League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier, League1 Championship, and League2 Ontario – with promotion and relegation between them.[3] The top-two tiers consist of 12 and 10 teams respectively, while the lowest tier is uncapped in size.
League1 Ontario was founded on November 15, 2013, in an announcement by the Ontario Soccer Association (OSA) that it would pilot the semi-professional league in 2014 and 2015 as a key pillar of long-term player development in Canada. The league would be administered by DG Sports, who also operate the province's amateur Ontario Soccer League, with Dino Rossi serving as commissioner. OSA President Ron Smale stated that the league's core group of players are to consist of U-23s, with League1 complementing the newly formed Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) elite youth league as a pathway for professional player development.[6]
Dylan Sacramento of Toronto FC Academy scored the first ever goal in the league with a 10th-minute strike against Vaughan Azzurri.[9] In the same game, Mateo Restrepo received the league's first red card.[9] On July 22, 2014, the league and the Ontario Soccer Association announced the termination of Internacional de Toronto's license agreement due to "failure to comply with agreed-upon league standards",[10][11] with league matches rescheduled for the season to accommodate the change. Toronto FC Academy were crowned the inaugural league champions on October 4, 2014, after defeating the Cataraqui Clippers 3–1 to secure the top place in the regular season standings.[12][13] Vaughan Azzurri and Sigma FC contested the inaugural League1 Cup on October 19, 2014, at BMO Field, with the Azzurri winning the single-game cup final 2–1 to be crowned champions.[14][15]
As the number of teams in the league continued to grow through expansion, the league introduced a two-conference format with the winner of each conference facing off in a championship match.[16] After the 2016 season, the Inter-Provincial Cup was cancelled, with the winners of League1 Ontario and the PLSQ instead advancing to the national Canadian Championship the following season, beginning in 2018.[17]
In 2018, the league returned to a single division, introducing playoffs for the top finishers of the league to decide the league champion.[18] The League Cup tournament was eliminated the following season.[19]
On November 14, 2018, the Canadian Premier League announced its purchase of League1 Ontario. According to L1O commissioner Dino Rossi, L1O would serve as "CPL's official development league."[20]
Due to restrictions associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, the league cancelled the 2020 season[21][22] and delayed the start of the 2021 season.[23] In 2022, L1O joined League1 Canada as a founding member. League1 Canada is an alliance of soccer leagues that operate at the pro-am level.[24]
In 2024, League1 Ontario restructured from a single league into a three-tier competition.[25] First announced in January 2022, existing teams were divided into the top two tiers (Premier and Championship) and the lowest tier (League2) was created as an entry point for expansion clubs to the L1O system. The competition adopted promotion and relegation for clubs to move between the tiers.[26] The 2024 season also saw the return of the L1 Cup, a league cup knockout tournament which features teams from all three tiers of the L1O system.[26]
Competition format
League1 Ontario structure (2024)
Tier
Division
1
Premier 12 teams
↓ relegate 1 or 2
2
Championship 10 teams
↑ promote 1 or 2 ↓ relegate 0 or 1
3
League2 24 teams in 3 conferences
↑ promote 2 or 3
League1 Ontario clubs are grouped into three divisions: League1 Premier, League1 Championship, and League2 Ontario. The regular season runs from April to August in which teams only play against other teams in their division. The top-two tiers use a single table round-robin format while the lowest tier is further subdivided into regional groupings. The team that accumulates the most points during the season is crowned league champions.[27] In 2016 and 2017, the league champion was determined by a single match playoff between the winners of the east and west divisions. From 2018 to 2023, a larger playoff format was used.
Since 2017, the winner of the Premier division has qualified for the Canadian Championship. At the end of each season, the winner of the Championship and League2 divisions are promoted to the next tier up while the bottom team in the Premier and Championship divisions are relegated down.[28]
Beginning in 2019, the Supporters Trophy was created by the Rogue Street Elite supporter group of North Mississauga SC to be given to the regular season champions.[29]
L1 Cup
The L1 Cup is a league cup tournament that features all L1O clubs.[30] It runs concurrently with the regular season, with cup games usually taking place mid-week. It is not a form of playoffs and all matches are separate from the regular season and are not reflected in the season standings. The 2014 and 2015 cups included a group stage and a knockout stage but from 2016 to 2018 the format was a single-elimination tournament. Following a hiatus from 2019 to 2023,[19] the L1 Cup will return in 2024 to coincide with the league's restructuring.[26][31]
Clubs
Current clubs
Twelve teams compete in League1 Premier, ten in League1 Championship, and all remaining teams in League2 Ontario. In 2024, existing teams were assigned to either the Premier or the Championship division based on results from the 2022 and 2023 seasons.
↑ BVB IA Waterloo was known as Waterloo United in 2021
↑ Pickering FC was known as Durham United FC/FA until the end of 2019
↑ Durham United was on hiatus in 2018 & returned in 2019[33] Pickering FC went on hiatus for 2023 & returned in 2024.[34]
↑ Toronto FC Academy played in League1 Ontario from 2014 to 2018, before returning in 2024. They were known as Toronto FC III between 2017 and 2018.
↑ Windsor City FC was known as Windsor Stars from 2014 to 2016 and known as Windsor TFC from 2017 to 2022
League2 Ontario
In 2024, a third tier has been introduced featuring new clubs as well as reserve teams. 24 teams, 3 independent and 21 reserve, have been split into three conferences and will be eligible to earn promotion to the higher tiers.
League1 Ontario was founded with a series of values, objectives and standards all aimed at furthering the league's stated objective of improving player development in Ontario and Canada.[35] Some of these regulations include:
Standards-based club licensing, renewed annually (not a franchise/ownership model). Standards include technical, organizational, facility and financial criteria.[35]
Maximum of 9 substitutes can be named to the bench.
League1 Ontario is an open-age league however there are several rules designed to give playing opportunities to young players. For the 2022 season, teams were required to have at least eight U-23 players on each match-day roster and to give U-20 players a total of at least 2,000 minutes across the regular season.[36] In 2024, the "eight U-23 player rule" was removed and replaced by a minutes quota. U-23 players must now play at least 41% of available minutes across the season (9,000 in Premier division) and U-20 players must play 11% of available minutes (2,500 in Premier division).[37]
Honours
Bold indicates clubs playing in 2024 League1 Ontario season. From 2016 to 2023, the winner of the playoffs determined the league champion.
↑ Originally, 10 clubs were in the league, but Internacional de Toronto was removed from the league mid-season.
↑ Originally, 21 clubs were set to participate, but some clubs opted out of the main division due to scheduling impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Some clubs participated in a separate short-season division.
In 2019, L1O launched a men's U21 Reserve Division open to existing League1 Ontario or Ontario Player Development League license holders. The inaugural year will consist of a 12-game summer season and a separate 10-game fall season. Nine teams will participate in the 2019 summer season with a possibility of more teams joining for the fall.[38]
Players who earned national team caps while in L1O
The following players have earned a senior national team cap while playing in League1 Ontario (the year of their first cap while playing in the league is listed). Players who earned caps before or after playing in League1 Ontario are not included, unless they also earned caps while in the league. This section also does not include youth caps (U23 or below).
Blue Devils Football Club is a semi-professional soccer club based in Oakville, Ontario. The senior men's and women's teams currently compete in League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions.
FC London is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in London, Ontario. The club was founded in 2008 and plays in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The team plays home games at the Portuguese Club of London and the Hellenic Community Centre.
Joseph William Anthony Di Chiara is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario.
The 2014 League1 Ontario season was the inaugural season of the Division 3 Ontario-based semi-professional soccer league. It began on May 30, featuring 10 teams. The league's first ever goal was scored by Toronto FC Academy player Dylan Sacramento.
Dylan Jorge Guilherme Labao Carreiro is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder.
The 2016 Men's League1 Ontario season was the third season of play for League1 Ontario, a Division 3 semi-professional soccer league in the Canadian soccer pyramid and the highest level of soccer based in the Canadian province of Ontario.
Alain Issa Omari Sargeant is a footballer who plays as a defender. Born in Canada, he represents the Saint Kitts and Nevis national team.
Reshon Shemar Phillip is a Canadian soccer player.
The 2017 Men's League1 Ontario season was the fourth season of play for League1 Ontario, a Division 3 semi-professional soccer league in the Canadian soccer pyramid and the highest level of soccer based in the Canadian province of Ontario.
Woodbridge Strikers Soccer Club is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in Woodbridge, Ontario. The club was founded in 1976 as a youth soccer club and added its semi-professional club in League1 Ontario in 2014. The team plays home games at Vaughan Grove Park.
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.
Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which is a youth soccer club as part of their High Performance Program.
Daniel Gogarty is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a centre-back for Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario.
Jarred Phillips is a Canadian professional soccer player who currently plays for the Vaughan Azzurri of League1 Ontario.
Nyal Christian-Anthony Higgins is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays for Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario.
League1 Ontario is a semi-professional women's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league in the Canadian soccer league system. League1 Ontario part of League1 Canada, the national third tier with regional divisions, with L1O equivalents in Alberta, British Columbia, and Quebec.
Ryan Robinson is a Canadian professional soccer player who plays as a forward for Vaughan Azzurri in League1 Ontario.
The 2023 Men's League1 Ontario season was the ninth of 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. Following the 2023 season, the league will split into three divisions with promotion and relegation between them.
Patrice Gheisar is a Canadian soccer coach, who currently serves as head coach of HFX Wanderers FC in the Canadian Premier League.
Riley Alexander Ferrazzo is a Canadian soccer player who plays for HFX Wanderers in the Canadian Premier League.
References
↑ "Competitive S4L Leagues". Ontario Soccer. Archived from the original on November 5, 2021. Retrieved October 15, 2021. League1 Ontario sits as the highest level of soccer for Ontario-based players and is defined as a semi-professional league
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
