| Competition: | Canadian Soccer League First Division |
| Season: | 2014 |
| Dates: | May 24 – October 5 (regular season) October 12 – October 26 (playoffs) |
| Winners: | York Region Shooters (regular season) York Region Shooters (playoffs) |
| League Topscorer: | 20 goals: Marin Vučemilović-Grgić |
| Best Goalkeeper: | Vladimir Vujasinović |
| Biggest Home Win: | Serbian White Eagles 6–0 Burlington SC (June 15) |
| Biggest Away Win: | Niagara United 0–6 Toronto Croatia (August 24) |
| Highest Scoring: | 9 goals: Kingston FC 5–4 Toronto Croatia (September 21) |
| Matches: | 90 |
| Total Goals: | 386 |
| Prevseason: | 2013 |
| Nextseason: | 2015 |
The 2014 Canadian Soccer League season was the 17th since its establishment where a total of 20 teams from Ontario took part in the league. The season began on May 24, 2014, and concluded on October 26, 2014. York Region Shooters won their second championship in a 5–4 victory in a penalty shootout over Toronto Croatia in the CSL Championship final held at Esther Shiner Stadium in Toronto.[1] York Region became the second club in the league's history to produce a perfect season, and championship after the Toronto Olympians in the 1999 season.[2]
The league's strained relationship with the Canadian Soccer Association continued before the launch of the 2014 season with the CSA expelling the CSL from its membership over alleged violations of rules and regulations in order to make way for a lesser structure in Ontario.[3] After failing to specify which rule violations were made and without providing a formal hearing in order to discuss the issues the CSL in response filed litigation against the CSA.[4] The league operated as a private league for the first time since the 1997 season in its predecessor league the Canadian National Soccer League. Though they did join the newly formed Soccer Federation of Canada, which provides private soccer entities the services needed such as administration of players, non-playing personnel, match officials and insurance.[5] [6]
Once the CSL was de-sanctioned the league decreased in membership to 10 teams in the first division with Windsor Stars joining the newly formed League1 Ontario, while founding member St. Catharines Roma Wolves disbanded their professional team while still operating their youth teams. Meanwhile, the second division increased in size to 10 teams with Milton SC joining along with the addition of Winstars Shooters the reserve team for the York Region Shooters after its affiliation arrangement with the Winstars Soccer Academy.[7] [8] [9] The league formed an working relationship with the American Soccer League in order to assist in areas of competition and business.[10] [11] While its youth development system continued its progress with more than 40 former CSL players being selected for various national teams in the last four seasons.[12] [13] [14] This Week in the CSL the league's weekly television show hosted by producer Alex Bastyovanszky continued covering the CSL with Ethnic Channels Group distributing the program.[15]
All of the 10 teams playing in the first division this year are returning from the 2013 season. From the previous year, two teams are not part of the league anymore: Windsor Stars, who will be part of the newly formed League1 Ontario, and St. Catharines Roma Wolves.
| Team | City | Stadium | Manager | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Brampton (Bramalea) | Juan Barreto[16] | |||
| Burlington SC[17] | William Etchu Tabi[18] | |||
| Queen's West Field | Colm Muldoon[19] | |||
| Hellenic Com Centre | Tomo Dancetovic[20] | |||
| Kalar Park Sports Field | Bruno Reis[21] | |||
| Toronto (North York) | Josef Komlodi[22] | |||
| Lazo Džepina | ||||
| Toronto (Liberty Village) | Uroš Stamatović[23] | |||
| Hershey Field | Velimir Crljen[24] | |||
| Vaughan (Maple) | St. Joan of Arc Field | Darryl Gomez[25] |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals[26] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Marin Vučemilović-Grgić | London City SC | 20 |
| 2 | Dražen Vuković | SC Waterloo Region | 16 |
| 3 |  Guillaume Surot | London City SC | 12 |
| 4 |  Jose De Sousa[27] | North York Astros | 10 |
| 5 | Joey Melo | North York Astros | 9 |
| 6 | Catalin Lichioiu | Kingston FC | 8 |
| Sahjah Reid | Serbian White Eagles | ||
| 8 | Leaford Allen | Brampton City United | 7 |
 Mademba Ba[28] | Kingston FC | ||
| Pero Menalo | Toronto Croatia | ||
| Competition: | Canadian Soccer League Second Division |
| Season: | 2014 |
| Winners: | Kingston FC B (Second Division regular season) Kingston FC B (Second Division playoffs) |
| League Topscorer: | Mademba Ba (31) |
| Matches: | 72 |
| Total Goals: | 341 |
| Prevseason: | 2013 |
| Nextseason: | 2015 |
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mademba Ba[29] | Kingston FC B | 31 |
| 2 | Nikola Miokovic[30] | SC Waterloo B | 18 |
| 3 |  Aleksandar Stojanovski | York Region Shooters B | 9 |
| 4 |  Stephane Assengue | Kingston FC B | 8 |
| Roshane Clarke | Toronto Croatia B | ||
 Aleksandar Stojiljković | SC Waterloo Region B | ||
| Marcelo Tantalo | York Region Shooters B | ||
| Camilo Veloza | Burlington SC B | ||
| 5 |  Jinmi Ismail[31] | Kingston FC B | 7 |
| Derek Paterson[32] | Niagara United B |
The 2014 CSL Executive Committee.[33]
| Position | Name | Nationality |
|---|---|---|
| Chairman: | Vincent Ursini | Canadian |
| Director of Media and PR: | Stan Adamson[34] | English |
| League Administrator: | Pino Jazbec | Canadian |
| Director of Officials: | Tony Camacho | Portuguese |
| Director for Youth: | Phil Ionadi | Canadian |
The annual CSL awards ceremony was held on October 25, 2014 in North York, Toronto.[35] After winning the CSL Golden Boot London City's Marin Vučemilović-Grgić received his second MVP award.[36] Burlington SC received the Defender and Goalkeeper of the Year with former Serbian football veterans Vladimir Vujasinović and Nikola Stanojevic chosen as its recipients. Stanojevic was co-recipient with Josip Keran, a former Druga HNL player with Toronto Croatia. Aleksandar Stojiljković, former Serbian SuperLiga player was chosen as the Rookie of the Year.
After making the transition to head coach, and leading York Region Shooters to an undefeated season Darryl Gomez was voted the Coach of the Year. The league's Director for Youth Phil Ionadi was given the Harry Paul Gauss award. Marco Jaramilio was selected by the CSL Referee Committee as the Referee of the Year, and Kingston FC were recognized for their solid discipline on the field of play with the Fair Play and Respect award.
| Award | Player (Club) | |
|---|---|---|
| CSL Most Valuable Player | Marin Vučemilović-Grgić (London City) | |
| CSL Golden Boot | Marin Vučemilović-Grgić (London City) | |
| CSL Goalkeeper of the Year Award | Vladimir Vujasinović (Burlington SC) | |
| CSL Defender of the Year Award | Josip Keran (Toronto Croatia) Nikola Stanojevic (Burlington SC) | |
| CSL Rookie of the Year Award | Aleksandar Stojiljković (SC Waterloo) | |
| CSL Coach of the Year Award | Darryl Gomez (York Region Shooters) | |
| Harry Paul Gauss Award | Phil Ionadi (CSL Director for Youth) | |
| CSL Referee of the Year Award | Marco Jaramillo | |
| CSL Fair Play Award | Kingston FC |