Nutrilite Canadian Championship

Founded	2008
Region	Canada (CONCACAF)
Number of teams	3
Current champions	Toronto FC (1st title)
Most successful club	Montreal Impact (1 title) Toronto FC (1 title)
Television broadcasters	Rogers Sportsnet (English) Radio-Canada (French)
2009 Canadian Championship

The Canadian Championship (known as the Nutrilite Canadian Championship for sponsorship reasons) is an football (soccer) tournament that is scheduled to take place in the cities of Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver every year to determine Canada's entrant into the CONCACAF Champions League.^[1] It is currently sponsored by Nutrilite.

Contents 1 Background 2 Format 3 Trophy 4 Past winners 5 George Gross Memorial Trophy 6 See also 7 References

[edit] Background

The Nutrilite Canadian Championship is a seasonal club football competition organized by the Canadian Soccer Association. The 2008 Nutrilite Canadian Championship was contested between May 2008 and July 2008 and won by the Montreal Impact. The tournament consisted of a home and away series between the Montreal Impact, Toronto FC and the Vancouver Whitecaps. As the Canadian champions, Montréal qualified for CONCACAF Champions League 2008-09.^[2][3][4]

The 2009 edition's format and participants were the same, contested by the three clubs in May and June of 2009. It was closely contended by Toronto and Vancouver and won by the former via goal differential in the tournament's final game against the defending champions, Montréal, giving the Toronto franchise their first ever trophy and a spot in the qualifying round of the CONCACAF Champions League 2009-10.^[5]

[edit] Format

The tournament features the top three professional teams in Canada in a home and away series with the top team winning entry into the qualifying stage of the CONCACAF Champions League. This will be the format for at least the first three seasons. It may expand if further Canadian teams join MLS or the USL First Division.

[edit] Trophy

The winners of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship are awarded the Voyageurs Cup,^[6] a trophy previously awarded to the Canadian USL First Division side with the best regular season record against other Canadian USL-1 teams. The USL was the highest level of Canadian soccer until Toronto FC became the first Canadian club in Major League Soccer.

The Voyageurs donated the cup to the Canadian Soccer Association to award to the winners of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. The terms of the agreement will be reviewed in 2010.^[7]

[edit] Past winners

For statistics incorporating the Voyageurs Cup prior to the Canadian Championship, see Voyageurs Cup.

Year	Rank	Teams	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2009	1	Toronto FC	9	4	3	0	1	8	3	+5
	2	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	9	4	3	0	1	5	1	+4
	3	Montreal Impact	0	4	0	0	4	1	10	-9

Year	Rank	Teams	Pts	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
2008	1	Montreal Impact	7	4	2	1	1	5	2	+3
	2	Toronto FC	5	4	1	2	1	4	4	0
	3	Vancouver Whitecaps FC	4	4	1	1	2	3	6	-3

[edit] George Gross Memorial Trophy

The George Gross Memorial Trophy was created by the Canadian Soccer Association in 2008 to recognize each tournament's most valuable player.

The Trophy is named after the late George Gross, a respected journalist and soccer lover.

Matt Jordan was the inaugural recipient of the Trophy, with Dwayne De Rosario becoming the first Canadian to claim the Trophy in 2009.^[8]

[edit] See also

• Voyageurs Cup
• CONCACAF Champions League
• Canadian Championship Golden Boot

[edit] References

1. ^ "Canadian teams set to do battle" (in English). Globe and Mail. 2008-03-27. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20080327.TORFC27/TPStory/Sports. Retrieved 2008-03-28. 
2. ^ "Canada to create new club championship" (in English). Canadian Soccer Association. 2008-01-31. http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=3026. Retrieved 2008-02-11. 
3. ^ "Canadian soccer on its way to qualifying for FIFA" (in English). Vancouver Sun. 2008-01-28. http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=4dd88dfc-04b3-4aba-af61-0fb5dad9c113&k=99763. Retrieved 2008-02-11. 
4. ^ "Canada's soccer teams unveil details for CONCACAF Champions League" (in English). Toronto FC Media Relations. 2008-03-26. http://www.mlsnet.com//news/team_news.jsp?ymd=20080326&content_id=145420&vkey=news_t280&fext=.jsp&team=t280. Retrieved 2008-03-26. 
5. ^ "2009 Nutrilite Canadian Championship Schedule and Results" (in English). Canadian Soccer Association. http://www.canadasoccer.com/tourney/FIFA_Clubs/2009_Nutrilite_Can_Championship.asp. Retrieved 2009-06-19. 
6. ^ "Association announces partners for new Nutrilite Canadian Champions League" (in English). CanadaSoccer.com. 2008-05-23. http://www.canadasoccer.com/eng/media/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=3190. Retrieved 2008-05-25. 
7. ^ "Here's the name" (in English). Winnipeg Fury. 2008-05-24. http://www.canadian-soccer.com/forum/topic.asp?whichpage=0.84&TOPIC_ID=15554#201492. Retrieved 2008-05-25. 
8. ^ "De Rosario wins George Gross Memorial Trophy" (in English). CanadaSoccer.com. 2009-06-18. http://canadasoccer.com/news/viewArtical.asp?Press_ID=3693. Retrieved 2009-06-23. 

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