The 2020 Canadian Premier League Schedule Is Here

Update: The CPL has switched all Tuesday and Thursday matches to an evening time slot, and made some fixture changes for August 23. The table below reflects these updates.

The Canadian Premier League has just released its schedule for The Island Games, with the regular season fixtures now live on the league website.

The league will kick off this Thursday with a match between Forge FC and Cavalry FC, with a double-header following on Saturday between first York9 FC and Atletico Ottawa, and then a coast-to-coast clash between the Halifax Wanderers and Pacific FC. Another double-header on Sunday will see Valour kickstart its campaign against Cavalry FC, with Forge FC then taking on FC Edmonton.

Fans can take a look at the regular season schedule below:

Date	Time (Eastern)	Home Club	Away Club
Thursday August 13	8:00PM	Forge FC	Cavalry FC
Saturday August 15	12:00PM	York9 FC	Atletico Ottawa
Saturday August 15	3:00PM	Halifax Wanderers	Pacific FC
Sunday August 16	12:00PM	Valour	Cavalry
Sunday August 16	3:00PM	Forge FC	FC Edmonton
Tuesday August 18	8:00PM	Pacific FC	York9 FC
Wednesday August 19	1:00PM	Atletico Ottawa	Valour FC
Wednesday August 19	8:00PM	Halifax Wanderers	Forge FC
Thursday August 20	8:00PM	FC Edmonton	Cavalry FC
Saturday August 22	1:00PM	York9 FC	Valour FC
Saturday August 22	4:00PM	Forge FC	Pacific FC
Sunday August 23	1:00PM	Atletico Ottawa	FC Edmonton
Sunday August 23	8:00PM	Cavalry FC	Halifax Wanderers
Tuesday August 25	8:00PM	Pacific FC	Valour FC
Wednesday August 26	1:00PM	York9 FC	Forge FC
Wednesday August 26	8:00PM	FC Edmonton	Halifax Wanderers
Thursday August 27	3:00PM	Atletico Ottawa	Cavalry FC
Saturday August 29	12:00PM	Valour FC	FC Edmonton
Saturday August 29	3:00PM	Halifax Wanderers	York9 FC
Sunday August 30	12:00PM	Cavalry FC	Pacific FC
Sunday August 30	3:00PM	Atletico Ottawa	Forge FC
Tuesday September 1	8:00PM	FC Edmonton	York9 FC
Wednesday September 2	1:00PM	Valour FC	Halifax Wanderers
Wednesday September 2	8:00PM	Pacific FC	Atletico Ottawa
Saturday September 5	12:00PM	Forge FC	Valour FC
Saturday September 5	3:00PM	Cavalry FC	York9 FC
Sunday September 6	12:00PM	Halifax Wanderers	Atletico Ottawa
Sunday September 6	3:00PM	Pacific FC	FC Edmonton

There are only four evening games out of the regular season, with the rest of the matches taking place between 12:00PM and 4:00PM respectively. Each club averages 3-4 days between games, but there are no obvious scheduling advantages for any of them – though Cavalry and Forge are the only sides to get a six day rest ahead of their final fixture of the regular season.

There will be no Monday or Friday matches throughout the regular season, with the abundance of early afternoon weekday fixtures likely to prove less than popular with many fans – though scheduling concessions evidently had to be made to accommodate the shortened season ahead of the colder weather.

Valour FC have the roughest schedule of the lot, having only three days between matches on four occasions, and four days between matches on two. Fittingly, FC Edmonton head coach Jeff Paulus – whose side averages 3.5 days between each regular season matchup – has made it no secret that he believes the health and freshness of a playing squad will overshadow technical and tactical aspects of the game in this shortened season.

The top four sides from the regular season will then go through a second round robin tournament for the playoffs, though the league has yet to reveal which days these fixtures will land on. After those matches play out, the top two sides will then head to the CPL Final.

Every match will be available on OneSoccer, with the streaming service having just announcing expanded coverage that includes new pre-and-post match coverage, pundits like James Sharman and Craig Forrest, and a new commentary addition in Brendan Dunlop.

CBC Sports also appears poised to pick up some of the games, with Canadian Premier League Commissioner David Clanachan also having mentioned that the league was in discussions with another broadcast network which is suspected to be TSN. As of right now, those broadcast schedules are not confirmed.

Today has proven to be a busy day for Canadian Premier League fans, with Atletico Ottawa announcing no less than six new players, Toronto FC loaning two youngsters to Valour FC, and the Halifax Wanderers already running into some injury troubles.

The league has not revealed its postseason schedule, which is expected to run until mid-September. Following that, rumours have circulated that the first round of the Canadian Championship will then be played by the CPL sides.