The last eight teams in the 2023 Canadian Championship will meet in the Quarter-Finals on 9 and 10 May. The four knockout matches will be played on back-to-back nights with the winners advancing to the Semi-Finals scheduled for 23-25 May. From the 14 teams competing in this year’s Battle of the North, the last two teams will meet in the Final in early June.
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\u200bOn Tuesday 9 May, Forge FC Hamilton will host Atlético Ottawa while Toronto FC will host CF Montréal. The following night on Wednesday 10 May, York United FC will host Vancouver Whitecaps FC while on the west coast Langford’s Pacific FC will host Richmond’s TSS Rovers FC. All four matches will be broadcast live on OneSoccer with extended Canadian Championship coverage published across Canada Soccer’s digital channels including Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and YouTube featuring the hashtag #CanChamp.
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\u200bThis marks the 13th year that Toronto FC and CF Montréal will meet in the Canadian Championship, but it is the earliest stage the two have ever met since the knockout rounds were introduced in 2011. All time, Toronto FC hold the edge with 12 wins, five draws and just five losses in 22 matches, notably undefeated in 12 matches on their home grounds. CF Montréal, however, hold the edge when they have met in the Final (three out of four titles) and they also won both MLS league meetings in 2022.
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\u200bHamilton and Ottawa are meeting in the Canadian Championship for the first time, but they went head to head in last year’s Canadian Premier League Championship Final in October last year. Atlético won the league title by just two points across 28 matches, but Forge FC won the Championship 2:0 away at Ottawa for their third North Star Shield in four years. During the 2022 CPL regular season, the two sides were split with an away win each and two draws in four meetings.
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\u200bIn Toronto, York United FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC meet for the second year in a row, albeit this time one round earlier than last year. In 2022, Vancouver Whitecaps FC won 2:1 over visiting York United FC en route to the Final and their first Voyageurs Cup since 2015. This year, Whitecaps will visit Ontario for their first-ever match at York Stadium. It is also Vancouver’s first match in the 2023 Canadian Championship as they received a bye from the preliminary round along with 2022 runners up Toronto FC.
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\u200bOut west on Vancouver Island, Pacific FC will host first-time participants TSS Rovers FC in an all-British Columbia Quarter-Finals match at Starlight Stadium in Langford. TSS Rovers FC from League1 BC upset Winnipeg’s Valour FC in the preliminary round with a 3:1 victory with notably a pair of goals from captain Matteo Polisi, who just two years ago helped Pacific FC win the Canadian Premier League Championship. This will be the first-ever meeting between Pacific FC and their mainland opponents from Richmond.
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\u200bCanada Soccer’s Canadian Championship, also known as the Battle of the North, is the nation’s highest men’s domestic competition featuring clubs from coast to coast across the country, notably professional teams in Major League Soccer and the Canadian Premier League as well as league winners in League1 BC, League1 Ontario and Ligue1 Québec (Première ligue de soccer du Québec). Winners of the 2023 Canadian Championship lift the Voyageurs Cup and qualify to the annual international competition, Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League. Winners of the Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup.
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\u200bTuesday 9 May 2023
\u200bForge FC Hamilton v Atlético Ottawa
\u200bHamilton, Ontario – Tim Hortons Field
\u200bKickoff – 19.00 local (19.00 ET / 16.00 PT)
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\u200bToronto FC v CF Montréal
\u200bToronto, Ontario – BMO Field
\u200bKickoff – 19.00 local (19.00 ET / 16.00 PT)
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\u200bWednesday 10 May 2023
\u200bYork United FC v Vancouver Whitecaps FC
\u200bToronto, Ontario – York Stadium
\u200bKickoff- 19.30 local (19.30 ET / 16.30 PT)
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\u200bPacific FC v TSS Rovers FC
\u200bKickoff – 19:30 local (22:30 ET / 19:30 PT)
\u200bStarlight Stadium