| Ligue1 Québec | |
| Upright: | 0.8 |
| Organiser: | Soccer Quebec |
| Country: | Canada |
| Provinces: | Quebec (11 teams) Ontario (1 team) |
| Confed: | CONCACAF |
| Teams: | 11 (men's) 12 (women's) |
| Levels: | 3 |
| Domest Cup: | Canadian Championship (men) Interprovincial Championship (women) |
| League Cup: | Coupe L1QC |
| Champions: | CS Saint-Laurent (men's) PEF Québec (women's) |
| Season: | 2023 |
| Shieldtitle: | league cup champions |
| Shield: | CS Saint-Laurent (men's) PEF Québec (women's) |
| Tv: | RDS.ca (streaming) |
| Current: | 2024 season (men) 2024 season (women) |
Ligue1 Québec (L1QC) is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2011 as the Première ligue de soccer du Québec, the league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Quebec Soccer Federation.
In the Canadian soccer league system, the men's division is behind the fully-professional Canadian Premier League. It is part of League1 Canada, the national third tier with regional division, along with three other provincial leagues. The men's league champion qualifies for the Canadian Championship, Canada's domestic cup tournament.
The history of soccer in Quebec dates back to 1884, with the first league established in 1886. In 1911, the Province of Quebec Football Association, now known as the Quebec Soccer Federation was founded.[1] In 1986, a semi-professional league called the Ligue nationale de soccer du Québec (LNSQ) was created, but it merged with different rival leagues to form the Ligue de soccer élite du Québec in 1992.[2] [3] In 1993, five of the former LNSQ clubs Corfinium St-Leonard, Cosmos de LaSalle, Luso Stars Mont-Royal, Montreal Croatia, and Montreal Ramblers joined the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL) to form the league's Eastern Division.[4] [5] Following this, the amateur Ligue de soccer élite du Québec served as the top level of soccer in the province, although Quebec clubs did play in the United Soccer League (Montreal Impact) and the semi-professional Canadian Soccer League (Laval Dynamites/Trois-Rivières Attak and Montreal Impact Academy).[6]
In 2011, the Première ligue de soccer du Québec was established, marking the return of a semi-professional soccer league to the province for the first time in 20 years.[7] The league was sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association as a level 3 league, below Major League Soccer (level 1) and the North American Soccer League and United Soccer League (level 2), which were American-based fully professional leagues featuring some Canadian teams, including the Montreal Impact of the MLS.
The league had its debut season in 2012 with a men's division featuring five teams – A.S. Blainville, FC Brossard, FC Boisbriand, FC L'Assomption, and FC Saint-Léonard.[8] FC Saint-Léonard won the inaugural season.[9] The following season, the league added a league cup to its schedule, the Coupe PLSQ, which would take place annually at the conclusion of the season, unrelated to the results of the regular season.[10] In 2014, the province of Ontario created its own semi-professional level 3 league, League1 Ontario,[11] and the Inter-Provincial Cup was established which would be contested between the champions of each league and ran for three years until 2016.[12] In 2015, the league added its first club from outside of the province of Quebec, with the Ottawa Fury FC Academy joining the league.[13]
Beginning in 2018, the league champion qualified to participate in the Canadian Championship for the following season.[14] In 2018, a women's division was added, starting with five teams.[15] The start of the 2020 season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[16] but it ultimately resumed with a shortened season, although some teams opted out of playing for the season.[17] However, the remainder of the men's season was cancelled about three-quarters of the way through the season, due to a resurgence of the pandemic (the female season had already concluded).[18]
In 2022, the PLSQ joined League1 Canada along with League1 Ontario and League1 British Columbia. On April 19, 2023, the league rebranded to Ligue1 Québec to align with its partner leagues.[19] In 2024, it was announced that USL League Two club Vermont Green FC would host the reigning L1Q champion each year in a friendly each year, known as the Maple Cup.[20]
Depending on the number of teams in the league, teams will play every other team between 2-4 times per season, for a length of usually between 15 and 20 games. The winner gets the regular season championship. Each team has a minimum of nine paid players and is subject to a salary cap.
At the end of the year, there is a league cup, called the Coupe L1QC (formerly the Coupe PLSQ), which began in 2013. The format varies each season, depending on the number of teams in the league.[21] The most recent cup competition featured the top four teams from league play in a single-knockout tournament. In the past, the cup has also used a group stage and knockout format where three groups of three teams were formed, and the winner of each group along with the best second-place finisher advanced to the semi-finals.
| Teams | L1QC Champions | Coupe PLSQ | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 5 | — | ||
| 2013 | 7 | |||
| 2014 | 6 | |||
| 2015 | 7 | |||
| 2016 | 7 | |||
| 2017 | 7 | |||
| 2018 | 8 | |||
| 2019 | 9 | |||
| 2020 | 6 | A.S. Blainville | — | |
| 2021 | 10 | CS Mont-Royal Outremont | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | |||
| 2023 | 12 | |||
| 2024 | 11 | TBD |
| L1QC Champions | Coupe L1QC | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 5 | — | ||
| 2019 | 6 | — | ||
| 2020 | 4 | — | ||
| 2021 | 10 | |||
| 2022 | 12 | |||
| 2023 | 12 | PEF Québec | PEF Québec | |
| 2024 | 12 | — |
Over the course of its history, various clubs have joined and departed the league. A.S. Blainville is the only club to have participated in every season since the league's inception.[22] Blainville has been the most successful club, winning the league championship four times and the league cup twice and CS Mont-Royal Outremont has been second-most successful with four league championships and one league cup title.
The following eleven teams are members of the league for the 2024 season:
| Team | City | Stadium | Joined | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current teams | |||||
| A.S. Blainville | Blainville, Laurentides | Parc Blainville | 2012 | ||
| Celtix du Haut-Richelieu | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Montérégie | Parc Pierre-Benoît | 2020 | ||
| AS Laval | Laval | Parc de Lausanne | 2019 | ||
| FC Laval | Laval | Collège Montmorency & Parc Roseval | 2018 | ||
| CS Longueuil | Longueuil, Montérégie | Parc Laurier | 2014 | ||
| CF Montréal U23 | Montréal | CF Montréal training grounds | 2022 | ||
| CS Mont-Royal Outremont | Mount Royal, Montréal | Parc Recreatif de TMR | 2013 | ||
| CS Saint-Laurent | Saint-Laurent, Montreal | Vanier College Stadium | 2022 | ||
| CS St-Hubert | Saint-Hubert, Montérégie | Centre Sportif Roseanne-Laflamme | 2017 | ||
| Ottawa South United | Ottawa, Ontario | TAAG Park (Carleton University) | 2020 | ||
| Royal-Sélect de Beauport | Quebec City | Stade Beauport | 2021 | ||
| Club | City | Stadium | Joined | Final | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Former teams | |||||
| FC Boisbriand | Boisbriand, Laurentides | Parc Régional 640 | 2012 | 2013 | |
| FC Brossard | Brossard, Montérégie | Parc Illinois | 2012 | 2013 | |
| FC St-Léonard | St Leonard, Montreal | Stade Hébert | 2012 | 2013 | |
| ACP Montréal-Nord | Montréal-Nord, Montreal | Parc Saint-Laurent | 2014 | 2014 | |
| FC Lanaudière | Terrebonne, Lanaudière | Centre de Soccer Multifonctionnel de Terrebonne | 2016 | 2021 | |
| Lakeshore SC | Kirkland, Montréal | John Abbott College | 2015 | 2016 | |
| Ottawa Fury FC Academy | Ottawa, Ontario | Algonquin College | 2015 | 2016 | |
| FC Gatineau | Gatineau, Outaouais | Terrain Mont-Bleu | 2013 | 2019 | |
| Dynamo de Quebec | Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale | Polyvalente L'Ancienne-Lorette | 2017 | 2019 | |
| CS Lanaudière-Nord | Joliette, Lanaudière | École secondaire Barthélemy-Joliette | 2012–2015, 2022–2023 | ||
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The following twelve teams are members of the league for the 2022 season:
| Team | City | Stadium | Joined | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Current teams | |||||
| A.S. Blainville | Blainville, Laurentides | Parc Blainville | 2018 | ||
| AS Chaudière-Ouest | Lévis | Parc Renaud-Maillette | 2022 | ||
| Pierrefonds FC | Lac St-Louis, Montreal | Pierrefonds Community High School | 2020 | ||
| Celtix du Haut-Richelieu | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Montérégie | Parc Pierre-Benoît | 2021 | ||
| AS Laval | Laval, Laval | Parc de Lausanne | 2018 | ||
| FC Laval | Laval, Laval | Parc Roseval & Parc Raymond-Millar | 2019 | ||
| CS Longueuil | Longueuil, Montérégie | Parc Laurier | 2020 | ||
| CS Mont-Royal Outremont | Mount Royal, Montréal | Parc Recreatif de TMR | 2019 | ||
| CS St-Hubert | Saint-Hubert, Montérégie | Centre Sportif Roseanne-Laflamme | 2020 | ||
| Ottawa South United | Ottawa, Ontario | TAAG Park (Carleton University) | 2020 | ||
| PEF Québec | Laval, Laval | Centre Sportif Bois-de-Boulogne | 2022 | ||
| Royal-Sélect de Beauport | Beauport, Quebec City | Stade Beauport | 2021 | ||
| Club | City | Stadium | Joined | Left | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Former teams | |||||
| Dynamo de Quebec | Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale | ESLE | 2018 | 2019 | |
| FC Sélect Rive-Sud | Longueuil, Montérégie | Centre Multi Sport | 2018 | 2019 | |
| Lakers du Lac Saint-Louis | Lachine, Montréal | Dollard 2 | 2018 | 2018 | |
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The following players have earned a senior national team cap while playing in the L1QC (the year of their first cap while playing in the league is listed). Players who earned caps before or after playing in the L1QC are not included, unless they also earned caps while in the league. This section also does not include youth caps (U23 or below).
| Player | Country | Year | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Armel Dagrou | 2014 | [23] | ||
| Kevin Chan-Yu-Tin | 2016 | [24] | ||
| Zohib Islam Amiri | 2019 | [25] | ||
| Lemus Christopher | 2022 | [26] |
| Season | Men's division | Women's division | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Club | Competition | Result | Club | Competition | Result | ||||
| 2012 | No competition held | No women's division | |||||||
| 2013 | |||||||||
| 2014 | CS Longueuil | Inter-Provincial Cup | bgcolor=silver | Runner-up | 0–1–1 | ||||
| 2015 | CS Mont-Royal Outremont | Inter-Provincial Cup | bgcolor=silver | Runner-up | 0–1–1 | ||||
| 2016 | CS Mont-Royal Outremont | Inter-Provincial Cup | bgcolor=gold | Champions | 1–1–0 | ||||
| 2017 | No competition held | ||||||||
| 2018 | A.S. Blainville | Second qualifying round | 2–0–2 | No competition held | |||||
| 2019 | A.S. Blainville | First qualifying round | 0–1–1 | ||||||
| 2020 | No competition held | ||||||||
| 2021 | A.S. Blainville | Preliminary round | 0–0–1 | ||||||
| 2022 | CS Mont-Royal Outremont | Canadian Championship | Preliminary round | 0–0–1 | A.S. Blainville | Interprovincial Championship | bgcolor=gold | Champions | 2–0–0 |
| AS Laval | bgcolor=silver | Runner-up | 1–0–1 | ||||||
| 2023 | FC Laval | Preliminary round | 0–0–1 | PEF Québec | bgcolor=silver | Runner-up | 1–0–1 | ||
| 2024 | CS Saint-Laurent | Quarterfinals | 1–0–0 | ||||||