A picture of a Trillium, the provincial flower of Ontario and the state wildflower of Ohio

The Trillium Cup is an annual, two-team rivalry between the Columbus Crew and Toronto FC of Major League Soccer. The Trillium Cup is named after the trillium, which is both the official flower of the Canadian province of Ontario, and the official wildflower of the U.S. state of Ohio. The rivalries draw on the team's similarities: two teams are geographically near the Great Lakes that border the United States and Canada and both teams also play in soccer-specific stadium that have been built in the central city, as opposed to other MLS clubs that have built their stadium mainly in the suburbs. The cup is awarded to the team that wins the regular season series (constituting 3 games in the 2008 season).

In 2008, Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus and Mayor David Miller of Toronto started a small wager on their respective team for the first installment of the Trillium Cup - the mayor of the losing team was required to wear the winning team's jersey.

The rivalry became more intense when 2,500 tickets to the first game at Columbus Crew Stadium were bought by TFC fans, and buses were organized for fans from Toronto heading to Columbus for the first game on March 29, 2008. The Crew won 2-0 over their new rival. The second and third meetings were at BMO Field were ties; 0-0 and 1-1, respectively. The Crew claimed the inaugural Trillium Cup with a 5:2 score on points earned, and maintained their status in Major League Soccer as one of three teams that Toronto has not beaten (along with Seattle Sounders FC).

[edit] Winners by year

× Retroactive & Unofficial
+ Points based on Wins (3), Ties (1) & Losses (0)
- Tiebreakers: 1) Goal Differential, 2) Away Goals For, 3) Previous Year Winners

[edit] Series Results

2009

2008