2020 Canadian Championship Final To Take Place Next Year

After much speculation that the 2020 Canadian Championship Final might ultimately be skipped over should Forge FC qualify for the Champions League, the Canada Soccer Association has officially announced that the domestic cup final will indeed take place.

Today, Canada Soccer confirmed that the cup final between Forge FC and Toronto FC will play out in the first quarter of 2021, though the location and a specific date have yet to be determined.

Forge FC qualified for the domestic cup final by way of winning the 2020 Canadian Premier League season. While whoever wins the Canadian Championship will qualify for the Champions League, Forge FC might just qualify for the premier continental competition by way of its current Concacaf League run alone.

Should Forge FC win its quarter-final fixture against Arcahaie FC next week, the club will qualify for the Champions League directly through its Concacaf League performances. It can also qualify if it loses against Arcahaie by winning a subsequent play-in match or, of course, beating Toronto FC in the Voyageurs Cup Final.

This marks the first time a CPL team has come within one match of winning the cup, albeit under unusual circumstances. Last year saw Cavalry FC upset MLS competition in an impressive cup run of its own.

Toronto FC has never faced opposition from the Canadian Premier League before, though it’s something that Michael Bradley said the squad had been looking forward to since last year.

Toronto FC qualified for the final by route of finishing top of all three Canadian MLS sides throughout the first phase of the revised MLS schedule. Impressively, the 2017 MLS Cup Winners have finished top of the competition no less than seven times, though it was the Montreal Impact who last won the tournament.

While the 2020 Canadian Championship was originally slated to feature 12 Canadian teams, the COVID-19 pandemic forced the CSA to mold this year’s edition into a single match affair.

Canada Soccer states that the belated timing of the domestic cup final comes due to the current pandemic restrictions (along with Forge FC’s travel schedule, presumably), and as such both the full date and location have yet to be determined. The eventual fixture date will take place with the schedule for the 2021 MLS and CPL seasons in mind.