{"id":578618,"date":"2026-04-03T02:05:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:05:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/578618\/"},"modified":"2026-04-03T02:05:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-03T02:05:15","slug":"canadian-premier-league-embracing-global-spotlight-as-eighth-season-begins","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/578618\/","title":{"rendered":"Canadian Premier League embracing global spotlight as eighth season begins"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Atletico Ottawa’s Ballou Tabla (13) raises the North Star Cup following Atletico Ottawa\u2019s victory over Cavalry FC in extra time during the Canadian Premier League final in Ottawa last November.Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

With the FIFA World Cup coming to Canada and plans in place for a notable rule change, the eyes of the soccer world are sure to turn to the Canadian Premier League this season. <\/p>\n

Those at the top of the eight-team national league believe it is ready for the glare. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re going to be pleasantly surprised by this national league in Canada and these players,\u201d said CPL executive vice-president Costa Smyrniotis.<\/p>\n

\u201cUltimately, the question is going to be, where\u2019s the next Jonathan David, where\u2019s the next Alphonso Davies? And all roads lead back to CPL. And this is our kind of opportunity to kind of say that loud and clear and ensure that the world is watching.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CPL will kick off its eighth season Saturday when Forge FC host Atl\u00e9tico Ottawa in Hamilton. <\/p>\n

An oral history of the 2025’s snow Canadian Premier League final<\/a><\/p>\n

Forge finished the 2025 regular season atop the standings, but it was Atl\u00e9tico who captured the championship last November in a dramatic game that included a blizzard, a viral goal and extra time. <\/p>\n

As heavy snow fell at TD Place Stadium in Ottawa, David Rodriguez struck a stunning overhead bicycle kick that hit the underside of the crossbar of the Cavalry FC goal and fell behind the goal line, tying the game at 1-1. <\/p>\n

Broadcaster OneSoccer has said footage of the play \u2013 dubbed the \u201cicicle kick\u201d \u2013 was viewed more than one billion times over the next five days. <\/p>\n

Rodriguez scored his second goal of the game in extra time to secure the dramatic victory for Atl\u00e9tico.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Atletico Ottawa’s Nathan Ingham (29) carries a snow shovel following a break in play as officials work to clean soccer pitch lines during the Canadian Premier League final in Ottawa last November.Spencer Colby\/The Canadian Press<\/p>\n

The championship game showed onlookers that the CPL is a great, unique product, said commissioner James Johnson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt needs to be interesting. It needs to be appealing. There needs to be surprise, there needs to be suspense in everything we do,\u201d he said. \u201cSo that\u2019s what we\u2019re focused on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Playing the biggest game of the season in the snow gave soccer fans a different story than what they\u2019ve seen before, he added. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted that point of differentiation,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s actually the difference between breaking into mainstream and not being as relevant.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CPL will enter uncharted territory this season when it becomes the first professional league to trial FIFA\u2019s so-called \u201cdaylight\u201d offside rule. <\/p>\n

Under the alternate rule, an attacking player will only be ruled offside if there is a gap \u2013 or \u201cdaylight\u201d \u2013 between them and the second-to-last defender. <\/p>\n

If at least one part of the attacker\u2019s body that can be used to score \u2013 not their hands or arms \u2013 is in line with or behind the defender, they will be considered onside.<\/p>\n

The league says the trial, which runs through the 2026 campaign, aims to restore a greater attacking advantage and boost the flow of matches by introducing a \u201cclearer visual threshold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other rules are also being introduced to make the game more exciting, Johnson said, including the ability for officials to give corner kicks for time wasting, and swap which team is conducting a throw-in if it takes too long.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are all designed at making the game more attacking, more interesting, and ensuring that the ball is in play for longer periods. Which is what we want,\u201d he said of the tweaks. \u201cWe want a great product, so that our fans can grow, and also the existing fans are happy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The CPL will look slightly different in 2026 with the addition of one team and the loss of another. <\/p>\n

The league announced in November that one of its founding clubs, Winnipeg\u2019s Valour FC, would cease operations at the end of the season following two years of steep losses. <\/p>\n

The addition of expansion FC Supra du Qu\u00e9bec means the league will remain at eight teams. <\/p>\n

Supra brings \u201csomething different\u201d to the league, Smyrniotis said. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to create an excitement. It\u2019s going to be a great road trip for a lot of our clubs as well. We\u2019re really looking forward to it,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd as you look across the country, you\u2019re filling in the geography, you\u2019re in all the right places, you\u2019re telling some great stories along the way, which I think is just paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n

All of the changes come in a season where soccer will be under the spotlight as Vancouver and Toronto host a combined 13 World Cup games. <\/p>\n

With so much attention on the sport across Canada this summer, the CPL knows it has a prime opportunity to bring in new fans, Johnson said. <\/p>\n

While league play will pause June 11-25 as group-stage games are played, it will resume on June 26 as the knockout stages begin. Throughout the World Cup, CPL clubs will host watch parties and the league will host a \u201cCanada Soccer House\u201d in both North Vancouver and Toronto. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about making sure that the CPL is there to capture the interest that the World Cup generates, so that it can be the vehicle that takes the sport forward after the World Cup comes and goes,\u201d Johnson said.<\/p>\n

This World Cup is an important moment for the CPL, Smyrniotis said, in part because founding a national league was a condition for Canada being awarded games. <\/p>\n

He remembers those conversations taking place and said it\u2019s tremendously exciting to be on the cusp not only of the World Cup, but of the CPL\u2019s eighth season.<\/p>\n

The league has always been about growing soccer in Canada, Smyrniotis said, and that\u2019s happening. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re starting to see it within our league. We\u2019re starting to see more personalities grow up within our league, develop in our league,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe elevate them, tell some great stories within our league, and then we celebrate them when they\u2019re with the national team, or they\u2019re playing at a bigger club within this global game. So that for us is, obviously, something that we\u2019re really happy about.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Atletico Ottawa’s Ballou Tabla (13) raises the North Star Cup following Atletico Ottawa\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":578619,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,561,82,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-578618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578618","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=578618"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/578618\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/578619"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=578618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=578618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=578618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}