CPL Shield

Not to be confused with North Star Shield.

CPL Shield

League	Canadian Premier League
Awarded for	Finishing the regular season with the best record
History
First award	2023, 2019 (retroactively)
Most wins	Cavalry FC, Forge FC (2 shields each)
Most recent	Forge FC (2024, 2nd shield)

The Canadian Premier League Shield or CPL Shield is a trophy awarded annually to the Canadian Premier League (CPL) club with the best regular season finish. Although this award does not signify a league championship, as that is decided during the Canadian Premier League Finals, the winning team is awarded an equal monetary prize to the eventual playoff champions, and a berth in the next season's CONCACAF Champions Cup.[1]

History

At the end of the 2022 Canadian Premier League season, the league announced that they would begin to recognize the regular season accomplishments of its member clubs to have more similarity with soccer competitions around the world, which put less emphasis on post-season results.[2] At the time, the Canadian Premier League did not recognize a regular season winner. The CPL Shield was first unveiled near the end of the 2023 Canadian Premier League regular season.[3][4] Cavalry FC were the first team to hoist the trophy following their 2023 regular season championship. The CPL Shield was also awarded retroactively to the clubs with the best regular season records from all previous seasons, meaning that Cavalry FC were also the first de-facto winners of the trophy for their first place finish in the inaugural 2019 season. Due to the unconventional format used for a shortened season in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league did not retroactively award the trophy to any team for that year.[5]

Design

The trophy is a silver shield measuring about 46 centimetres (18 in) in diameter and weighing 9 kilograms (20 lb). The CPL Shield has 13 edges to represent each of the provinces and territories of Canada and features a gold CPL logo (which is a stylized maple leaf) in the centre.[3] The trophy sits on a removable wooden base.

Winners

† – Trophy awarded retroactively

Season	Teams	Winner	Record							Playoff result	Coach
			Pld	W	D	L	Pts	Δ	PPG
† 2019 †	7	Cavalry FC	28	19	5	4	62	6	2.21	Runner-up	Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
2020	8	Not awarded
† 2021 †	8	Forge FC	28	16	2	10	50	0[a]	1.79	Runner-up	Bobby Smyrniotis
† 2022 †	8	Atlético Ottawa	28	13	10	5	49	2	1.75	Runner-up	Carlos González
2023	8	Cavalry FC (2)	28	16	7	5	55	13	1.96	Runner-up	Tommy Wheeldon Jr. (2)
2024	8	Forge FC (2)	28	15	5	8	50	2	1.79	Runner-up	Bobby Smyrniotis (2)

1. 1st tiebreaker: total wins

Records

See also: List of soccer clubs in Canada by competitive honours won

Shield wins by club

Team	Winners	Runners-up	Year(s) won	Year(s) runners-up
Forge FC	2	3	2021, 2024	2019, 2022, 2023
Cavalry FC	2	2	2019, 2023	2021, 2024
Atlético Ottawa	1	0	2022

Shield wins by province

Province	Winners	Runners-up
Ontario	3	3
Alberta	2	2

Winner's records in the CONCACAF Champions Cup

See also: Canadian soccer clubs in international competitions

Starting in 2023, the CPL Shield winner earned Canada's berth in the following year's CONCACAF Champions Cup.[4]

Year	Club	Starting round	Result
2022	Forge FC[a]	Round of 16	Round of 16
2024	Cavalry FC	Round one	Round one
2025	Forge FC	Round one	TBD

See also

• Maurice Podoloff Trophy, an NBA trophy having the same function as the CPL Shield.
• NWSL Shield, an NWSL trophy with the having function as the CPL Shield.
• Presidents' Trophy, an NHL trophy having the same function as the CPL Shield.
• Supporters' Shield, an MLS trophy having the same function as the CPL Shield.
• Wooden Spoon awards, an award given to a team with the worst regular season record.

References

Notes

1. Although Forge was the regular season champion in 2021, they qualified to the Champions League due to their placement in the 2021 CONCACAF League, as the CPL Shield berth was only first awarded in 2023.[6]

Sources

1. Jacques, John (September 18, 2022). "Prize Pool: CPL Regular Season Champion To Get Money, Trophy". Northern Tribune. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
2. O'Connor-Clarke, Charlie (September 18, 2022). "Canadian Premier League announces plans to recognize regular season champions". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
3. "Canadian Premier League revamps trophy case with new hardware up for grabs". CTV News. The Canadian Press. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
4. "Canadian Premier League announces new trophies". Canadian Premier League. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 22, 2023.
5. Galindo, Peter (August 12, 2020). "Canadian Premier League's Island Games: Everything you need to know". Sportsnet. Retrieved October 19, 2023.
6. Rhodes, Benedict (February 14, 2022). "Forge become first CPL team to play in the Concacaf Champions League: How did they get here?". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved October 22, 2023.