The Vanier Cup (french: Coupe Vanier) is the championship of Canadian university football. It is organized by
U Sports football
U Sports football is the highest level of amateur play of Canadian football and operates under the auspices of U Sports (formerly Canadian Interuniversity Sport). Twenty-seven teams from Canadian universities are divided into four athletic confer ...
and is currently played between the winners of the
Uteck Bowl
The Uteck Bowl is one of the two semifinal bowls of U Sports football, Canada's national competition for university teams that play Canadian football. It is held in the easternmost of the two semifinal venues. The Uteck Bowl champion moves on to f ...
and the
Mitchell Bowl
The Mitchell Bowl is one of the two semifinal bowls of U Sports football, Canada's national competition for university teams that play Canadian football. It is held in the more westerly location of the two semifinal venues. The winner of this game ...
. It is named after
Georges Vanier
Georges-Philias Vanier (23 April 1888 – 5 March 1967) was a Canadian military officer and diplomat who served as governor general of Canada, the first Quebecer and second Canadian-born person to hold the position.
Vanier was born and ...
, the former
governor general of Canada
The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm, t ...
and was first awarded in 1965 to the winner of an invitational event contested between two teams that were selected by a panel. In 1967, the trophy was declared the official "CIAU National Football Championship" and a playoff system was instituted. From its creation until 1982, it was known as the Canadian College Bowl. The game typically occurs in late November, although it is occasionally played in December.
The
Laval Rouge et Or
The Laval Rouge et Or (, ''Red and Gold'') are the athletic teams that represent Université Laval, located in Quebec City, Quebec. Home games are all held in the PEPS indoor and outdoor sports facilities.
Varsity teams
Laval Rouge et Or teams c ...
have won the most Vanier Cups (11), while the
Western Mustangs
The Western Mustangs are the athletic teams that represent Western University in London, Ontario, Canada. The school's athletic program supports 46 varsity teams. Their mascot is a Mustang named J.W. and the school colours are purple and white. ...
have the most appearances (15). Eighteen teams have won the Vanier Cup, while three others have played for the championship but never won. There are six active teams that have never appeared in the championship game. The most recent game, the
57th Vanier Cup, was played on November 26, 2022, at
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
. In this game, the
Laval Rouge et Or
The Laval Rouge et Or (, ''Red and Gold'') are the athletic teams that represent Université Laval, located in Quebec City, Quebec. Home games are all held in the PEPS indoor and outdoor sports facilities.
Varsity teams
Laval Rouge et Or teams c ...
defeated the
Saskatchewan Huskies 30–24 to win their 11th championship.
History
The Vanier Cup was created in 1965 as the championship trophy of the Canadian College Bowl. For the first two years of competition, the Canadian College Bowl was an invitational event, with a national panel selecting two teams to play, similar to other U.S. collegiate bowl games. In 1967, the Canadian College Bowl was declared the national football championship of the Canadian Intercollegiate Athletic Union, later Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) and now
U Sports
U Sports (stylized as U SPORTS) is the national sport governing body of university sport in Canada, comprising the majority of degree-granting universities in the country. Its equivalent body for organized sports at colleges in Canada is the Ca ...
, with a playoff system determining the two participants.
The Vanier Cup was played in
Toronto, Ontario
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
, from its inception in 1965 through 2003. However, after the CIS opened the game to host conference bids in 2001, the possibility arose to have games held outside Toronto. As of 2016, 41 of the 52 Vanier Cups have been played in Toronto, five in Quebec City, four in Hamilton, one in Saskatoon, one in Vancouver and one in Montreal. No games have been staged in the Atlantic region. Four times, the game has been played in the same city and during the same weekend as the
Grey Cup
The Grey Cup (french: Coupe Grey) is both the championship game of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and the trophy awarded to the victorious team playing in the namesake championship of professional Canadian football. The game is contested be ...
: 1973, 2007 and 2012 in Toronto and in 2011 in Vancouver at BC Place Stadium.
![CIS Championship trophies](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/CIS_Championship_trophies.jpg)
The Vanier Cup is played between the winners of the
Uteck Bowl
The Uteck Bowl is one of the two semifinal bowls of U Sports football, Canada's national competition for university teams that play Canadian football. It is held in the easternmost of the two semifinal venues. The Uteck Bowl champion moves on to f ...
(formerly
Atlantic Bowl) and the
Mitchell Bowl
The Mitchell Bowl is one of the two semifinal bowls of U Sports football, Canada's national competition for university teams that play Canadian football. It is held in the more westerly location of the two semifinal venues. The winner of this game ...
(formerly the
Churchill Bowl). The Uteck and Mitchell Bowls, in turn, are contested by the
Loney Bowl (
AUS),
Hardy Cup (
Canada West
The Province of Canada (or the United Province of Canada or the United Canadas) was a British colony in North America from 1841 to 1867. Its formation reflected recommendations made by John Lambton, 1st Earl of Durham, in the Report on the ...
),
Dunsmore Cup
The Dunsmore Cup (french: Coupe Dunsmore) is a Canadian sports trophy, presented annually to the winner of the university-level football competition conducted by Réseau du sport étudiant du Québec (RSEQ), the governing body for all student sport ...
(
RSEQ), and
Yates Cup
The Yates Cup (french: La Coupe Yates) is a Canadian sports trophy, presented annually to the winner of the Ontario University Athletics football conference of U Sports. It is the oldest still-existing football trophy in North America, dating back ...
(
OUA
Oua is an islet on the north-east of Nukufetau atoll, Tuvalu, next to Lafanga
Lafanga or Lafaga is an islet of Nukufetau, Tuvalu. The traditional history of Nukufetau recalls that in order to protect the atoll from raiders from Tonga
Tong ...
) champions.
On June 8, 2020, U Sports announced that all fall athletics championships for the 2020–21 season had been cancelled due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
.
Awards
The Vanier Cup's
most valuable player
In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...
is awarded the Ted Morris Memorial Trophy. It was first awarded at the first championship in 1965 and named in honour of
Teddy Morris
Allan Byron (Teddy) Morris (March 1910 – September 5, 1965) was a Canadian Football Hall of Fame player and coach for the Toronto Argonauts.
Morris began playing Canadian football with Toronto playground teams and moved on to the Winnipeg Nati ...
, who died the same year. Morris, a
Hall of Fame
A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or Wiktionary:fame, fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actu ...
former
Toronto Argonauts
The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...
player and coach, was an organizer of the first bowl and champion for developing Canadian players.
The Bruce Coulter Award was first awarded in 1992 and is dependent on what position the winner of the Ted Morris Trophy played. If the winner is from the offence, then the Bruce Coulter Award winner will be the most outstanding defensive player or vice versa. It was named after
Bruce Coulter
Bruce Coulter (November 19, 1927 – June 5, 2018) was a Canadian football player and coach. He played ten seasons for the Montreal Alouettes, winning the Grey Cup in 1949. He then went on to coach 29 seasons for the Bishop's Gaiters
The Bisho ...
, long-time Head Coach of the
Bishop's Gaiters
The Bishop's Gaiters is the men's and women's athletic teams that represent Bishop's University in Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. The name Gaiter is a nickname used to refer to garments worn over the shoe and lower pants leg, worn by Anglican bishops ...
and former offensive and defensive player with the
Montreal Alouettes
The Montreal Alouettes (Canadian French, French: Les Alouettes de Montréal) are a professional Canadian football team based in Montreal, Quebec. Founded in 1946, the team has folded and been revived twice. The Alouettes compete in the Canadian F ...
in the 1950s. Coulter was inducted as a builder in the
Canadian Football Hall of Fame
The Canadian Football Hall of Fame (CFHOF) is a not-for-profit corporation, located in Hamilton, Ontario, that celebrates great achievements in Canadian football. It is maintained by the Canadian Football League (CFL). It includes displays about t ...
in 1997.
Broadcasting
![2012 Vanier Cup game](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ef/2012_Vanier_Cup_game.jpg)
The Vanier Cup final game is regularly broadcast nationally. From 1965 though 1976 it was broadcast on
CBC Television
CBC Television (also known as CBC TV) is a Canadian English-language broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcaster. The network began operations on September 6, 1952. Its French-l ...
, from 1977 through 1988 it was broadcast on the
CTV Television Network
The CTV Television Network, commonly known as CTV, is a Canadian English-language terrestrial television network. Launched in 1961 and acquired by BCE Inc. in 2000, CTV is Canada's largest privately owned television network and is now a divis ...
. In 1989,
TSN acquired rights to the game, lasting through to 2012 (besides a one-year stint on
The Score in 2008).
In November 2010, the rights to the Vanier Cup were purchased by sports marketing company MRX. The 2011 game was held in
Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...
, on the same weekend as the
99th Grey Cup and for the first time it was fully integrated into the Grey Cup Festival as a festival event.
In 2012, the
48th Vanier Cup, played between
Laval
Laval means ''The Valley'' in old French and is the name of:
People
* House of Laval, a French noble family originating from the town of Laval, Mayenne
* Laval (surname)
Places Belgium
* Laval, a village in the municipality of Sainte-Ode, Luxem ...
and
McMaster at Rogers Centre in Toronto became both the most attended and most watched Vanier Cup ever. Held the same weekend and in the same city as the
100th Grey Cup, the game was attended by 37,098. The previous record was set in 1989 at the
25th Vanier Cup, when 32,847 watched the game between
Western
Western may refer to:
Places
*Western, Nebraska, a village in the US
*Western, New York, a town in the US
*Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia
*Western world, countries that id ...
and
Saskatchewan
Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...
that was also played at SkyDome (now Rogers Centre). The game, broadcast on
TSN and RDS was watched by 910,000.
In February 2013, the CIS terminated the option years on their agreement with MRX opting for an open bid process for the hosting of the game. Laval University, in Quebec City, was the only bidder for the game and won the right to host the
49th Vanier Cup. In May, CIS terminated its agreement with TSN, and entered into a six-year deal with
Sportsnet
Sportsnet is a Canadian English-language sports specialty channel owned by Rogers Sports & Media. It was established in 1998 as CTV Sportsnet, a joint venture between CTV, Liberty Media, and Rogers Media. CTV parent Bell Globemedia then ...
to broadcast its championships, including the Vanier Cup.
The switch in venues, the decoupling of the Vanier Cup from Grey Cup week, and the change in broadcaster, led to a precipitous drop in attendance and viewership. A total of 301,000 viewers watched Laval defeat the
Calgary Dinos
The Calgary Dinos are the athletic teams that represent the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. They were known as the "Dinosaurs" but usually referred to as the "Dinos" until 1999, when the name was officially shortened. Some of its venue ...
25-14 Saturday, November 23, 2013, which was a decline of 64 per cent from the previous year. A standing room crowd of 18,543 were on hand at the
Telus Stadium
The ("Laval University Sports and Physical Education Complex"), usually called PEPS for short, is a sports complex located in Quebec City, Quebec, on the Université Laval campus. PEPS opened in 1970 and includes an outdoor stadium, an indoor st ...
which was a decline of 50 per cent from the previous year in Toronto (although a sellout in that venue). In 2019, after several more years of declines, the Vanier Cup returned to CBC.
Championships
![55th Vanier Cup ULaval 19](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ac/55th_Vanier_Cup_ULaval_19.jpg)
;Key
* Number of times that team has won the Vanier Cup.
Note: All Ted Morris Trophy and Bruce Coulter Award winners played for the winning team, unless otherwise noted.
A. Bob McGregor, Ted Morris Trophy winner in 1971, played for the