CPL General

[narduch]

6 hours ago, Kent said:

I am probably reading too much into this, but a quote from CPL commissioner Noonan from this article: https://globalnews.ca/news/10191676/cpl-commissioner-soccer-league-teams/

“Having that connection in Mexico opens up a lot of doors for us,” he said.

I wonder if it's possible he is angling to get CPL teams into the Leagues Cup? I'm not sure if I even want that to be honest, since I hate the Leagues Cup. Potentially good for the league in that it would increase exposure, but it could also potentially make the league look like a joke if the results on the field are bad enough.

Anyways, I doubt he was alluding to that with his comment, but just some fun speculation on my part.

Oh God that tournament is already a monstrosity. 

Could you imagine adding 8 more teams

[Aird25]

4 hours ago, narduch said:

Oh God that tournament is already a monstrosity. 

Could you imagine adding 8 more teams

I completely agree,but at least it would start at a reasonable time for CPL teams. We can only control so much 

[Shway]

16 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

The question of CPL academies is a good one. 

In Ontario and Quebec the season is long enough to justify playing in League One. But not elsewhere, not nationally.

Basically, the only way to make it work, say u-19, or u-21, would be to have a CPL academies league, fly with the first teams, play some other time on the same day. Like Youth League in Europe. Or do a few tournaments a year. But for that you'd need a sponsor, an academy or development sponsor. You'd need 2 million from the league.

 

Last time I checked was a few years ago. But I believe a few CPL teams have active academies.

York United has 2 U-18 teams that play in the OSL U21 Provincial league, and Regional leagues. Those leagues typically run from May to September, and they play in the pro teams branding.  

...I wonder what the rationale is in them not having a team in L1O, but regardless I like how they have some youth presence unlike Forge FC (and Sigma doesn't count for me regardless of the affiliation). 

Cavalry FC has a U-21 team in League 1 Alberta which off of quick glance is built like a u-18 team. Play in the pro teams branding. 

Valour FC - no academy team

HFX Wanderers have a select U21 team, I'm not sure if they play an actual season. But they play in the pro teams branding. 

Pacific have an affiliate program with multiple teams that play season, however not in Pacifics branding. 

Atletico Ottawa have a select program, and I don't believe they have a team that plays a season. 

Out of the 8 teams 3 teams have academy setups.  

[Aird25]

14 minutes ago, Shway said:

Pacific have an affiliate program with multiple teams that play season, however not in Pacifics branding. 

Do you mean the Wave and Trident programs? They're both very clearly in Pacific's branding with intent to develop players for the first team. Both use Pacific's logos and fall under the umbrella 'Powered by Pacific FC'. I think they just kept the name Wave because it was already established and recognized in the community before they took over operations 

Edited December 29, 2023 by Aird25

[Shway]

11 minutes ago, Aird25 said:

Do you mean the Wave and Trident programs? They're both very clearly in Pacific's branding with intent to develop players for the first team. Both use Pacific's logos and fall under the umbrella 'Powered by Pacific FC'. I think they just kept the name Wave because it was already established and recognized in the community before they took over operations 

I get it but they are called the Van Isle Wave, and don't play under the same Pacific FC logo and gear. It's like Crown FC and Charlotte FC.

Do you count Sigma FC for Forge FC too? 

[narduch]

1 hour ago, Shway said:

 

Last time I checked was a few years ago. But I believe a few CPL teams have active academies.

York United has 2 U-18 teams that play in the OSL U21 Provincial league, and Regional leagues. Those leagues typically run from May to September, and they play in the pro teams branding.  

...I wonder what the rationale is in them not having a team in L1O, but regardless I like how they have some youth presence unlike Forge FC (and Sigma doesn't count for me regardless of the affiliation). 

Cavalry FC has a U-21 team in League 1 Alberta which off of quick glance is built like a u-18 team. Play in the pro teams branding. 

Valour FC - no academy team

HFX Wanderers have a select U21 team, I'm not sure if they play an actual season. But they play in the pro teams branding. 

Pacific have an affiliate program with multiple teams that play season, however not in Pacifics branding. 

Atletico Ottawa have a select program, and I don't believe they have a team that plays a season. 

Out of the 8 teams 3 teams have academy setups.  

I believe Wanderers have committed to run a team in League 1 Atlantic when that takes off

[Aird25]

1 hour ago, Shway said:

I get it but they are called the Van Isle Wave, and don't play under the same Pacific FC logo and gear. It's like Crown FC and Charlotte FC.

Do you count Sigma FC for Forge FC too? 

What's your point? They use a variation of Pacific logos and name but their purpose literally states, "Van Isle Wave Program provides a professional pathway for youth players with the potential to become a homegrown player for Pacific Football Club." I don't know much about the relationship between Forge and Sigma other than alot of players seem to move between. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

The point is that if you want to establish clear development paths, official academies of the CPL teams adds 8 pro paths to the three already existing. Giving us 11 pro academies, which is not bad. 

But it has to be formalized. If you had a sponsor committed to it, then you'd establish development standards, so that it is not just a throwaway. As we stand, what teams in CPL have a playing and football style that is clearly recognizable, and provides a model for development? I'd argue that not one has created such a thing, they just draw from a club that has a successful model, like Foothills and Sigma.

I appreciate the disincentive is that CPL already gets teams to commit to youth minutes, and teams already do recruit in the open market, bringing in guys in their late teens. But it is not a path, it is random. U-Sports draftees, the vast majority of which are unready for pro play, is also a bit random.

One ideal would be for a strong international pro club to be the sponsor of the development league, for the league to be branded by its name, and then that club applies its model and gets it logo on all shirts, whether Nice or Leicester or Benfica or PSV, it would not matter to me.

[johnyb]

19 hours ago, Shway said:

 

Last time I checked was a few years ago. But I believe a few CPL teams have active academies.

York United has 2 U-18 teams that play in the OSL U21 Provincial league, and Regional leagues. Those leagues typically run from May to September, and they play in the pro teams branding.  

...I wonder what the rationale is in them not having a team in L1O, but regardless I like how they have some youth presence unlike Forge FC (and Sigma doesn't count for me regardless of the affiliation). 

Cavalry FC has a U-21 team in League 1 Alberta which off of quick glance is built like a u-18 team. Play in the pro teams branding. 

Valour FC - no academy team

HFX Wanderers have a select U21 team, I'm not sure if they play an actual season. But they play in the pro teams branding. 

Pacific have an affiliate program with multiple teams that play season, however not in Pacifics branding. 

Atletico Ottawa have a select program, and I don't believe they have a team that plays a season. 

Out of the 8 teams 3 teams have academy setups.  

Valour offers a "High Performance Academy for 15 - 18 y/o"

[An Observer]

I think it would be great to have all the CPL sides which is now 8 but probably in the next 5 years will be 12ish have academies as that would bring us to about 15 nationwide.  I would then have them play in MLSNext as that could reduce travel while providing high level competition.  I know that might be controversial but having teams fly all over Canada just seems to be a non-starter financially.  

[Shway]

2 hours ago, johnyb said:

Valour offers a "High Performance Academy for 15 - 18 y/o"

I saw that but only found that it was training/camps and not necessarily teams.

[yothat2]

https://www.instagram.com/p/C0c0kRWv180/?igsh=MjJkMmIyYzQxYw==

 

Would this count as an CPL All Star Game in Edmonton ???? 

[Kent]

Alphonso Davies listed 3rd. Obviously not as big a name as Easton Ongaro and Paul Amedume

[Stoppage Time]

On 12/29/2023 at 4:33 PM, Shway said:

I saw that but only found that it was training/camps and not necessarily teams.

It's a positive start. Hopefully this will be accessible to all suitable prospects, and begin to identify youngsters who would otherwise be missed in "the system".

[yothat2]

On 12/29/2023 at 4:48 PM, An Observer said:

I think it would be great to have all the CPL sides which is now 8 but probably in the next 5 years will be 12ish have academies as that would bring us to about 15 nationwide.  I would then have them play in MLSNext as that could reduce travel while providing high level competition.  I know that might be controversial but having teams fly all over Canada just seems to be a non-starter financially.  

Didn't the cpl force FC edmonton to close down there academy when they joined the league. Rmbr Jeff Paulus saying it's not that expensive to run an academy program. 

[nolando]

29 minutes ago, yothat2 said:

Didn't the cpl force FC edmonton to close down there academy when they joined the league. Rmbr Jeff Paulus saying it's not that expensive to run an academy program. 

Well, a lot depends on if you are running a pay-to-play program or if it's being run properly and the majority of the costs to players and families are being covered by the club.

[Ozzie_the_parrot]

3 hours ago, yothat2 said:

Didn't the cpl force FC edmonton to close down there academy when they joined the league. Rmbr Jeff Paulus saying it's not that expensive to run an academy program. 

Think that happened in 2021 when the league stepped in and took over operations from the Fath brothers. There's a lot of politics related to player pathway issues that are tied into the level of control large suburban youth clubs have over their local district and by extension provincial soccer associations through sheer weight of registration numbers. The emergence of the three MLS academies engendered a lot of hatred in those sorts of circles.

[MauditYvon]

On 12/29/2023 at 6:48 PM, An Observer said:

I think it would be great to have all the CPL sides which is now 8 but probably in the next 5 years will be 12ish have academies as that would bring us to about 15 nationwide.  I would then have them play in MLSNext as that could reduce travel while providing high level competition.  I know that might be controversial but having teams fly all over Canada just seems to be a non-starter financially.  

You could make them play in semi-professional leagues. Halifax plays in Québec, Saskatchewan team plays in Alberta, Winnipeg would have to chose between Ontario and Alberta.

[K Edgar]

1 hour ago, MauditYvon said:

You could make them play in semi-professional leagues. Halifax plays in Québec, Saskatchewan team plays in Alberta, Winnipeg would have to chose between Ontario and Alberta.

League1Atlantic and League1SK/MB are in the planning stages

[Stoppage Time]

On 12/29/2023 at 3:48 PM, An Observer said:

I think it would be great to have all the CPL sides which is now 8 but probably in the next 5 years will be 12ish have academies as that would bring us to about 15 nationwide.  I would then have them play in MLSNext as that could reduce travel while providing high level competition.  I know that might be controversial but having teams fly all over Canada just seems to be a non-starter financially.  

Unless somebody in CPL was able to negotiate for an airline sponsor to discount airfares for club away matches. Can you imagine an official airline of CPL offering 50% off for travelling CPL clubs?

[An Observer]

6 hours ago, K Edgar said:

League1Atlantic and League1SK/MB are in the planning stages

Personally, I am not sure boys playing against men is the answer especially when the men on the whole are less skilled but physically stronger.  I believe it favours the youth who are strong and athletic enough to keep up over the smaller craftier players.  I know that winning isn’t everything at this age but you need to be competitive as otherwise losing big all the time creates other issues. I think the development will be stunted by this approach. I know someone who I just spoke to over the Xmas break who explained to me how they quit the game as they were promoted to an adult side at 15 and it took the joy out of the game as they were getting physically killed each and every match. 

[K Edgar]

CanPL 2024 Roster Updates

https://canpl.ca/article/cpl-off-season-roster-tracker-whos-in-and-whos-out-for-2024

[Aird25]

49 minutes ago, K Edgar said:

CanPL 2024 Roster Updates

https://canpl.ca/article/cpl-off-season-roster-tracker-whos-in-and-whos-out-for-2024

Wow lots of players under contract for Pacific that I wasn't aware of. Why couldn't they have released those details a couple months ago?

[Kent]

4 hours ago, Aird25 said:

Wow lots of players under contract for Pacific that I wasn't aware of. Why couldn't they have released those details a couple months ago?

If you are upset about that, I can't imagine you'll like the new logo for Pacific that seems to be accidentally leaked on canpl.ca 🤣

[Unnamed Trialist]

13 hours ago, K Edgar said:

CanPL 2024 Roster Updates

https://canpl.ca/article/cpl-off-season-roster-tracker-whos-in-and-whos-out-for-2024

Once again, great continuity for Cavalry and Forge. 

For me the York Utd roster looks strong, they also have decent continuity, let's see if they can have a season to go with it. 

Think Vancouver is bound to do better this year as well, again, the continuity is important. Then, if it does not pan out, fine, but at least try to have another go with a similar core of players. 

Valour, as the great Valour fans tend to remind us, tries to do a lot with scraps, so more of the same expected there. 

Atlético Ottawa needs to reconsider how they are putting the team together, because with their resources they should do a lot better.