduling impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some clubs participated in a separate short-season division.

Clubs

Current clubs

Of the 22 current clubs, 3 are based in Toronto, 11 are based elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area, and the rest are based in other cities in Southern Ontario. There are no clubs based in Northern Ontario.[note 1]

Men's division
Team City Principal stadium First season
Alliance United FC Scarborough (Toronto) Varsity Stadium / Birchmount Stadium 2018
Blue Devils FC[note 2] Oakville Sheridan College Trafalgar 2015
Burlington SC Burlington Corpus Christi CSS 2022
BVB IA Waterloo[note 3] Waterloo RIM Park 2021
Darby FC Whitby Whitby Soccer Centre 2018
Electric City FC Peterborough Fleming College Stadium 2022
Guelph United F.C. Guelph Centennial Bowl 2021
Hamilton United Hamilton Ron Joyce Stadium, McMaster University 2020 [note 4]
FC London London Tricar Field 2016
Master's Futbol Scarborough (Toronto) L'Amoreaux Park 2014
North Mississauga SC Mississauga Churchill Meadows (Mattamy Sports Park) 2016
North Toronto Nitros North York (Toronto) Downsview Turf 2016 [note 5]
ProStars FC Brampton Victoria Park Stadium 2015
Scrosoppi FC Milton / Vaughan Ontario Soccer Centre (Vaughan) 2021
Sigma FC Mississauga Paramount Fine Foods Centre / Tim Hortons Field 2014
Simcoe County Rovers FC Barrie J.C Massie Field, Georgian College 2022
St. Catharines Roma Wolves St. Catharines Roma Park – Under Armour Field 2021
Unionville Milliken SC Unionville (Markham) Ontario Soccer Centre 2018
Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan North Maple Regional Park 2014
Windsor City FC[note 6] Windsor St. Clair College 2014
Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge (Vaughan) Vaughan Grove 2014
Clubs on hiatus
Pickering FC[note 7] Pickering Pickering Soccer Centre/Kinsmen Park 2014 [note 8]
  1. ↑ Thunder Bay Chill, Northern Ontario's only club at a comparable level to L1O, plays in USL League Two.
  2. ↑ Blue Devils FC was known as Oakville Blue Devils FC until the 2021 season
  3. ↑ BVB IA Waterloo was known as Waterloo United in 2021
  4. ↑ The 2020 season was cancelled delaying their debut to the following year
  5. ↑ North Toronto Nitros was on hiatus in 2018 & 2019, and returned in 2020[30]
  6. ↑ Windsor City FC was known as Windsor Stars from 2014 to 2016 and known as Windsor TFC from 2017 to 2022
  7. ↑ Pickering FC was known as Durham United FC/FA until the end of 2019
  8. ↑ Durham United was on hiatus in 2018 & returned in 2019[31] Pickeing FC went on hiatus for 2023.[32]

Former clubs

Former teams
Team City Stadium First season Final season
1812 FC Barrie Brampton[note 1] Terry Fox Stadium 2021
ANB Futbol King The Country Day School 2014 2015
Aurora FC[note 2] Aurora Stewart Burnett Park 2016 2020
Internacional de Toronto Toronto Lamport Stadium 2014
Kingston Clippers[note 3] Kingston Tindall Field, Queen's University 2014 2016
Ottawa South United[note 4] Manotick (Ottawa) Quinn's Pointe 2017 2019
Sanjaxx Lions Toronto Monarch Park Stadium 2015 2018
Toronto FC III[note 5] Toronto BMO Training Ground 2014 2018
Toronto Skillz FC Toronto Birchmount Stadium 2016 2021
  1. ↑ 1812 FC Barrie was originally set to play in Barrie; however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, they spent their only season in Brampton
  2. ↑ Aurora FC was known as Aurora United during the 2016 season
  3. ↑ Kingston Clippers was known as Cataraqui Clippers during 2014 season
  4. ↑ Moved to PLSQ from the 2020 season
  5. ↑ Toronto FC III was known as Toronto FC Academy from 2014 until 2016

Timeline

Organization

Regulations

League1 Ontario was founded with a series of values, objectives and standards all aimed at furthering the league's stated objective of improving player development in Ontario and Canada. Some of these regulations include:[33]

  • Standards-based club licensing, renewed annually (not a franchise/ownership model). Standards include technical, organizational, facility and financial criteria.
  • Maximum of 3 non-Canadian players per club.
  • 18-man game day rosters must include a minimum of 8 U-23 players.
  • Starting 11 must include a minimum of 4 U-23 players.
  • Maximum of 5 substitutions per match.

Reserve division

In 2019, L1O launched a men's U21 Reserve Division open to existing League1 Ontario or Ontario Player Development League license holders. The inaugural year will consist of a 12-game summer season and a separate 10-game fall season. Nine teams will participate in the 2019 summer season with a possibility of more teams joining for the fall.[34]

Players who earned national team caps while in L1O

The following players have earned a senior national team cap while playing in League1 Ontario (the year of their first cap while playing in the league is listed). Players who earned caps before or after playing in League1 Ontario are not included, unless they also earned caps while in the league. This section also does not include youth caps (U23 or below).

Player Country Year Ref
Shaquille Agard  Guyana 2014 [35]
Adrian Butters  Guyana 2015 [36]
Kilian Elkinson  Bermuda 2016 [37]
Anthony Whyte  Guyana 2016 [38]
Daniel Whyte  Guyana 2016 [38]
Daniel Jodah  Guyana 2017 [39]
Jelani Smith  Guyana 2017 [39]
Navid Rahman  Pakistan 2018 [40]
Alain Sargeant  Saint Kitts and Nevis 2018 [41]
Justin Springer  Saint Kitts and Nevis 2018 [41]
Kaeson Trench  Barbados 2018 [42]
Tristan Marshall  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2019 [43]
Tyrell Rayne  Antigua and Barbuda 2019 [44]
Rahbar Wahed Khan  Bangladesh 2021 [45]
Quillan Roberts  Guyana 2022 [46]
Zachary Ellis-Hayden  Barbados 2023 [47]
Emery Welshman  Guyana 2023

See also

References

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  25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 25.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  43. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  46. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  47. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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