The Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League or CMISL was a professional

indoor soccer Indoor soccer or arena soccer (known internationally as indoor football, fast football, or showball) is five-a-side version of minifootball, derived from association football and adapted to be played in walled hardcourt indoor arena. Indoor socc ...

league that began full league play in January 2008. The league's president was Mel Kowalchuk. As the league has become affiliated with the

Professional Arena Soccer League A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and skil ...

in the United States, the Edmonton Drillers and

Saskatoon Accelerators Saskatoon Accelerators were a professional soccer team based in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan that played in the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League. The team played indoor soccer which is different from the official FIFA indoor game called futsal. I ...

played four

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

games and the

Calgary United FC Calgary Sports and soccer team. is one of four ( Calgary, Edmonton, Saskatoon and Winnipeg) of Canada's newest professional soccer teams participating in the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League. Notable coaches * Troye Flannery (2010) * Dave Ra ...

played eight games against the PASL teams in 2009. Edmonton and Saskatoon played two home games and two road games and Calgary played four home games and four road games against PASL teams. In the CMISL portion of the schedule each team will play eight games. This will see Edmonton play six home games and two road games, Saskatoon play two home games and six road games and Calgary play six home games and two road games. The

Winnipeg Alliance FC Winnipeg Alliance FC were a professional indoor soccer team that played in the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League (CMISL) from 2007 through 2011. The team suspended operations in January 2012. History 2007 season The Winnipeg Alliance was one o ...

decided to sit out the 2009 season, but rejoined for the 2010 season. In addition, a new expansion club joined the league in 2010 in the form of the

Prince George Fury The Prince George Fury were a Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League The Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League or CMISL was a professional indoor soccer league that began full league play in January 2008. The league's president was Mel Kowalchuk. A ...

.Prince George Free Press
Prince George lands CMISL franchise
15 October 2009 The league shrank to just three teams (Calgary, Edmonton, and Winnipeg) in 2011 then just two teams (Calgary and Edmonton) in 2012. The league announced a hiatus for 2013 and had planned return for 2014, but never did.

History

On January 23, 2007, the CMISL issued its first major announcement disclosing its charter franchises in

Calgary Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population of 1,481,806, makin ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

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 749,6 ...

, and

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

. The press release announced that each member franchise would play year round, in both indoor and outdoor professional leagues.

2007 season

For 2007, the CMISL played a " Showcase Season" or an exhibition schedule to create interest and test the markets. The first match of the "Showcase" was held on March 10, 2007, at the

Stampede Corral The Stampede Corral was a multi-purpose venue (ice hockey, professional wrestling, rodeo, tennis) in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Located on the grounds of Stampede Park, the arena was completed in 1950 at a cost of C$1.25 million ($ million toda ...

in Calgary and was played between the Edmonton Drillers and

, while the final match was played on April 1, 2007, in Winnipeg, at the

MTS Centre Canada Life Centre (formerly MTS Centre and Bell MTS Place) is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. The arena is the home of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose. T ...

, between Edmonton and the

. In all, each CMISL franchise held a home doubleheader, leading to an uneven number of games between the teams. Edmonton played the most with six games played, as they were the road team for three of the four doubleheaders. The

on the other hand played only two games, as they did not play a single road game.

2008 season

The CMISL released its 2008 schedule via press release on October 25, 2007, and held an accompanying press conference at Servus Place in St. Albert. The league kicked off its inaugural

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperate and pol ...

on January 19, 2008, with a tournament involving all the teams, hosted by

at the

. A "showcase" match had been scheduled for December 1, 2007, and December 2, 2007, between the Edmonton Drillers and the Prince George FC, but on November 10, 2007, it was reported the series had been rescheduled to April 5, 2008, and April 6, 2008. The game is being played in Prince George at the

CN Centre The CN Centre is a 5,971-seat multi-purpose arena, in Prince George, British Columbia, Canada. It was designed by PBK Architects, opened in 1995 and is owned by the City of Prince George. There are 14 luxury suites. In 2005, Canadian National ...

. Four other pre-season exhibition games were scheduled between the Edmonton Drillers and

. Two of these games will be held in St. Albert at the Servus Place and two will be held in

at the

Credit Union Centre SaskTel Centre (formerly Credit Union Centre, and originally Saskatchewan Place; informally also known as ''Sask Place'') is an arena located in the Agriplace Industrial Park, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. With 15,195 permanent stadium seats ...

. All were held between December 28, 2007, and January 6, 2008.

2009 season

As the league has become affiliated with the

in the United States, the Edmonton Drillers and

will play four

games and the

will play eight games against the PASL teams. Edmonton and Saskatoon will play two home games and two road games and Calgary will play four home games and four road games against PASL teams. In the CMISL portion of the schedule each team will play eight games. This will see Edmonton play six home games and two road games, Saskatoon play two home games and six road games and Calgary play six home games and two road games. The playoffs will feature the CMISL champion taking part in an interlocking championship with the winners of the PASL and the winner of the Mexican Liga Mexicana de Futbol Rapido. It has not been announced what format the CMISL championship will take.

2010 season

The 2009–08 Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League season sees the reactivation of the

and the expansion of the

. Each team will play 4 games against teams from the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL) in the United States. The season will consist of 12

games total. The Edmonton Drillers,

, Prince George Fury and Winnipeg Alliance FC will play 6 home games and the

will play 7 due to playing American teams.

2011 season

Calgary United FC won the league championship in the three-team league.

2012 season

With only two teams in the league for the 2012 season, the Edmonton Drillers visited the Calgary United FC for a one-game season and league championship game at the Genesis Wellness Centre on April 21, 2012. Edmonton defeated Calgary 6–3.

2013 season

The league was on hiatus for 2013, planned to return in 2014, but never did. League president Mel Kowalchuk cited health concerns for the failure to recruit additional teams for 2013.

2014 season

The CMISL did not return to play for the 2014 season due to the failure to recruit other teams throughout Canada and with the health concerns of Mel Kowalchuk.

Scheduled Format

All games were played every Saturday and will started exactly at 12:00pm, this allowed the players to free up their schedule. January (Pre Season) February (Regular Season/Indoor) March (Regular Season/Indoor) April (Off Season) May (Regular Season/Outdoor) June (Regular Season/Outdoor) July (Post Season, Playoffs/Outdoor) August (Off Season) September (Regular Season/Indoor) October (Regular Season/Indoor) November (Post Season, Playoffs/Indoor) December (Off Season)

CMISL teams

Teams

CMISL Champions

Rules

The pitch is a regular sized hockey rink with artificial turf placed on it. The goals are eight feet high and wide. Unlike previous years, all goals are worth one point. Teams consist of six players, including the goalkeeper, on the floor at any one time. The players are changed on the fly, like in hockey. Also like hockey, at times teams will be required to play one or even two players short. These situations, are a result of a player being shown a blue card. A blue card requires the offending player to serve a two- or four-minute penalty depending on the severity of the offense. A single game is composed of four 15-minute quarters. In the few instances where doubleheaders are scheduled, the games will then be shortened to two 20-minute halves. During exhibition matches if the teams are tied at the end of the regulation time, a penalty shootout will occur to determine the winner.