The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be either a single game, a series of games, or a tournament, and may use a single-elimination system or one of several other different playoff formats. Playoff, in regard to international fixtures, is to qualify or progress to the next round of a competition or tournament.
In Canada, soccer is the most popular sport in terms of participation rate; according to FIFA's Big Count, almost 2.7 million people played in Canada in 2006. Professional soccer in Canada is played in the Canadian Premier League and Major League Soccer. Canada also has many semi-professional and amateur soccer leagues. Canada's men's and women's national soccer teams are ranked 49th and 9th respectively in the FIFA World Rankings as of April 4, 2024.
Association football has been included in every Summer Olympic Games as a men's competition sport, except 1896 and 1932. Women's football was added to the official program at the Atlanta 1996 Games.
The Canadian Soccer Association 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, and amateur levels, including: the men's and women's national teams, Canadian Premier League, youth organizations, beach soccer, futsal, Paralympic and deaf national teams. The Canadian Soccer Association also administers and operates the Canadian Championship.
Sports in Canada consist of a wide variety of games. The roots of organized sports in Canada date back to the 1770s. Canada's official national sports are ice hockey and lacrosse. Other major professional games include curling, basketball, baseball, soccer, and football. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by numerous "Halls of Fame" and museums, such as Canada's Sports Hall of Fame.
Christine Margaret Sinclair is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for the Portland Thorns of the National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) and, from 2000 until her retirement from international soccer in 2023, was a member of the Canadian national team. An Olympic gold medallist, two-time Olympic bronze medallist, CONCACAF champion, and 14-time winner of the Canada Soccer Player of the Year award, Sinclair is officially the world's all-time leader for international goals scored for men or women with 190 goals, and is one of the most-capped international soccer players with 331 appearances.
The International Gay and Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA) is an international organization which was founded in 1992 with the intention of promoting association football (known as soccer in the United States and football in most of the rest of the world) in the LGBTQ+ community and to promote queer football to the world at large.
The CONCACAF W Championship is a women's association football competition for national teams organized by the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) that often serves as the qualifying competition to the Women's World Cup, and recently the Olympics. In years when the tournament has been held outside the World Cup qualifying cycle, non-CONCACAF members have been invited. CONCACAF is the governing body for football for North America, Central America and the Caribbean. The most successful country has been the United States, winning their ninth title in 2022.
The 1993 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as Women's Euro 1993 was a football tournament that happened between 1991 and 1993. The final games was held in Italy. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament involving European national teams from countries affiliated to UEFA, the European governing body, who have qualified for the competition. The competition aims to determine which national women's team is the best in Europe.
The 2008 Major League Soccer season was the 13th season of Major League Soccer. It was also the 96th season of FIFA-sanctioned soccer in the United States, and the 30th with a national first-division league.
The Canadian Championship is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and CF Montréal, eight Canadian Premier League sides, and the champions of League1 Ontario, League1 British Columbia, and Ligue1 Québec. The tournament is organized by the Canadian Soccer Association and has been broadcast on OneSoccer since 2019.
The CONCACAF Under-20 Championship is the second longest running international association football event in the North America, Central America and the Caribbean region, CONCACAF, and is the qualification tournament for the FIFA U-20 World Cup. The format of the tournament has undergone changes over the years. The tournament proper is currently played with a first round of four round-robin groups from which the top two sides from each group advance to a single-elimination championship round.
FC London is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in London, Ontario that plays in the men's and women's divisions of League1 Ontario in the Canadian third tier. The men's plays in League1 Ontario's second tier Championship division and the women's team play's in League1 Ontario's first tier Premier Division.
The New York Ramblers are a soccer club based in New York City, operated by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization of the same name. They were founded in 1980 when an ad was placed in the Village Voice looking for gay men interested in playing soccer in an area of Central Park known as the Ramble. This was the birth of the New York Ramblers, the world's first organized openly gay soccer club. The Ramblers provided a space for gay men who enjoyed the sport to meet and socialize outside of the traditional settings of bars and clubs.
The year of 2011 in CONCACAF marked the 48th year of CONCACAF competitions.
Federal Triangles Soccer Club, otherwise known as Federal Triangles, the Feds or FTSC, is a coed soccer club founded in 1990 by J. C. Cummings and a group of interested players under the umbrella of the DC Sports Association. The club runs several tournaments and leagues throughout the year and sponsors multiple men's and women's fall and spring teams. FTSC also organizes regular pickup games, multiple tournaments, and other events throughout the year, including the Rehoboth Beach Classic, United Night Out, and a Turkey Bowl & Thanksgiving Potluck. FTSC is a member of Team DC and the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association (IGLFA), and has nearly 200 paying member players of its own.
The 2016 IGLFA World Championship was the 22nd officially recognized world championship event for the IGLFA. It was held in Portland, Oregon from August 6 through 13, officially hosted by NetRippers F.C.. Group stage and semifinal matches were played at West Delta Park, while final and exhibition matches were played at Providence Park, home of the Portland Timbers (MLS) and Portland Thorns FC (NWSL).
The 2018 Men's League1 Ontario season was the fifth season of play for League1 Ontario, a Division 3 men's soccer league in the Canadian soccer pyramid and the highest level of soccer based in the Canadian province of Ontario.
The 2017 IGLFA Unity Cuty was a special international tournament for the IGLFA. It was held in Miami Beach from May 29 through June 2 as part of the 2017 World OutGames. This was the first official IGLFA tournament to be played as part of the World OutGames after the OutGames spun off from the Gay Games, in which the IGLFA usually has its officially recognized world championship events.
The 2018 IGLFA World Championship was the 23rd officially recognized world championship event for the IGLFA. It was held in Paris, France from August 5 through 11 as the football (soccer) competition part of the 2018 Gay Games. Panamboyz United and FC Paris Arc en ciel served as the official co-hosts of the tournament, with support from the IGLFA and French Football Federation. All matches took place at Tremblay Park.
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