CPL Shield
{{Short description|Canadian soccer trophy}}
{{distinguish|North Star Shield}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{infobox sports award
| name =
| image = CPL Shield.jpg
| imagesize =
| league = Canadian Premier League
| description = Finishing the regular season with the best record
| year = 2023, 2019 (retroactively)
| most_awards = Cavalry FC, Forge FC
(2 shields each)
| holder = 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.{{cite news|url=https://northerntribune.ca/canadian-premier-league-regular-season-award/|title=Prize Pool: CPL Regular Season Champion To Get Money, Trophy|first=John|last=Jacques|publisher=Northern Tribune|date=September 18, 2022|access-date=October 22, 2023}}
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.{{cite web|url=https://canpl.ca/article/canadian-premier-league-announces-plans-to-recognize-regular-season-champions|title=Canadian Premier League announces plans to recognize regular season champions|first=Charlie|last=O'Connor-Clarke|publisher=Canadian Premier League|date=September 18, 2022|access-date=October 19, 2023}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/canadian-premier-league-revamps-trophy-case-with-new-hardware-up-for-grabs-1.6572355 |title=Canadian Premier League revamps trophy case with new hardware up for grabs|publisher=CTV News|agency=The Canadian Press|date=September 21, 2023|access-date=October 19, 2023}}{{cite news|url=https://canpl.ca/article/canadian-premier-league-announces-new-trophies|title=Canadian Premier League announces new trophies|publisher=Canadian Premier League|date=September 21, 2023|access-date=October 22, 2023}} 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.{{Cite web|title=Canadian Premier League's Island Games: Everything you need to know|url=https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/canadian-premier-leagues-island-games-everything-need-know/|date=August 12, 2020|access-date=October 19, 2023|publisher=Sportsnet|first=Peter|last=Galindo}}
=Design=
The trophy is a silver shield measuring about {{convert|46|cm}} in diameter and weighing {{convert|9|kg}}. 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
{{dagger}} – Trophy awarded retroactively
| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:center;" | ||||||
| rowspan="2" |Season
! rowspan="2" |Teams ! rowspan="2" |Winner ! colspan="7" |Record ! rowspan="2" |Playoff result ! rowspan="2" |Coach | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| {{tooltip|Pld|Matches played}}
! {{tooltip|W|Wins}} ! {{tooltip|D|Draws}} ! {{tooltip|L|Losses}} ! {{tooltip|Pts|Points}} ! {{tooltip|Δ|Point margin}} ! {{tooltip|PPG|Points per match}} | ||||||
| data-sort-value="2019" | 2019 {{dagger}}
| 7 | 28 | 19 | 5 | 4 | 62 | 6 | 2.21
| {{sort|2|Runner-up}} | style="text-align:left;" | {{Sort|Wheeldon Jr., Tommy| {{flagicon|ENG}} Tommy Wheeldon Jr. }} |
| 2020
| 8 | colspan="10" | Not awarded | ||||||
| data-sort-value="2021" | 2021 {{dagger}}
| 8 | Forge FC | 28 | 16 | 2 | 10 | 50 | 0{{efn|name=Totalwins|1st tiebreaker: total wins}} | 1.79
| {{sort|2|Runner-up}} | style="text-align:left;" | {{sort|Smyrniotis, Bobby| {{flagicon|CAN}} Bobby Smyrniotis }} |
| data-sort-value="2022" | 2022 {{dagger}}
| 8 | 28 | 13 | 10 | 5 | 49 | 2 | 1.75
| {{sort|2|Runner-up}} | style="text-align:left;" | {{sort|González, Carlos González| {{flagicon|ESP}} Carlos González }} |
| 2023
| 8 | Cavalry FC (2) | 28 | 16 | 7 | 5 | 55 | 13 | 1.96
| {{sort|2|Runner-up}} | style="text-align:left;" | {{Sort|Wheeldon Jr., Tommy| {{flagicon|ENG}} Tommy Wheeldon Jr. }} (2) |
| 2024
| 8 | Forge FC (2) | 28 | 15 | 5 | 8 | 50 | 2 | 1.79
| {{sort|2|Runner-up}} | style="text-align:left;" | {{sort|Smyrniotis, Bobby| {{flagicon|CAN}} Bobby Smyrniotis }} (2) |
{{notelist}}
Records
{{see also|List of soccer clubs in Canada by competitive honours won}}
= Shield wins by club =
| class="wikitable sortable" |
| Team
! Winners ! Runners-up ! Year(s) won ! Year(s) runners-up |
|---|
| Forge FC
| align=center | 2 | align=center | 3 |
| Cavalry FC
| align=center | 2 | align=center | 2 |
| Atlético Ottawa
| align=center | 1 | align=center | 0 | 2022 | {{n/a |
|-
|}
= Shield wins by province =
= 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.
| class="wikitable sortable" style=text-align:center;"
!Year !Club !Starting round !Result |
| 2022
| Forge FC{{efn|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.{{cite news|url=https://canpl.ca/article/forge-become-first-cpl-team-to-plat-in-the-concacaf-champions-league-how-did-they-get-here|title=Forge become first CPL team to play in the Concacaf Champions League: How did they get here?|first=Benedict|last=Rhodes|publisher=Canadian Premier League|date=February 14, 2022|access-date=October 22, 2023}}}} | Round of 16 | Round of 16 |
| 2024
| Round one | Round one |
| 2025
| Forge FC | Round one | Round one |
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
{{notelist}}
; Sources
{{reflist}}
{{Canadian Premier League}}
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{{CPL Shield winners|state=collapsed}}
{{CPL Shield winning seasons|state=collapsed}}
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Category:Canadian Premier League
Category:Canadian Premier League trophies and awards
Canadian Premier League Shield