The 2021 Canadian Premier League season was the third season of the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary national soccer league compe ...

, the top level of

Canadian soccer In Canada, soccer is the most popular sport in terms of participation rate. According to FIFA's Big Count, almost 2.7 million people played in Canada in 2006. Professional soccer in Canada is played in the Canadian Premier League and Major L ...

Forge FC Forge FC is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Hamilton, Ontario, that competes in the Canadian Premier League, the top tier of Canadian soccer. The club plays its home matches at Tim Hortons Field. Forge FC joined the CPL in 2019 as ...

were defending champions, after defeating

HFX Wanderers FC HFX Wanderers Football Club, commonly known as HFX Wanderers, and spoken as Halifax Wanderers, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League at the top of the Canadian soccer l ...

in the 2020 final. The season was planned to commence on May 22, the Victoria Day weekend, pending the approval of government authorities and the state of the

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada The COVID-19 pandemic in Canada is part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (). It is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). Most cases over the course of the pandemic have been in Ontario, Que ...

. However, on May 14, it was announced that the start was to be pushed back to mid-June or early July. On June 5, the league committed to a full 28-match season, but that the season would begin in a single-site

bubble Bubble, Bubbles or The Bubble may refer to: Common uses * Bubble (physics), a globule of one substance in another, usually gas in a liquid ** Soap bubble * Economic bubble, a situation where asset prices are much higher than underlying funda ...

IG Field IG Field (formerly Investors Group Field) is an outdoor stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The stadium, which opened in 2013, is located on the University of Manitoba campus next to University Stadium. Owned by Triple B Stadium Inc., a consortium ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

Manitoba , image_map = Manitoba in Canada 2.svg , map_alt = Map showing Manitoba's location in the centre of Southern Canada , Label_map = yes , coordinates = , capital = Winn ...

, promoted as "The Kickoff", with each team playing eight matches between June 26 and July 24. All matches were played behind closed doors and in compliance with Manitoba public health orders. On July 30, the CPL began to play matches at home venues. Teams were required to play Canadian players aged 21 years or younger for a minimum of 1,500 minutes this season, increased from 1,000 minutes.

Pacific FC Pacific Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Greater Victoria, British Columbia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League, playing home matches at Starlight Stadium located in Langford. History On May 5, 2 ...

defeated two-time champions and title holders

in the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

to win their first title.

Team changes

The same eight clubs that participated in the 2020 Canadian Premier League season competed in 2021.

York United FC York United Football Club (formerly known as York9 FC) is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Toronto, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at York University's York Lions Stadium. Histor ...

participated under their new name for the first time, having previously been known as York9 FC.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Number of teams by province or territory

Coaching changes

Regular season

Format

Between June 26 and July 24, teams played their first eight games at

. Teams from

Eastern Canada Eastern Canada (also the Eastern provinces or the East) is generally considered to be the region of Canada south of the Hudson Bay/ Strait and east of Manitoba, consisting of the following provinces (from east to west): Newfoundland and Labrado ...

and

Western Canada Western Canada, also referred to as the Western provinces, Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West, is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada� ...

played two matches against each of the four teams in the opposite region to reduce travel when teams return to home stadiums. For the remainder of the season, teams played 16 games against opponents from their own region and 4 against opponents from the opposite region.

Table

Results

The Kickoff

West

East

Combined

Playoffs

The top-four teams in the regular season qualified for the league playoffs. The first-place team hosted the fourth, and the second-place team hosted the third in a single match round. The winners advanced to the CPL Final, a single match hosted by the higher-seeded team. If a match was level at the end of normal playing time, extra time would be played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and followed, if necessary, by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winner. If a match reached extra time, each team was allowed to make an additional substitution.

Matches

Semi-finals

Final

Awards

Canadian Premier League Awards

On December 4, 2021, the Canadian Premier League revealed the nominees for the four individual awards that would be voted on by the media. These four awards plus the Golden Boot award are given based on performance over the whole season including Finals. The awards are Inuit soapstone sculptures designed by artists from

Cape Dorset Kinngait (Inuktitut meaning "high mountain" or "where the hills are"; Syllabics: ᑭᙵᐃᑦ), formerly known as Cape Dorset until 27 February 2020, is an Inuit hamlet located on Dorset Island near Foxe Peninsula at the southern tip of Baffin ...

, Nunavut. The winners were announced at a ceremony on December 14.

Team of the Week

The Gatorade Team of the Week is selected by

OneSoccer OneSoccer is a Canadian English language television channel and English and French language subscription over-the-top video streaming service owned by Mediapro Canada. The service broadcasts programming related to soccer including live and pre- ...

staff.

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Top assists

Clean sheets

Hat-tricks

Player transfers

U Sports Draft

The 2021 CPL–U Sports Draft was held virtually on January 29. Draftees are invited to team preseason camps, with an opportunity to earn a developmental contract and retain their

U Sports men's soccer U Sports men's soccer is the highest level of play at the university level under the auspices of U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. As of the 2018 season, 48 teams from Canadian universities are divided into four conference ...

eligibility.

FC Edmonton FC Edmonton was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta. The club was founded in 2010 and competed in the North American Soccer League (NASL) from 2011 to 2017. The club went on hiatus when NASL ceased competitive operat ...

selected Thomas Gardner with the first overall pick. Two players were selected by each CPL team, with a total of 16 players being drafted including 12 Canadians.

Foreign players

Canadian Premier League teams could sign a maximum of seven international players, out of which only five could be in the starting line-up for each match. Starting this season, teams were required to carry a minimum of four international players, either signed through or approved by the league's scouting partner, 21st Club. The following players were considered foreign players for the 2021 season. This list does not include Canadian citizens who represent other countries at the international level. Players in ''italic'' denote players new to their respective clubs for the 2021 season, sorted chronologically by their announcement.

References

{{2021–22 in North and Central America, and Caribbean football (CONCACAF) Canadian Premier League seasons