2025 CPL Competition Guidelines

As of April 1, 2025

The following is a series of summary interpretations from the official competitions guidelines that formally govern play within the Canadian Premier League.

2025 CPL Competitions Calendar and Key Dates

Primary Transfer Window opens: January 31, 2025
CPL Master Roster compliance deadline: April 1, 2025
Regular Season begins: April 5, 2025
Primary Transfer Window closes: April 23, 2025
TELUS Canadian Championship Preliminary Round: April 29 to May 7, 2025
TELUS Canadian Championship Quarter-Final Round (Leg 1): May 20 to May 21, 2025
TELUS Canadian Championship Quarter-Final Round (Leg 2): July 8 to July 9, 2025
Secondary Transfer Window opens: July 24, 2025
TELUS Canadian Championship Semi-Final Round (Leg 1): August 12 to August 12, 2025
U SPORTS player contract term extended or returns to U SPORTS program: August 15, 2025
Secondary Transfer Window closes: August 21, 2025
TELUS Canadian Championship Semi-Final Round (Leg 2); September 16 to September 17, 2025
CPL Master Roster freeze date: September 18, 2025
TELUS Canadian Championship Final: October 1, 2025
Regular Season ends: October 18, 2025
CPL Playoffs: October 22, 2025 to November 8/9, 2025
CPL Final: November 8/9, 2025

The following guidelines pertain to the 2025 Canadian Premier League (CPL) League Season, which includes the CPL’s Regular Season and Playoffs, unless otherwise specified:

Eight (8) Member Clubs will compete in the CPL’s Regular Season in 2025, including:

Atlético Ottawa

Cavalry FC

Forge FC

Halifax Wanderers FC

Pacific FC

Valour FC

Vancouver FC

York United FC

The 2025 Regular Season will run from Saturday, April 5 to Saturday, October 18 under a single-table format. Each Club will play a total of 28 Regular Season matches over a balanced schedule, hosting 14 home matches and competing in 14 away matches.

The Club that tops the standings at the conclusion of the 2025 Regular Season will be recognized as the Regular Season Winners, will be awarded the Canadian Premier League Shield and will earn an automatic berth in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup. The top five (5) Clubs in the regular-season standings at the conclusion of the 2025 Regular Season will advance to the 2025 CPL Playoffs.

Discipline and Club Conduct

Canada Soccer handles on-field and certain other disciplinary matters for the CPL, pursuant to Canada Soccer’s Disciplinary Code and Professional Soccer Club Disciplinary Annex.

The League may impose discipline on Member Clubs, including players and staff, for violation of league protocols or directives, at its discretion.

Officiating

All referees that participate in the officiating of CPL games are registered match officials with Canada Soccer. They are trained, assigned and evaluated by Canada Soccer.

Cautions and Suspensions

Players will be subject to the following automatic suspensions should they accumulate yellow cards during the Regular Season:

– A player who accumulates five (5) yellow cards will receive a one (1) match suspension.

– A player who accumulates eight (8) yellow cards will receive a one (1) match suspension.

– A player who accumulates eleven (11) yellow cards will receive a one (1) match suspension.

A Good Behaviour Incentive, which begins after a player’s first yellow card and reduces a player’s yellow card accumulation total by one (1) such caution, will be triggered when a player competes in five (5) consecutive Regular Season matches without receiving a yellow card, red card or other discipline sanction.

For a match to count toward the Good Behaviour Incentive, a player is required to enter the Field of Play as a starter or substitute. A player’s five-game streak will not be affected if he is an unused substitute or not included on the matchday roster. If the match count is broken because of a sanction, the five-game count restarts from the next time the player steps on the Field of Play in a regular-season match.

The Good Behaviour Incentive can be applied up to three (3) times in a season. The caution accumulation total can only be reset as low as zero (0). Cautions received in Canadian Championship play do not apply.

Yellow card accumulation for players will be reset at the end of the CPL Regular Season. Any outstanding suspension incurred for yellow card accumulation at the end of the CPL Regular Season will not need to be served. Instead, a Canada Soccer Disciplinary Panel will impose a financial penalty.

Any outstanding suspensions incurred for red card offences during the CPL regular season must be served during the CPL Playoffs.

Players will be subject to the following sanctions should they receive a red card during the 2025 CPL League Season:

– A player who is dismissed from the Field of Play for accumulating two (2) yellow cards in a match will be suspended for one (1) match.

– A player who is dismissed from the Field of Play for receiving a straight red card will be suspended for a minimum of one (1) match, depending on the offense.

Technical Staff Cautions and Suspensions

Club officials will be subject to the following sanctions should they accumulate yellow cards during the regular season:

A team official who accumulates three (3) yellow cards will receive a one (1) match suspension.
A team official who accumulates four (4) yellow cards will receive a two (2) match suspension.

A Good Behaviour Incentive, which begins after a Club official’s first yellow card and reduces a Club official’s yellow card accumulation total by one (1) such caution, will be triggered when a Club official goes seven (7) consecutive Regular Season matches without receiving any disciplinary sanctions.

Yellow card accumulation for Club officials will be reset at the end of the CPL Regular Season. Any outstanding suspension incurred for yellow card accumulation at the end of the CPL Regular Season will not need to be served. Instead, a Canada Soccer Disciplinary Panel will impose a financial penalty.

Any outstanding suspensions incurred for red card offences during the CPL regular season must be served during the CPL Playoffs.

Club officials will be subject to the following sanctions should they receive a red card during the 2025 CPL League Season:

A Club official who is dismissed from the Technical Area for accumulating two (2) yellow cards in a match will be suspended for one (1) match.
A Club official who is dismissed from the Technical Area for receiving a straight red card can be suspended for a minimum of one (1) match, depending on the offense.

Any period of suspension which remains outstanding at the end of the 2025 Regular Season, except for outstanding accumulations suspensions, may be required to be served at the start of the 2026 CPL Regular Season.

Matchday Rosters

On any given CPL matchday, the Home Club must dress:

Eighteen (18) players from its Master Roster
A minimum of two (2) goalkeepers

On any given CPL matchday, the Visiting Club must dress:

Between sixteen (16) and eighteen (18) players from its Master Roster
A minimum of two (2) goalkeepers

Both the Home and Visiting Clubs are required to start each CPL League Season match with:

A minimum of six (6) Domestic Players in their starting lineup. A Domestic Player is either a: Canadian citizen; a permanent resident, a holder of a certain other special status (i.e. a player who has formally been granted refugee or asylum status); a player that has signed a CPL-U SPORTS Contract; a player that has had an active Standard Player Contract with a CPL Club during any three (3) CPL League Seasons, not including the current League Season; or a player who was physically resident in Canada for an aggregate period of at least three (3) years.

Player Substitutions

Each CPL Club is permitted five (5) substitutions plus one (1) concussion substitutions per CPL League Season match.

Under-21 Domestic Player Minutes

U-21 Domestic Players must play a combined minimum of 2,000 minutes in League Matches over the course of the twenty-eight game 2025 Regular Season. Minutes played by U-21 Domestic Players on a Club’s Developmental Roster are included in the 2,000-minute calculation.

U-21 Domestic minute calculations will utilize data from OPTA / StatsPerform, the League’s data provider. Incoming loan players that are included on a Club’s Primary Roster and meet the U-21 Domestic Player requirements count towards the 2,000-minute calculation. However, Clubs may only utilize a maximum of fifty per cent of the total required U-21 Domestic Player minutes during each Regular Season from all incoming loan players (i.e. a maximum combined total of 1,000 minutes from incoming loan players who meet the U-21 Domestic Player requirements for the Regular Season).

Tie Breakers

If one or more Clubs finish the 2025 CPL Regular Season with the same number of points, tiebreakers will be exercised in the following order:

Total number of wins
Head-to-Head*
Goal Differential
Goals For
Away goals differential
Away goals for
Home goals differential
Home goals for
Fewest Disciplinary Points
Most Under-21 Domestic Player Minutes
Coin toss (tie between two (2) Clubs) or drawing of lots (tie between three (3) or more Clubs)

Disciplinary Points shall be tallied as follows:

Yellow Card: One (1) point
Red Card (Direct or accumulation of two (2) yellow cards): Three (3) points

Head-to-Head Record Tie Breakers

The following scenarios will come into play it two or more clubs are tied on Total Points and Total Wins at the end of the 2025 CPL Regular Season, to determined the outcome of Tie Breaker No. 2 — Head to Head Record:

Scenario 1: If two (2) Clubs are tied on both Total Points and Wins, the tie breaker shall go to the Club that has earned more Points from Head-to-Head Matchups between the two (2) Clubs during 2025 CPL Regular Season play.
Scenario 2: If two (2) Clubs are tied on Total Points, Wins and Points from Head-to-Head Matchups during 2025 CPL Regular Season play, the tie breaker shall go to the Club that has the greater Goal Differential from Head-to-Head Matchups between the tied Clubs. In this scenario, if the two (2) Clubs remain tied, the League shall proceed to Tie Breaker No. 3 — Goal Differential.
Scenario 3: If three (3) or more Clubs are tied on both Total Points and Wins, the tie breaker shall go to the Club that has earned more Points from Head-to-Head Matchups between the three (3) or more Clubs during 2025 CPL Regular Season play. The Club with the most Points from those Head-to-Head Matchups will be ranked above the other tied Clubs. The remaining Clubs will subsequently be re-seeded based on the number of Points from Head-to-Head Matchups collected between the remaining tied Clubs during 2025 CPL Regular Season play. This step should be repeated until all tied Clubs have been re-seeded.
Scenario 4: If three (3) or more Clubs are tied on both Total Points and Wins, and if two (2) Clubs are tied on Points from Head- toHead Matchups, the tie breaker shall go to the Club that has the greater Goal Differential from Head-to-Head Matchups shared between all the tied Clubs. In this scenario, if the two (2) Clubs remain tied, the League shall proceed to Tie Breaker No. 3 — Goal Differential

2025 CPL Playoffs

Playoff Format & CPL Final

The 2025 CPL Playoffs will begin following the final day of the Regular Season on Saturday, October 18, 2025. The Playoffs will conclude with the 2025 CPL Final, where the winning Club will be awarded the North Star Cup as CPL Champion and automatically qualify for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.

The Playoffs will follow a single-game knockout format that consists of five (5) total matches, including the 2025 CPL Final, as follows:

Match 1: Fifth (5^th) Seed at Fourth (4^th) Seed. Winner advances to Match 3.
Match 2: Second (2^nd) Seed at First (1^st) Seed. Winner advances to host 2025 CPL Final; Loser progresses to Match 4.
Match 3: Winner Match 1 at Third (3^rd) Seed.
Match 4: Winner Match 3 at Loser Match 2
Match 5 (CPL Final): Winner Match 4 at Winner Match 2

Should any CPL Playoff match be tied at the end of regular time, two fifteen (15) minute extra-time periods will follow. Should the match be tied after extra time, the match will be decided by penalty kicks.

If a single CPL Club is named both CPL Champion and Regular Season Winners, the second-highest seeded Club from the 2025 Regular Season will qualify for the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.

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