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 (2 shields) |
| Most recent | Cavalry FC (2023, 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.
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. 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. 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.
Design
The trophy is a silver shield measuring about 46 centimetres in diameter and weighing nine kilograms. 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. The trophy sits on a removable wooden base.
Winners
† – Trophy awarded retroactively
| Season | Teams | Winner | Record | Playoff result | Coach | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pld | W | D | L | Pts | +/- | 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 | 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 | 32 | 1.96 | Runner-up | Tommy Wheeldon Jr. (2) |
- 1st tiebreaker: total wins
Records
Shield wins by club
| Team | Winners | Runners-up | Year(s) won | Year(s) runners-up |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cavalry FC | 2 | 1 | 2019, 2023 | 2021 |
| Forge FC | 1 | 3 | 2021 | 2019, 2022, 2023 |
| Atlético Ottawa | 1 | 0 | 2022 |
Shield wins by province
| Province | Winners | Runners-up |
|---|---|---|
| Ontario | 2 | 3 |
| Alberta | 2 | 1 |
Winner's records in the CONCACAF Champions Cup
Starting in 2023, the CPL Shield winner earned Canada's berth in the following year's CONCACAF Champions Cup.
| Year | Club | Starting round | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Forge FC | Round of 16 | Round of 16 |
| 2024 | Cavalry FC | First Round | 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.