Trillium Cup

Last updated

Trillium Cup
Trillium Cup logo.png
MLS crest logo RGB - Columbus Crew.svg
Columbus Crew
MLS crest logo RGB - Toronto FC.svg
Toronto FC
Location Great Lakes region
First meetingMarch 29, 2008
MLS regular season
CLB 3–1 TOR
Latest meetingSeptember 18, 2024
MLS regular season
TOR 0–2 CLB
Next meetingAugust 16, 2025
MLS regular season
TOR v CLB
Stadiums BMO Field, Toronto
Lower.com Field, Columbus
Statistics
Meetings total46
Most winsColumbus (10 series wins, 20 individual wins)
All-time seriesCLB 20–14–12 TOR
Largest victoryTOR 5–0 CLB
MLS regular season
(May 26, 2017)

The Trillium Cup is an annual rivalry cup between Major League Soccer clubs Columbus Crew and Toronto FC. The Trillium Cup is named after the trillium, which is both the official flower of the Canadian province of Ontario, and the official wildflower of the U.S. state of Ohio. The rivalry draw on the teams’ similarities: the teams are geographically adjacent; near the Great Lakes that border the United States and Canada, and each play home matches in their respective soccer-specific stadium. The cup is awarded to the team that wins the most points from the series at the season's end. In the event of a draw on points, the first tiebreak is determined by the away goals rule, then by the team with the largest overall goal differential at the conclusion of the Major League Soccer season.

Contents

History

The Trillium Cup was instituted in 2008, the second season of Toronto FC's play in Major League Soccer (MLS). The inaugural game of the Trillium Cup was played on March 29, 2008, at Columbus Crew Stadium. [1]

The initial rivalry between the Trillium teams was supported by the mayors of the respective cities. In 2008, Mayor Michael B. Coleman of Columbus and Mayor David Miller of Toronto started a small wager on their respective team for the first installment of the Trillium Cup – the mayor of the losing team was required to wear the winning team's jersey. [2]

The rivalry became more intense when Toronto FC fans bought 2,500 tickets to the inaugural game at Columbus Crew Stadium, with buses organized for fans from Toronto heading to Columbus for the first game on March 29, 2008. [3] The Crew won 2–0 over their new rival. The second and third meetings, at Toronto's BMO Field, were draws; 0–0 and 1–1, respectively. The Crew claimed the inaugural Trillium Cup with a 5–2 score on points earned.

In 2011, Toronto defeated Columbus 4–2, recording their first ever win against the Crew and securing their first Trillium Cup. [4]

In 2017, Toronto and Columbus met for the first time in the MLS Cup Playoffs, in the Eastern Conference Finals, as Toronto advanced to the MLS Cup Final 1–0 on aggregate. [5]

A white trillium (Trillium grandiflorum), the provincial flower of Ontario and the state wildflower of Ohio White Trillium Trillium grandiflorum Flower 2613px.jpg
A white trillium ( Trillium grandiflorum ), the provincial flower of Ontario and the state wildflower of Ohio

In 2020 and 2021, COVID-19 travel restrictions imposed by the Canadian Government forced Toronto to play rivalry matches in Pratt & Whitney Stadium in Connecticut in 2020 followed by Orlando SC's Exploria Stadium in Orlando, Florida in 2021 where Toronto played home matches in these stadiums as the home team. This marked the first time that the rivalry matches were played on neutral ground. In 2020, Toronto won their only meeting in 2020 with Columbus 3–1 in September 2020. [6] The next year Toronto won the first leg of the rivalry match in 2021 with a score of 2–0. [7] Columbus Crew would later win the second leg of the rivalry in 2021 on the last rivalry match to be taken place at the Historic Crew Stadium before the Columbus Crew moves to Lower.com Field in July 2021. Columbus won the match 2–1. [8]

Winners by year

YearWinnerAggregate score
2008 Columbus Crew3–1
2009 Columbus Crew5–4
2010 Columbus Crew4–2
2011 Toronto FC5–3
2012 Columbus Crew5–2
2013 Columbus Crew4–2
2014 Toronto FC8–4
2015 Columbus Crew SC7–3
2016 Toronto FC4–1
2017 Toronto FC8–3
2018 Columbus Crew SC5–3
2019 Toronto FC3–2
2020 Toronto FC3–1
2021 Toronto FC3–2
2022 Columbus Crew4–2
2023 Columbus Crew3–1
2024 Columbus Crew6–0
2025

Series results

  Columbus win  Draw  Toronto win

Winners by yearIndividual results
CompetitionYearWinnersAggregate scoreVenueDateScoreRecap
ColumbusToronto
Major League Soccer2007Columbus Crew6–3 [note 1] Columbus Crew Stadium May 26, 200722
Columbus Crew StadiumJuly 22, 200720
BMO Field September 22, 200721
Major League Soccer2008Columbus Crew3–1Columbus Crew StadiumMarch 29, 200820
BMO FieldMay 17, 200800
BMO FieldSeptember 13, 200811
Major League Soccer2009Columbus Crew5–4Columbus Crew StadiumMarch 28, 200911
BMO FieldMay 2, 200911
Columbus Crew StadiumJuly 25, 200932
Major League Soccer2010Columbus Crew4–2Columbus Crew StadiumMarch 27, 201020
BMO FieldOctober 16, 201022
Major League Soccer2011Toronto FC5–3BMO FieldApril 23, 201111
Columbus Crew StadiumSeptember 10, 201124
Major League Soccer2012Columbus Crew5–2BMO FieldMarch 31, 201210
Columbus Crew StadiumAugust 22, 201221
Columbus Crew StadiumOctober 28, 201221
Major League Soccer2013Columbus Crew4–2BMO FieldMay 18, 201310
BMO FieldJuly 27, 201312
Columbus Crew StadiumAugust 17, 201320
Major League Soccer2014Toronto FC8–4Columbus Crew StadiumApril 5, 201402
BMO FieldMay 31, 201423
Columbus Crew StadiumAugust 9, 201423
Major League Soccer2015Columbus Crew SC7–3Mapfre StadiumMarch 14, 201520
Mapfre StadiumJuly 25, 201533
BMO FieldOctober 17, 201520
Major League Soccer2016Toronto FC4–1BMO FieldMay 21, 201600
Mapfre StadiumJuly 13, 201611
BMO FieldJuly 31, 201603
Major League Soccer2017Toronto FC8–3Mapfre StadiumApril 15, 201721
Mapfre StadiumMay 10, 201712
BMO FieldMay 26, 201705
MLS Cup PlayoffsToronto FC1–0 [note 2] Mapfre StadiumNovember 21, 201700
BMO FieldNovember 29, 201701
Major League Soccer2018Columbus Crew SC5–3BMO FieldMarch 3, 201820
Mapfre StadiumJune 2, 201833
Major League Soccer2019Toronto FC3–2Mapfre StadiumAugust 17, 201922
BMO FieldOctober 6, 201901
Major League Soccer2020Toronto FC3–1 Pratt & Whitney Stadium [note 3] September 27, 202013
Major League Soccer2021Toronto FC3–2 Exploria Stadium [note 4] May 12, 202102
Historic Crew StadiumMay 29, 202121 [27]
Major League Soccer2022Columbus Crew4–2 Lower.com Field March 12, 202221 [28]
BMO FieldJune 29, 202221 [29]
Major League Soccer2023Columbus Crew3–1 BMO Field March 11, 202311 [28]
Lower.com FieldAugust 26, 202320 [29]
Major League Soccer2024Columbus Crew6–0Lower.com FieldJuly 6, 202440 [30]
BMO FieldSeptember 18, 202420 [31]
Major League Soccer2025BMO FieldAugust 16, 2025
Lower.com FieldSeptember 20, 2025

+ Points based on wins (3), draws (1) and losses (0)
– Tiebreakers: 1) away goals for, 2) goal differential, 3) previous year winners

Statistics

As of September 18, 2024
CompetitionMatchesWinsDrawsGoals
CLBTORCLBTOR
MLS regular season442011136857
MLS Cup playoffs 201101
Total462012146858

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ These games were played before the Trillium Cup was created.
  2. ↑ These playoff results do not count towards the Trillium Cup.
  3. ↑ Toronto played as the home team for matches played in Pratt & Whitney Stadium.
  4. ↑ Toronto played as the home team for matches played in Exploria Stadium.

References

  1. ↑ "FIRST TRILLIUM CUP MATCH". columbuscrewsc.com. Retrieved December 1, 2016.
  2. ↑ "FC fans paint Columbus red". The OSA News Bulletin. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  3. ↑ Campbell, Morgan (March 30, 2008). "FC fans paint Columbus red". The Star. TheStar.com. Retrieved June 2, 2014.
  4. ↑ Merz, Craig. "Reds run rampant in goalfest win over Crew". MLSSoccer.com. Major League Soccer. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
  5. ↑ "Toronto FC beats Columbus 1-0 to return to MLS Cup final". CTV News. November 29, 2017. Archived from the original on October 31, 2019.
  6. ↑ "TORvsCLB 09-27-2020". MLSSoccer.com. Major League Soccer.
  7. ↑ "TORvsCLB 05-12-2021". MLSSoccer.com. Major League Soccer.
  8. ↑ "Recap: Columbus Crew 2, Toronto FC 1". MLSSoccer.com. Major League Soccer.
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.