League1 Canada, in partnership with host BC Soccer, is pleased to confirm that the 2023 Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship will be held in Langley, British Columbia in August.
The tournament will be played at Willoughby Community Park, home to the newest Canadian Premier League team, Vancouver Football Club. The semifinals will take place on Friday, August 11, with the third-place match and the final played on Sunday, August 13.
The Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship launched in 2022 and was an important step in League1 Canada’s mission to unify, elevate, and expand pro-am soccer and grow the women’s game in Canada. A successful inaugural tournament was hosted in Laval, Québec in August 2022, with the first title emphatically won by AS Blainville.
This year’s competition will once again feature the champions of League1 BC, League1 Ontario, and League1 Québec. The four-team tournament will be rounded out by a wild card entry that will be awarded to the League1 BC play-off champion, or runner-up should the same team also win the regular season.
The champion of League1 Québec, PEF Soccer Québec, will play the wild card entry from League1 BC in the first semifinal on August 11, with the eventual League1 Ontario champion facing the League1 BC champion, Whitecaps FC, in the second semifinal later that day. The teams will return to the pitch on August 13, when the two semifinal winners will face off in the final, which will be preceded by the match to decide third place.
Dino Rossi, President of League1 Canada, said: “The inaugural tournament in Laval was an essential step forward for League1 Canada. It demonstrated the importance of establishing a platform for the best teams in our Division III Pro-Am leagues to compete against each other, offering our top players visibility and a level of competition that hasn’t been possible before.
“I’m excited for the opportunity to build on that this year, knowing this competition will only get bigger and better as the League1 Canada Alliance grows. None of this would be possible without the support of our partners, and I would like to thank BC Soccer and the League1 BC leadership team for their commitment to hosting the event in Langley.”
Gabriel Assis, Director of Soccer Operations at BC Soccer, said: “We are excited to bring the Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship to British Columbia. This event provides the highest level of competition for women in our country and represents a landmark of collaboration across League1 Canada. We are ready to build on the success from last year and showcase the incredible talent from League1 BC, League1 Ontario, and League1 Québec.
“We look forward to welcoming players, coaches, match officials and fans to the Township of Langley, on the traditional territories of the Coast Salish People, for days of intense competition.”
The 2023 Women’s Inter-Provincial Championship will be broadcast on dedicated soccer channel OneSoccer, available to all Canadian households through OneSoccer.ca, via Roku, Chromecast and Apple TV devices and with the OneSoccer app for iOS and Android devices. OneSoccer is also available to Western Canadians as a linear channel on Optik TV (Ch.980), the pay-TV service operated by Telus, one of Canada’s ‘big three’ telecoms companies, as well as on streaming service fuboTV Canada, where it sits alongside a range of other premium sports offerings, including English Premier League and Serie A channels.
Ticketing information will be confirmed later in July. Details of League1 Canada’s inaugural Men’s Inter-Provincial Championship, to be staged in 2024, will be announced later this year.