League1 Ontario (L1O or L1ON) is a semi-professional women's

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

league in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (; branded as Canada Soccer) is the governing body for soccer in Canada. Headquartered in Ottawa, Ontario, the federation is a full member of FIFA and governs Canadian soccer at the international, professional, a ...

and the

Ontario Soccer Association Ontario Soccer is a Canadian soccer organization. Established in 1901, Ontario Soccer is one of the oldest sports organizations in Canada. Ontario Soccer is composed of over 350,000 players, as well as coaches, referees, and administrators. Si ...

as a pro-am league in the

Canadian soccer league system The Canadian soccer league system, also called the Canadian soccer pyramid, is a term used in soccer to describe the structure of the league system in Canada. The governing body of soccer in the country is the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA), ...

. League1 Ontario is a part of

League1 Canada League1 Canada (L1C; ) is a national pro–am Association football, soccer organization in Canada. It consists of four regional leagues; League1 Alberta, League1 British Columbia, League1 Ontario, and Ligue1 Québec with each league operating m ...

, the national third tier with regional divisions, with L1O equivalents in

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

British Columbia British Columbia is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Situated in the Pacific Northwest between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains, the province has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that ...

, and

Quebec Quebec is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

. The women's division launched in 2015 with seven clubs and has grown to twenty clubs for the 2022 season. Beginning in 2024, the league will become a three-tier league featuring

promotion and relegation Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

History

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

was founded as a men's semi-professional league on November 15, 2013, in an announcement by the

(OSA). In January 2015, L1O announced the launch of a women's division. Initially, six teams (

ANB Futbol ANB Futbol was a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in King, Ontario. The club was founded in 2007, as a soccer academy, and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The club was one of the ten original founding me ...

, Durham United FC,

North Mississauga SC North Mississauga Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Mississauga, Ontario. The club was founded in 1982 as a youth soccer club and added its men's semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2016. The team plays ho ...

ProStars FC Prostars FC is a Canadian soccer team based in Brampton, Ontario. The organization was founded in 2013. The club previously played in the semi-professional League1 Ontario, part of the third division in the Canadian soccer league system in both ...

, Sanjaxx Lions and

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

) were to compete, but a seventh team (

Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge Strikers Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The club was founded in 1976 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The team plays home g ...

) was soon added ahead of the inaugural season. The league kicked off their first matches on May 23 with all seven teams playing matches at

Tim Hortons Field Hamilton Stadium (originally Tim Hortons Field) is a multi-purpose stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Completed in 2014 with a capacity of 22,500, it was built as a replacement on the same site as the previous stadium, name ...

Hamilton Hamilton may refer to: * Alexander Hamilton (1755/1757–1804), first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury and one of the Founding Fathers of the United States * ''Hamilton'' (musical), a 2015 Broadway musical by Lin-Manuel Miranda ** ''Hamilton'' (al ...

(

Ottawa Fury FC Academy Ottawa Fury FC Academy was the youth academy and development system of Canadian soccer club Ottawa Fury FC. In 2015 and 2016, they played in the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. History The Fury Academy was launched in 2006, under the um ...

also fielded a team for an exhibition match to make an even number so that every team could play). Durham United FC defeated

by a score of 2–0 in the league's first official match. Durham United were the inaugural league champions. while North Mississauga won the first League Cup title. For the 2016 season, the division grew to nine teams with the addition of four teams, while two clubs departed. The league grew to 11 teams in 2017, with three new additions and one departure. In 2018, the league grew to 13 teams and the league introduced a playoff format for the first time to declare the league champion. For the 2019 season, the league eliminated the League Cup competition. Beginning in the 2020 season, League1 Ontario and the

Première ligue de soccer du Québec A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the film ...

had planned to hold a Final Four end-of-season tournament for their women's divisions, from August 14 to 16, pitting the top two sides from each league in an inter-provincial playoff. Also, the league had planned to introduce a Reserve Division for the women for the first time. However, due to restrictions associated with the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, the league cancelled the 2020 season and delayed the start of the 2021 season. Due to the delayed start caused by the pandemic, some clubs were unable to field team's in the main division. Consequently, the league also formed a short-season summer division, with teams opting to either play in the full-season Premier division, the short-season Champion, and/or the Reserve division. On January 25, 2022, League1 Ontario announced a major restructuring of the men's and women's competitions which took effect in 2024. The league was split into three tiers (Premier, Championship, and League2) with

between the tiers. From this point onward, expansion clubs enter at the League2 level and have to win to earn promotion to the Championship and then Premier divisions. Also in 2024 was the return of the L1 Cup, a league cup knockout tournament which features teams from all three tiers in the L1O system.

Management

In September 2019, former Canadian national team player

Carmelina Moscato Carmelina Moscato (born May 2, 1984) is a Canadian soccer coach and former professional player who is currently an assistant coach for Racing Louisville FC of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). She played as a defender for UPC Tavagnac ...

was announced as Commissioner of the Women's division (prior to this both the male and female divisions were led by Dino Rossi), however she departed in December 2020 to become the Director of Women's Football for the

Bahamas Football Association The Bahamas Football Association (BFA), is the official governing body of the sport of Association football in The Bahamas. Founded in 1967 and headquartered in Nassau, the federation is a full member of FIFA since 1968 and governs Bahamian foo ...

. In March 2021, Chelsea Spencer and Julie Maheu were announced as Director and Operations Manager, respectively, for the league.

Competition format

The League1 Ontario regular season runs from May through September using a single table format, with each team playing one match against all other teams. The top four teams compete in the league playoffs at the end of the season. Beginning in 2019, the Ron Smale Cup was created by the supporters group of

to be given to the regular season champions.

L1 Cup

The L1 Cup is a league cup tournament that features all L1O clubs. It runs concurrently with the regular season, with cup games usually taking place during 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 2015 cup included a group stage and a knockout stage but from 2016 to 2018 the format was a

single-elimination tournament A single-elimination knockout, or sudden-death tournament is a type of elimination tournament where the loser of a match-up is immediately eliminated from the tournament. Each winner will play another in the next round, until the final match-up, ...

. Following a hiatus from 2019 to 2023, the L1 Cup will return in 2024 to coincide with the league's restructuring.

Yearly results

Clubs

Current clubs

Currently there are 20 clubs, based mainly in the

Greater Toronto Area The Greater Toronto Area, commonly referred to as the GTA, includes the Toronto, City of Toronto and the regional municipality, regional municipalities of Regional Municipality of Durham, Durham, Regional Municipality of Halton, Halton, Regional ...

and other cities in

Southern Ontario Southern Ontario is a Region, primary region of the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. It is the most densely populated and southernmost region in Canada, with approximately 13.5 million people, approximately 36% o ...

. There are no clubs based in

Northern Ontario Northern Ontario is a primary geographic and quasi-administrative region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario, the other primary region being Southern Ontario. Most of the core geographic region is located on p ...

League1 Premier

League1 Championship

League2 Ontario

In 2024, a third tier has been introduced featuring new clubs as well as reserve teams. 24 teams, 3 independent and 21 reserve, have been split into three conferences and will be eligible to earn promotion to the higher tiers.

Former clubs

Timeline

DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy ImageSize = width:900 height:auto barincrement:25 PlotArea = left:20 right:20 bottom:20 top:20 Period = from:2015 till:2025 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal format:yyyy AlignBars = justify Colors = id:barcolor id:line value:pink id:bg value:white id:Premier value:blue legend:L1O_Premier id:Champ value:rgb(0.66,0.90,1) legend:L1O_Championship id:Two value:rgb(0.1,0.5,0.1) legend:L2O id:Former value:gray(0.3) id:Covid value:rgb(0.897,0.698,0.698) PlotData= width:20 textcolor:white shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:m bar:1 color:Premier from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2016 text:ANB Futbol bar:2 color:Premier from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2016 text:Durham Utd FC bar:2 color:Premier from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2020 text: Durham Utd FA bar:2 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2022 textcolor:black text:Pickering FC bar:2 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2022 text: bar:2 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:end text: bar:3 color:Premier from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2017 text:Kingston Clippers bar:4 color:Premier from:01/01/2015 till:12/31/2019 text:North Mississauga SC bar:4 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2022 text: bar:4 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:end text: bar:5 color:Premier from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2016 text:ProStars FC bar:5 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text: bar:5 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:end text: bar:6 color:Premier from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2018 text:Sanjaxx Lions bar:7 color:Premier from:01/01/2015 till:12/31/2019 text:Vaughan Azzurri bar:7 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 text: bar:7 color:Premier from:01/01/2021 till:end text: bar:8 color:Premier from:01/01/2015 till:12/31/2019 text:Woodbridge Strikers bar:8 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 text: bar:8 color:Premier from:01/01/2021 till:end text: bar:9 color:Premier from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2017 text:Aurora Utd FC bar:9 color:Premier from:01/01/2017 till:12/31/2019 text:Aurora FC bar:9 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 text: bar:10 color:Premier from:01/01/2016 till:12/31/2019 text:Darby FC bar:10 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2022 text: bar:10 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text: bar:10 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:12/31/2024 text: bar:10 color:Champ from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Whitby FC bar:11 color:Premier from:01/01/2016 till:12/31/2019 text:FC London bar:11 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 text: bar:11 color:Premier from:01/01/2021 till:end text: bar:12 color:Premier from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2019 text:Toronto Azzurri Blizzard bar:13 color:Premier from:01/01/2017 till:12/31/2019 text:Unionville Milliken SC bar:13 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2022 text: bar:13 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text: bar:13 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:end text: bar:14 color:Premier from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2019 text:West Ottawa SC bar:15 color:Premier from:01/01/2018 till:01/01/2020 text:DeRo United FC bar:16 color:Premier from:01/01/2018 till:12/31/2019 text:Hamilton United bar:16 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 text: bar:16 color:Premier from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2023 text: bar:16 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:end text: bar:17 color:Premier from:01/01/2018 till:12/31/2019 text:Oakville Blue Devils FC bar:17 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 text: bar:17 color:Premier from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2024 text:Blue Devils FC bar:17 color:Champ from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Oakville SC bar:18 color:Premier from:01/01/2019 till:12/31/2019 text:Alliance United FC bar:18 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2022 text: bar:18 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:end text: bar:19 color:Premier from:01/01/2019 till:12/31/2019 text:FC Oshawa bar:19 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 text: bar:20 color:Premier from:01/01/2019 till:01/01/2020 text:Ottawa South United bar:21 color:Covid from:01/01/2020 till:01/01/2021 textcolor:black text:North Toronto Nitros bar:21 color:Premier from:01/01/2021 till:end text: bar:22 color:Covid from:01/01/2021 till:01/01/2022 textcolor:black text:Guelph Union bar:22 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text: bar:22 color:Premier from:01/01/2024 till:end text:Guelph United FC bar:23 color:Premier from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2023 text:Tecumseh SC bar:23 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:end text:Tecumseh United FC bar:24 color:Covid from:01/01/2021 till:01/01/2022 textcolor:black text:Waterloo Utd bar:24 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text:BVB IA Waterloo bar:24 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:12/31/2024 text: bar:24 color:Premier from:01/01/2025 till:end text: bar:25 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text:Burlington SC bar:25 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:end text: bar:26 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:end text:NDC Ontario bar:27 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:end text:Electric City FC bar:28 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:end text:Simcoe County Rovers bar:29 color:Premier from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text:St. Catharines Roma Wovles bar:29 color:Two from:01/01/2024 till:end text: bar:30 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:12/31/2024 text:Rush Canada SA bar:30 color:Two from:01/01/2025 till:end text: bar:31 color:Champ from:01/01/2024 till:end text:Scrosooppi FC bar:32 color:Two from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Cambridge United bar:33 color:Two from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Railway City FC bar:34 color:Two from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Sudbury Cyclones ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:2015 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text:

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).

References

External links

* {{Soccer in Canada Soccer leagues in Ontario Women's soccer leagues in Canada Sports leagues established in 2015 2015 establishments in Ontario League1 Canada Women's sports in Ontario Third-level association football leagues in North America