| Competition: | Canadian Premier League |
| Season: | 2023 |
| Winners: | Forge FC |
| Shieldtitle: | CPL Shield |
| Shield: | Cavalry FC |
| Dates: | April 15 – October 7 (regular season) |
| Continentalcup1: | CONCACAF |
| Continentalcup1 Qualifiers: | Forge FC Cavalry FC |
| Matches: | 112 |
| Total Goals: | 292 |
| League Topscorer: | Ollie Bassett Myer Bevan (11 goals each) |
| Biggest Home Win: | (May 14) (August 4) (August 12) (August 26) (October 7) |
| Biggest Away Win: | (May 13) |
| Highest Scoring: | (June 2) |
| Longest Wins: | 5 matches Cavalry (September 12 – October 7) |
| Longest Unbeaten: | 9 matches Pacific (May 6 – June 30) Cavalry (August 20 – October 7) |
| Longest Winless: | 8 matches HFX Wanderers (April 15 – June 3) |
| Longest Losses: | 3 matches (8 teams tied) |
| Highest Attendance: | 7,042 |
| Lowest Attendance: | 822 |
| Attendance: | 421,247 |
| Average Attendance: | 3,865 |
| Prevseason: | 2022 |
| Nextseason: | 2024 |
| Updated: | October 7, 2023 |
The 2023 Canadian Premier League season was the fifth season of the Canadian Premier League, the top level of Canadian soccer. The CPL Shield was won by Cavalry FC who finished first in the regular season by a 13 point margin. In the CPL final, Forge FC defeated Cavalry FC 2–1 in Hamilton to capture the North Star Cup. In doing so, Forge became league champions for the fourth time in five seasons. Both title winning clubs qualified for the newly expanded 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Eight teams competed in the 2023 season with the debut of Vancouver FC, and the dissolution of FC Edmonton.[1] [2] The league's playoff structure changed to a five-team Page playoff system with four elimination matches and one non-elimination match.
The league's player compensation budget increased by $175,000 compared to 2022.[3] Teams were required to spend between $750,000 and $1,025,000 on their 20–23 player rosters with a minimum of $30,000 per player. A team making full use of the U-21 salary rule could reach a compensation maximum of $1,125,000. In July 2023, the CPL introduced the Exceptional Youth Talent (EYT) designation which teams can apply to two U-18 players who are on standard contracts. EYT players do not count towards the 23 player roster limit and a portion of their salaries do not count towards the cap.[4]
See also: List of soccer stadiums in Canada.
| Club | Location | Stadium | Capacity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlético Ottawa | Ottawa | TD Place Stadium | 24,000 | |
| Cavalry FC | Foothills County | ATCO Field | 6,000[5] | |
| Forge FC | Hamilton | Tim Hortons Field | 23,218 | |
| HFX Wanderers FC | Halifax | Wanderers Grounds | 6,500 | |
| Pacific FC | Langford | Starlight Stadium | 6,000 | |
| Valour FC | Winnipeg | IG Field | 33,000 | |
| Vancouver FC | Langley | Willoughby Community Park Stadium | 6,560 | |
| York United FC | Toronto | York Lions Stadium | 4,000 |
| Atlético Ottawa | Carlos González | Carl Haworth | Maple Lodge Farms[6] | CIBC[7] | |
| Cavalry | Tommy Wheeldon Jr. | Marco Carducci | WestJet | ||
| Forge | Bobby Smyrniotis | Kyle Bekker | Tim Hortons | ||
| Patrice Gheisar | Andre Rampersad | Volkswagen | |||
| James Merriman | Josh Heard | Telus[8] | |||
| Valour | Phillip Dos Santos | Andrew Jean-Baptiste | OneSoccer | ||
| Vancouver | Afshin Ghotbi | Callum Irving | CIBC | Carlsberg 0.0%[9] | |
| York United | Roger Thompson | Carlsberg 0.0%[10] | CIBC |
| 1 | Ontario | 3 | Atlético Ottawa Forge York United |
| 2 | British Columbia | 2 | Pacific Vancouver FC |
| 3 | Alberta | 1 | Cavalry |
| Manitoba | 1 | Valour | |
| Nova Scotia | 1 |
| Team | Outgoing coach | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming coach | Date of appointment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| End of contract | October 13, 2022 | Pre-season | Patrice Gheisar | November 30, 2022 | |||
| N/A (inaugural season) | Afshin Ghotbi | November 2, 2022 | |||||
| Team folded | November 21, 2022 | N/A | |||||
The regular season was played as a quadruple round-robin, with each team playing the other seven teams twice at home and twice away between April 15 and October 7. The regular season winner (the team ranked first after all 28 games) qualified for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup and the top five teams qualified for the playoffs.
In order to qualify for the playoffs, clubs were also required to accumulate at least 2,000 minutes played by U-21 domestic players during the regular season. Additionally, only 1,000 of these minutes could be played by players on loan from other clubs.[11] Clubs that do not meet the 2,000 minute threshold may also incur financial penalties from the league.
The 2023 season used the Page playoff system. The team who finished first in the regular-season table would play the team who finished second, and the winner would host the final. The fourth- and fifth-placed teams would play in a play-in round, and the winner of this game would then play the third-placed team in a quarter-final. The quarter-final winner would play the loser of the game between the first and second-placed teams for the other spot in the final.[12]
See main article: 2023 Canadian Premier League final.
| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets[15] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Triston Henry | Forge | 9 |
| 2 | Marco Carducci | Cavalry | 8 |
| 3 | Yann Fillion | HFX Wanderers | 7 |
| Nathan Ingham | Atlético Ottawa | ||
| Rayane Yesli | Valour |
| Player | For | Against | Result | Date | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| | 4–0 (A) | July 9 | [16] | ||
| | 3–0 (A) | September 3 | [17] | ||
The 2023 Canadian Premier League Awards were held in Hamilton, Ontario, on October 26, 2023.[18]
| Award | Recipient | Finalist | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Golden Boot |  Myer Bevan (Cavalry FC)Ollie Bassett (Atlético Ottawa) | N/A | |
| Golden Glove | Triston Henry (Forge FC) | Marco Carducci (Cavalry FC) Rayane Yesli (Valour FC) | |
| Coach of the Year | |||
| Player of the Year | Daan Klomp (Cavalry FC) | Manny Aparicio (Pacific FC) Kyle Bekker (Forge FC) Lorenzo Callegari (Halifax Wanderers) Ali Musse (Cavalry FC) | |
| Best Under 21 Canadian Player of the Year | Matteo De Brienne (Valour FC) | James Cameron (Vancouver FC) Kwasi Poku (Forge FC) | |
| Defender of the Year | Daan Klomp (Cavalry FC) | Manjrekar James (Forge FC) Daniel Nimick (Halifax Wanderers) | |
| Players' Player of the Year | Ali Musse (Cavalry FC) | Kyle Bekker (Forge FC) Daan Klomp (Cavalry FC) |
The Gatorade Team of the Week was selected by the CPL's Kristian Jack and OneSoccer's Oliver Platt.
| Team of the Week | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dates | Goalkeeper | Defenders | Midfielders | Forwards | Ref | |
| April 15–16 | [20] | |||||
| April 22–23 | [21] | |||||
| April 29–30 | [22] | |||||
| May 5–7 | [23] | |||||
| May 13–14 | [24] | |||||
| May 19–21 | [25] | |||||
| May 27–28 | [26] | |||||
| May 31–June 4 | [27] | |||||
| June 9–11 | Bevan (Cavalry) | [28] | ||||
| June 16–18 | [29] | |||||
| June 20–25 | [30] | |||||
| June 30–July 2 | [31] | |||||
| July 7–9 | [32] | |||||
| July 12–16 | [33] | |||||
| July 21–23 | [34] | |||||
| July 28–30 | [35] | |||||
| August 4–7 | [36] | |||||
| August 11–13 | [37] | |||||
| August 18–20 | [38] | |||||
| August 25–27 | [39] | |||||
| September 2–4 | [40] | |||||
| September 8–9 | [41] | |||||
| Manager of the Month | Player of the Month | Goalkeeper of the Month | References | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Manager | Club | Player | Club | Goalkeeper | Club | |||
| April | Bobby Smyrniotis | Forge FC | Diego Gutiérrez | Valour FC | Callum Irving | Vancouver FC | [42] [43] [44] | |
| May | James Merriman | Pacific FC | Sean Young | Pacific FC | Triston Henry | Forge FC | [45] [46] [47] | |
| June | Patrice Gheisar | HFX Wanderers FC | Ayman Sellouf | Pacific FC | Rayane Yesli | Pacific FC | [48] [49] [50] | |
| July | Carlos González | Atlético Ottawa | Kyle Bekker | Forge FC | Triston Henry | Forge FC | [51] [52] [53] | |
| August | Tommy Wheeldon Jr. | Cavalry FC | Daniel Nimick | HFX Wanderers FC | Nathan Ingham | Atlético Ottawa | [54] [55] [56] | |
| September | Tommy Wheeldon Jr. | Cavalry FC | Daan Klomp | Cavalry FC | Marco Carducci | Cavalry FC | [57] [58] [59] | |
| October | Bobby Smyrniotis | Forge FC | Ali Musse | Cavalry FC | Triston Henry | Forge FC | [60] [61] [62] | |
See main article: List of Canadian Premier League transfers 2023.
The 2023 CPL–U Sports Draft took place on December 15, 2022. Each team made two picks in the draft for a total of 16 selections with expansion club Vancouver FC selecting first.[63]
See main article: List of foreign CPL players. Canadian Premier League teams can sign a maximum of seven international players, out of which only five can be in the starting line-up for each match. At least 50% of a team's international players must be U-23 at all times. If a club wishes to utilize the maximum 7 slots, the 7th player must be U-21.[64]
The following international players were signed for the 2023 season. Note that players may be considered domestic for CPL purposes (Canadian citizens, permanent residents, or refugees) while still representing other countries in international competitions.[65]
Players in italic denote players who were new to their respective clubs for the 2023 season, sorted chronologically by their announcement. Players in Bold indicate players who have represented their national teams at the senior level.
Forge FC and Cavalry FC both earned berths in the newly expanded 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup as CPL champions and regular season champions respectively.[66] The newly expanded tournament has teams from across North America, Central America, and the Caribbean compete for a spot in the FIFA Club World Cup.[67] Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup was also available to CPL clubs if they won the Canadian Championship; however, the 2023 Canadian Championship was not won by a CPL team.[68]
| Method | Qualified team | |
|---|---|---|
| CPL champion | Forge FC | |
| CPL regular season winner | Cavalry FC |
