Concacaf Rankings: Montreal, Forge Lead Way For Canada In MLS, CPL

A brand new club ranking system that will help determine draw seedings for club competition has been introduced by Concacaf.

The rankings reveal CF Montreal to be the top club in Canada, chiming in at fourteenth overall through all of the confederation’s leagues. That’s good enough for the fifth-highest MLS team, with the Vancouver Whitecaps and Toronto FC much further down at 41 and 42 respectively.

Not long after that comes the top-ranked Canadian Premier League team, Forge FC, who have made a strong account for themselves through both the Concacaf League and Concacaf Champions League, while also picking up three North Star Shield titles.

Here’s how the CPL clubs are ranked at the moment:

The most interesting caveat is that while Pacific FC is the only CPL team outside of Forge to have featured in continental competition, they’re currently ranked a few spots below Cavalry FC. It’s also worth noting that Valour and Halifax are tied on rankings points.

Concacaf is ranking these clubs through a method based on the Elo system, which updates the score of clubs after each match held in continental competition, domestic first division, and domestic cup play using results earned since 2017.

An explanation of how those results turn into Concacaf’s index can be found here.

The lowest ranked Canadian club on the list, CPL newcomers Vancouver FC, are actually above some clubs that will ring familiar to CPL fans: they’re one spot ahead of an Arcahei FC team who bested Forge in penalties, and five spots against a Waterhouse FC team that Pacific routed last year.

The Canadian Premier League is ranked as the sixth-best team in Concacaf, behind the first divisions of Guatemala, Costa Rica, Honduras, United States, and Mexico.

Liga MX’s CF Monterrey tops the rankings, with Club America and LAFC following suit.

The 2023 Canadian Premier League season will see both the regular season champion and playoff winner qualify for the Concacaf Champions League, while the three Canadian Major League Soccer teams can only qualify by either winning the Canadian Championship or lifting the MLS Cup.