League1 Ontario
League1 Ontario is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Ontario, Canada, and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a Division III league in the Canadian soccer league system. The 2020 season will include 17 teams in the men's division and 14 teams in the women's division.
In the Canadian soccer league system, its men's division is behind the Canadian Premier League, and equal to the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec. The L1O women's division is behind the U.S.-based National Women's Soccer League, which has no Canadian teams but is partially backed by the CSA, with many Canada national team members assigned to NWSL teams. As such, it is roughly equivalent to the Women's Premier Soccer League and United Women's Soccer, which form the unofficial second level of the U.S. women's game; each of those leagues also has one Canadian team.
History
League1 Ontario was founded on November 15, 2013 in an announcement by the Ontario Soccer Association that it would pilot the semi-professional league in 2014 and 2015 as a key pillar of long-term player development in Canada. The league would be administered by DG Sports, who also operate the province's amateur Ontario Soccer League, with Dino Rossi serving as commissioner. OSA President Ron Smale stated that the league's core group of players are to consist of U-23s, with League1 complementing the newly formed Ontario Player Development League elite youth league as a pathway for professional player development.On April 8, 2014 the OSA revealed its plans for the inaugural season of League1 to feature 10 teams, chosen through a standards-based application process, with the first games to take place during the final weekend in May 2014. The founding 10 clubs would be: ANB Futbol, Durham Power FC, Internacional de Toronto, Kingston Cataraqui Clippers, Master's FA, Sigma FC, Toronto FC Academy, Vaughan Azzurri, Windsor Stars and Woodbridge Strikers.
Dylan Sacramento of Toronto FC Academy scored the first ever goal in the league with a 10th-minute strike against Vaughan Azzurri. In the same game, Mateo Restrepo received the league's first red card.
On July 22, 2014, the league and the Ontario Soccer Association announced the termination of Internacional de Toronto's license agreement due to "failure to comply with agreed-upon league standards," with league matches rescheduled for the season to accommodate the change.
Toronto FC Academy were crowned the inaugural league champions on October 4, 2014 after defeating the Cataraqui Clippers 3–1 to secure the top place in the regular season standings. Vaughan Azzurri and Sigma FC contested the inaugural League1 Ontario Cup on October 19, 2014 at BMO Field, with the Azzurri winning the single-game cup final 2–1 to be crowned champions.
In January 2015, L1O announced the launch of a women's division that would include seven teams. In the same release the number of men's teams would go up to 12 for the new season. Expansion continued for the 2016 season by adding four teams to each division and the introduction of a conference format in the men's division.
On November 14, 2018, the Canadian Premier League announced its purchase of League1 Ontario. According to L1O commissioner Dino Rossi, L1O would serve as "CPL's official development league."
Men's division
Competition format
The League1 Ontario regular season runs from May through October using a single table format, with each team playing one match against all other teams. The top eight teams compete in the league playoffs at the end of the season. Since 2017, the league champion has qualified for the Canadian Championship.A cup tournament known as the L1 Cup was played from 2014 until 2018. The knockout tournament ran concurrently with the regular season, with cup games usually taking place during mid-week.
Clubs
Current clubs
Of the 17 current clubs, 4 are based in Toronto, 10 are based elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area, and 3 are based in other cities in Southern Ontario. There are no clubs based in Northern Ontario.Former clubs
Timeline
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bar:2 color:Active from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2018 text:Durham United FA
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bar:2 color:Active from:01/01/2020 till:end text:Pickering FC
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bar:4 color:Former from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2017 text:Kingston Clippers
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bar:6 color:Active from:01/01/2014 till:end text:Sigma FC
bar:7 color:Former from:01/01/2014 till:01/01/2017 text:Toronto FC Academy
bar:7 color:Former from:01/01/2017 till:07/01/2018 text:Toronto FC III
bar:8 color:Active from:01/01/2014 till:end text:Vaughan Azzurri
bar:9 color:Active from:01/01/2014 till:01/01/2017 text:Windsor Stars
bar:9 color:Active from:01/01/2017 till:end text:Windsor TFC
bar:10 color:Active from:01/01/2014 till:end text:Woodbridge Strikers
bar:11 color:Active from:01/01/2015 till:end text:Oakville Blue Devils
bar:12 color:Active from:01/01/2015 till:end text:ProStars FC
bar:13 color:Former from:01/01/2015 till:01/01/2019 text:Sanjaxx Lions
bar:14 color:Active from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2017 text:Aurora United FC
bar:14 color:Active from:01/01/2017 till:end text:Aurora FC
bar:15 color:Active from:01/01/2016 till:end text:FC London
bar:16 color:Active from:01/01/2016 till:end text:North Mississauga SC
bar:17 color:Active from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2018 text:North Toronto Nitros
bar:17 color:Active from:01/01/2020 till:end
bar:18 color:Active from:01/01/2016 till:end text:Toronto Skillz FC
bar:19 color:Former from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2020 text:Ottawa South United
bar:20 color:Active from:01/01/2018 till:end text:Alliance United FC
bar:21 color:Active from:01/01/2018 till:end text:Darby FC
bar:22 color:Active from:01/01/2018 till:end text:Unionville Milliken SC
bar:23 color:Active from:01/01/2020 till:end text:Hamilton United
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Organization
Regulations
League1 Ontario was founded with a series of values, objectives and standards all aimed at furthering the league's stated objective of improving player development in Ontario and Canada. Some of these regulations include:- Standards-based club licensing, renewed annually. Standards include technical, organizational, facility and financial criteria.
- Maximum of 3 non-Canadian players per club.
- 18-man game day rosters must include a minimum of 8 U-23 players.
- Starting 11 must include a minimum of 4 U-23 players.
- Maximum of 5 substitutions per match.
Reserve division
Women's division
Competition format
The League1 Ontario regular season runs from May through September using a single table format, with each team playing one match against all other teams. The top four teams compete in the league playoffs at the end of the season.A single-elimination cup tournament runs concurrently with the regular season, with cup games taking place during mid-week.
Clubs
Current clubs
Of the fourteen current clubs, three are based in Toronto, nine are based elsewhere in the Greater Toronto Area, and two are based in other cities in Southern Ontario. There are no clubs based in Northern Ontario.Former clubs
Timeline
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bar:4 color:Active from:01/01/2015 till:end text:North Mississauga SC
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bar:8 color:Active from:01/01/2015 till:end text:Woodbridge Strikers
bar:9 color:Active from:01/01/2016 till:01/01/2017 text:Aurora United FC
bar:9 color:Active from:01/01/2017 till:end text:Aurora FC
bar:10 color:Active from:01/01/2016 till:end text:Darby FC
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bar:13 color:Active from:01/01/2017 till:end text:Unionville Milliken SC
bar:14 color:Former from:01/01/2017 till:01/01/2019 text:West Ottawa SC
bar:15 color:Active from:01/01/2018 till:end text:DeRo United FC
bar:16 color:Active from:01/01/2018 till:end text:Hamilton United
bar:17 color:Active from:01/01/2018 till:end text:Oakville Blue Devils
bar:18 color:Active from:01/01/2019 till:end text:Alliance United FC
bar:19 color:Active from:01/01/2019 till:end text:FC Oshawa
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