Canadian Premier League Expected To Make Announcement This Week

Sources close to the league have stated that the Canadian Premier League intends to make a return-to-play announcement this week, though Northern Tribune could not confirm details regarding the location of the tournament.

Around the same time, OneSoccer analyst Oliver Platt has now added that he expects fans to hear something good in the next two or three days, too – though this isn’t the first time expectations of an announcement have been claimed.

The modified Canadian Premier League tournament is expected to see each club play eachother once, with the top four teams then moving on to the playoffs. In the last few months the cities of Langford, Charlottetown, and Moncton have all been mentioned as possible tournament hub locations, but it’s not clear which bid ultimately won out. Rumours of utilizing multiple sites within the Atlantic Bubble have recently sprung up, too.

The tournament is expected to begin in the first half of August, though it’s still unclear how long players and staff will need to isolate ahead of the competition, or what protocols will be put in place to prioritize the safety of all involved in the 2020 Canadian Premier League season.

Ever since Canadian Premier League Comissioner David Clanachan discussed potential host locations in early June, the league has only released a sole communication stating that it was seeking to find an appropriate solution for the season. In the meantime, all eight Canadian Premier League clubs have reached the second phase of training.

Despite the long setback to the 2020 campaign, Clanachan has revealed that expansion talks have continued, even stating that he believes Toronto could play host to a second CPL team. This year will see the league’s first-ever expansion side, Atletico Ottawa, take to the pitch.

Atletico Ottawa strategic partner Jeff Hunt had been hopeful for an announcement last week, even going so far as to suggest that the CPL’s host location could then host the Canadian Championship in the fall directly after the conclusion of the CPL campaign. With the opening round of the reformed tournament expected to feature solely CPL sides without MLS competition at that point, it’s an idea that makes a lot of sense.

With the MLS Is Back Tournament seeing two teams drop out of the Florida-based competition, the CPL will be keen to maximize the safety of its players while recovering some financial losses due to the delay of this year’s campaign. If an announcement does come to fruition this week, fans will finally have a set date to look forward to that has been a long time coming.