Canadian Premier League’s CPL-U SPORTS Draft Set For December

The next generation of university talent will be highlighted in the 2025 CPL-U SPORTS Draft in just under two month’s time.

The seventh-ever collaboration draft between Canada’s top flight and the country’s domestic university circuit will take place on Thursday, December 5, with broadcast details still to be determined.

The draft format remains unchanged and will feature two selection rounds with all eight Canadian Premier League clubs selecting one player per round. The order of both rounds will be determined by both the 2024 CPL regular season standings and the playoff finishes, with the worst-performing team going up first.

Unlike Major League Soccer, a player being drafted doesn’t actually mean they’ve signed on with the team: instead, they remain a free agent and are invited to trial with the club. Since the very first draft there have been eighty-nine players selected (some more than once), of which fifty-seven eventually landed U SPORTS or professional contracts.

Last season saw Gianfranco Facchineri return to the league through the draft, with players like Amadou Kone (Forge) and Christian Zeppieri (York United) also earning some minutes. Interestingly, Zeppieri was the only first-round pick to actually play any professional minutes out of the eight first round selections.

“The CPL-U SPORTS Draft has become a critical platform for student-athletes to bridge the gap between university competition and professional soccer,” says U SPORTS CSO Matthew Davies. “It offers an unparalleled opportunity for our players to showcase their talents while maintaining their academic commitments. We are proud of the role U SPORTS athletes continue to play in shaping the future of Canadian soccer and look forward to seeing this year’s draft class take the next step in their careers.”

The league’s current roster rules allow for up to three players to feature on a club’s development roster. They do not count towards a club’s roster budget, but do count towards the league’s required domestic U-21 minute marker if age-appropriate. By default, club’s and university players must decide whether they will be released back to the university circuit or retained for the full season by August 1.

The league has seen several draft selections rise to prominence following their draft selections, with players like Joel Waterman, Garven Metusala, and Victor Loturi all having once participated in the draft.

This weekend will see the first three of the draft order determined. The CPL will close out its regular season with four matches kicking off simultaneously, so the bottom-three teams by final whistle will go first, second, and third in December’s draft.