| Number Of Teams: | 5 |
| Current Champions: | Cavalry FC (1st title) |
| Most Successful Club: | Forge FC (4 titles) |
| Current: | 2024 CPL playoffs |
The Canadian Premier League playoffs (fr|les éliminatoires de la Première Ligue canadienne) is the postseason phase of the Canadian Premier League to determine that year's league champion. It was first contested as a multi-round elimination tournament in the 2021 season, to replace previous methods of determining the participants of the Canadian Premier League Finals, which used an Apertura and Clausura format in 2019, and an additional group stage in 2020. The winner of the playoffs is awarded the North Star Cup trophy, and receives the second Canadian berth into the next season's CONCACAF Champions Cup.
The current format of the CPL playoffs utilizes a Page playoff system, where five of the league's eight teams have an opportunity to claim the league championship. The system was brought in for the 2023 Canadian Premier League season to replace the conventional Shaughnessy playoff system used in 2021 and 2022.[1] The Canadian Premier League chose to use the Page playoff system as it puts more emphasis on regular season performances.[2]
| Season | League teams | Playoff teams | % of teams | Rounds | Matches | Format |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019[3] | 7 | 2 | 28.6% | 1 | 2 | Final played as a two legged series. |
| 2020[4] | 8 | 2 | 25% | 1 | Final played as single match. | |
| 2021[5] | 4 | 50% | 2 | 3 | Single match for all rounds. | |
| 2022[6] | 5 | Two legged semi-finals, final played as single match. | ||||
| 2023[7] | 5 | 62.5% | 4 | Page playoff system, all matches single legged. | ||
| 2024 |
The 2019 finals were contested between the winners of the spring and fall seasons.[8] The championship was contested as a two-legged tie, with each team hosting one leg at home. The winner was determined by aggregate score but if the aggregate score was tied, the team with the most away goals wins the series. A penalty shoot-out was the final tiebreaker.
The 2020 season saw the end of the split season format, with the 2020 finals scheduled to be contested between the top-seeded regular season team and the winner of a playoff between the second and third-placed teams.[9] However, as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the season format was scrapped and replaced with a single-site tournament with a two-stage regular season. The 2020 final was contested in a single match between the two top-seeded teams from the four-team second stage.[10]
The 2021 season brought in a new four-team single leg knockout playoff with the two first round winners advancing to the final.[11] The higher-seeded finalist hosts the single leg game. If a match is tied at the end of normal playing time, extra time is played (two periods of 15 minutes each) and, if necessary, followed by a penalty shoot-out to determine the winners.[12]
Prior to the start of the 2022 season, the league announced that playoff semi-finals would switch to a two-legged format but that the final would continue to be played as a single match hosted by the higher-seeded team.[13]
Appearances as of the 2024 season, match results as of 2023 season
| Team | Finals | Series | Match statistics | Best result | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 | 5 | 4 | 1 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 4 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 2 | |||
| 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 1 | 1 | 6 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | |||
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |||
| 0 | Active team has never qualified for playoffs | ||||||||||||
| 0 | |||||||||||||
| 0 | Defunct team has never qualified for playoffs | ||||||||||||
| style=background:#CAEDFB | § | ||
| style=background:#BBF3BB | |||
| style=background:#d8cef2 | § * | Won CPL Shield and Canadian Championship --> |
| Season | Champion | Runner-up | Semi-finalist(s) | Top scorer | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 Details | Forge FC | style=background:#CAEDFB | Cavalry FC § | N/A | 1 | |
| 2020 Details | Forge FC | N/A | 1 | |||
| 2021 Details | Pacific FC | style=background:#CAEDFB | Forge FC § | Cavalry FC York United FC | 7 players tied | 1 |
| 2022 Details | Forge FC | style=background:#CAEDFB | Atlético Ottawa § | Cavalry FC Pacific FC | 2 | |
| 2023 Details | Forge FC | style=background:#CAEDFB | Cavalry FC § | Pacific FC | 2 | |
| 2024 Details | Cavalry FC | style=background:#CAEDFB | Forge FC § | Atlético Ottawa | 2 | |
Updated through 2024 Canadian Premier League season. This list includes the five clubs that made the post-season in 2024. For the purposes of this section, the four-team group stage in 2020 is considered to be part of the post-season.
| Club | Last miss of post-season | Length of streak | |
|---|---|---|---|
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | ||
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | ||
| 5 seasons | |||
| 2 season | |||
| 1 season |
Updated through 2024 Canadian Premier League final. This list includes the two finalist clubs from 2024.
| Club | Last miss of finals | Length of streak | |
|---|---|---|---|
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | ||
| 2 seasons |
– team is no longer playing in the Canadian Premier League.
Updated through 2024 Canadian Premier League season. This list does not include clubs that made the post-season in that year. For the purposes of this section, the four-team group stage in 2020 is considered to be part of the post-season.
| Club | Last appearance in post-season | Length of drought |
|---|---|---|
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | |
| never (club joined in 2019, folded after 2022) | 4 seasons | |
| never (club joined in 2023) | 2 season | |
| 1 season | ||
| 2023 0 seasons | ||
| 2023 0 seasons | ||
| 1 season | ||
| 2023 0 seasons | ||
| 2023 0 seasons--> |
Updated through 2024 Canadian Premier League final. This list does not include the clubs that qualified in that year.
| Club | Last appearance in finals | Length of drought | |
|---|---|---|---|
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | ||
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | ||
| never (club joined in 2019, folded after 2022) | 4 seasons | ||
| 4 seasons | |||
| 3 seasons | |||
| 2 seasons | |||
| never (club joined in 2023) | 2 seasons | ||
| 0 seasons | |||
| 0 seasons--> |
Updated through 2024 Canadian Premier League final. This list does not include the club that won the championship in that year.
| Club | Last championship | Length of drought | |
|---|---|---|---|
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | ||
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | ||
| never (club joined in 2019) | 6 seasons | ||
| never (club joined in 2020) | 5 seasons | ||
| never (club joined in 2019, folded after 2022) | 4 seasons | ||
| 3 seasons | |||
| never (club joined in 2023) | 2 seasons | ||
| 1 season | |||
| 2024) | 0 seasons--> |
| Rank | Player | Club(s) | Goals | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | style=text-align:left;” |  | 3 | |
| style=text-align:left;” | | Forge FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Pacific FC, Forge FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Forge FC | ||
| 2 | style=text-align:left;” | 2 | ||
| style=text-align:left;” |  | Cavalry FC | ||
| 3 | style=text-align:left;” |  | Forge FC | 1 |
| style=text-align:left;” | | Forge FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Forge FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Cavalry FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Pacific FC, Forge FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | Pacific FC | |||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Cavalry FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Pacific FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | Forge FC | |||
| style=text-align:left;” | | |||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Pacific FC | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | |||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Atlético Ottawa | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Forge FC, Atlético Ottawa | ||
| style=text-align:left;” | | Atlético Ottawa | ||