2024 CPL Competition Guidelines

As of April 12, 2024

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

2024 CPL Competitions Calendar and Key Dates

Primary Transfer Window opens: January 31, 2024
Pre-Season opens: February 15, 2024
FIFA Window: March 18, 2024 to March 26, 2024
CPL Master Roster compliance deadline: April 1, 2024
Regular Season begins: April 13, 2024
Primary Transfer Window closes: April 23, 2024
Canadian Championship Preliminary Round: April 23, 2024 to May 2, 2024
Canadian Championship Quarter-Final Round: May 7, 2024 to May 30, 2024
FIFA Window: June 3, 2024 to June 11, 2024
Secondary Transfer Window opens: July 5, 2024
Secondary Transfer Window closes: August 2, 2024
U SPORTS player contract term extended or returns to U SPORTS program: August 15, 2024
CPL Master Roster freeze date: September 13, 2024
FIFA Window: September 2, 2024 to September 10, 2024
Regular Season ends: October 19, 2024
FIFA Window: October 7, 2024 to October 15, 2024
CPL Playoffs: October 23, 2024 to November 9, 2024
CPL Final: TBD

The following guidelines pertain to the 2024 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 2024, including:

Atlético Ottawa

Cavalry FC

Forge FC

Halifax Wanderers FC

Pacific FC

Valour FC

Vancouver FC

York United FC

The 2024 Regular Season will run from Saturday, April 13 to Saturday, October 19 under a single-table format. Each Club will play a total of 28 Regular Season matches over a balanced schedule, hosting 14 matches at home and competing in 14 away matches.

The Club that tops the standings at the conclusion of the 2024 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 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup. The top five (5) Clubs in the regular-season standings at the conclusion of the 2024 Regular Season will advance to the 2024 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, staff and ownership, 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, but any outstanding suspensions incurred before the CPL Playoffs must be served. For example, if a player receives his fifth yellow card in the last Regular Season match, he will be suspended for the first match of the Playoffs.

Players will be subject to the following sanctions should they receive a red card during the 2024 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

Team 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.

Yellow card accumulation for team officials will be reset at the end of the CPL Regular Season, but any outstanding suspensions incurred before the CPL Playoffs must be served. For example, if a coach receives his third caution in the last Regular Season match, he will be suspended for the first match of the Playoffs.

Team officials will be subject to the following sanctions should they receive a red card during the 2024 CPL League Season:

A team 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 team 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 2024 Regular Season, except for outstanding accumulations suspensions, may be required to be served at the start of the 2025 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 who arrived in Canada before the age of 18, a holder of a certain special status (i.e. a player who was formally granted refugee or asylum status), a player that filed his application for permanent residency status before Feb. 28, 2021, or a player that has signed a U SPORTS contract.
A maximum of five (5) International Players in their starting lineup

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

Each CPL Club must accumulate a minimum of 2,000 minutes played by Under-21 Domestic Players, including players on the Club’s Developmental Roster, over the course of the 2024 Regular Season. An Under-21 Domestic Player may only accrue as many as 90 minutes per CPL match toward his Club’s overall minutes minimum; any injury time added at the referee’s discretion will not be included in the calculation of a club’s Under-21 Domestic Player minutes. Incoming Loan Players that meet the Under-21 Domestic Player requirements can only contribute up to a maximum of 1,000 minutes of a Club’s required Under-21 Domestic Player minutes during the Regular Season.

Under-21 Domestic Player Minutes are calculated using data from OPTA, the CPL’s data provider.

Tie Breakers

If one or more Clubs finish the 2024 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

2024 CPL Playoffs

Playoff Format & CPL Final

The 2024 CPL Playoffs will begin following the final day of the Regular Season on Saturday, October 19, 2024. The Playoffs will conclude with the 2024 CPL Final, where the winning Club will be awarded the North Star Cup as CPL Champion and automatically qualify for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup.

The Playoffs will follow a single-game knockout format that consists of five (5) total matches, including the 2024 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 2024 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 2024 Regular Season will qualify for the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup.

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