2023 Canadian Premier League

The 2023 Canadian Premier League season is the fifth season of the Canadian Premier League, the top level of Canadian soccer. The 2023 CPL playoff champion and 2023 CPL regular season winner will both earn berths in the newly expanded 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup. Forge FC are the defending CPL champions, having beaten Atlético Ottawa in the 2022 final. Atlético Ottawa are the defending regular season winners.

Team and rule changes

Eight teams are competing in the 2023 season with the debut of Vancouver FC, and the dissolution of FC Edmonton. The player compensation budget increased by $175,000 compared to 2022. Teams must spend between $750,000 and $1,025,000 on their 20–23 player rosters with a minimum of $30,000 per player. A team making full use of the U21 salary rule can reach a compensation maximum of $1,125,000. The league's play-off structure changed to a five-team Page playoff system with four elimination matches and one non-elimination match.

Teams

Stadiums and locations

Personnel and sponsorship

Number of teams by province or territory

Coaching changes

Regular season

Format

The regular season will be played as a quadruple round-robin, with each team playing the other seven teams twice at home and twice away between April 15 and October 7. The regular season winner, the team ranked first after all 28 games, qualifies for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup and the top five teams qualify for the playoffs.

Standings

Results

Playoffs

The 2023 season will use the Page playoff system. The team who finishes first in the regular-season table will play the team who finishes second, and the winner will host the final. The fourth- and fifth-placed teams will play in a play-in round, the winner of this game will play the third-placed team in a quarter-final. The quarter-final winner will play the loser of the game between the first and second placed teams for the other spot in the final.

Bracket

Attendance

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Top assists

Clean sheets

Awards

Team of the Week

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

Player transfers

U Sports Draft

The 2023 CPL–U Sports Draft took place on December 15, 2022. Each team made two picks in the draft for a total of 16 selections with expansion club Vancouver FC selecting first.

Foreign 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. Teams are required to carry a minimum of four international players, either signed through or approved by the league's scouting partner, 21st Club. At least 50% of a team's international players must be U23 at all times. If a club wishes to utilize the maximum 7 slots, the 7th player must be U21.

The following international players have signed for the 2023 season. Note that players may be considered domestic for CPL purposes (Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees) while still representing other countries in international competitions.

Players in ''italic'' denote players new to their respective clubs for the 2023 season, sorted chronologically by their announcement.

2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup

The 2023 CPL playoff champion and 2023 CPL regular season champion will both earn berths in the newly expanded 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup, competing against teams from across North America, Central America and Caribbean for a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup. Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup is also available to CPL clubs by winning the Canadian Championship; however, the 2023 Canadian Championship was not won by a CPL team.

Should a CPL club hold multiple CCL qualification slots, then the CPL club(s) which has accumulated the most regular season league points will earn the remaining slot(s).

Notes

References

{{Canada D1 soccer seasons

Canadian Premier League seasons
Canadian Premier League
Canadian Premier