2020 Canadian Premier League season


The 2020 Canadian Premier League season or The Island Games is the second season of the Canadian Premier League, the top level of Canadian soccer. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the season will be played behind closed doors in at the University of Prince Edward Island in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. A shortened season will begin on August 13 and end in September with the Finals.
On March 13, 2020, as part of measures to reduce the spread of COVID-19, the CPL issued a statement announcing a 14-day hold on all pre-season training, effective immediately. On March 20, the league announced that it would be postponing the start of the season from the previously scheduled date of April 11. The new format and its location was announced July 29.
Atlético Ottawa will join the league as its first expansion team, bringing the total number of teams to eight. Forge FC are the defending league champions after defeating Cavalry FC in the 2019 CPL Finals.

Overview

Teams

The seven teams that participated in the inaugural 2019 Canadian Premier League season are set to compete in this season. They are joined by Atlético Ottawa, an expansion team who were created after USL Championship side Ottawa Fury FC suspended operations after being unable to secure approval from USSF and CONCACAF.

Personnel and sponsorship

Coaching changes

First stage

The split-season spring/fall format of the inaugural season is replaced in 2020 by a single table and a single round-robin. The eight teams will meet their rivals once each.

Table

Results

Group stage

Table

Results

Finals

Player transfers

U Sports Draft

The 2019 CPL–U Sports Draft was held on November 11 in Montreal, Quebec. Draftees will be invited to team preseason camps, with an opportunity to earn a developmental contract and retain their U Sports men's soccer eligibility. HFX Wanderers selected Cory Bent with the first overall pick. Two players were selected by each returning CPL team, with a total of 14 players being drafted including 10 Canadians. Ottawa had not yet joined the league and did not participate in the draft.

Foreign players

Canadian Premier League teams may sign a maximum of seven international players, out of which only five can be in the starting line-up for each match. The following players are considered foreign players for the 2020 season. This list does not include Canadian citizens who represent other countries at the international level.
ClubPlayer 1Player 2Player 3Player 4Player 5Player 6Player 7
Atlético Ottawa Vashon Neufville Tevin Shaw Francisco Acuña Bernardinho Nacho Zabal Viti Martínez
Cavalry Jordan Brown José Escalante Nathan Mavila Oliver Jair Córdova Richard Luca
FC Edmonton Jeannot Esua Kareem Moses Ramón Soria Son Yong-chan Erik Zetterberg Raúl Tito
Forge Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson Elimane Cissé Daniel Krutzen Paolo Sabak
HFX Wanderers Akeem Garcia Andre Rampersad Peter Schaale Alex Marshall João Morelli Eriks Santos Cory Bent
Pacific Alejandro Díaz
Valour José Galán Solomon Kojo Antwi Andrew Jean-Baptiste Amir Soto Moses Dyer Arnold Bouka Moutou
York9 Wataru Murofushi Gabriel Vasconcelos Fugo Segawa Nicholas Hamilton Álvaro Rivero

Players in italic denote players new to their respective clubs for the 2020 season, sorted chronologically by their announcement.
Players in bold denote players who have been capped at senior international level.