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Following a consultation by TrueNorthFoot, the Canadian Premier League confirmed that there has been a change to how spots trickle down for qualification to the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup.
As has been the regulation in past seasons, Canada is officially awarded three guaranteed spots:
- CPL playoff winner
- CPL Shield winner
- Canadian Championship winner
That does not change this year. What does change is which spots take priority over the others when a team wins more than one.
The new wrinkle is that if Cavalry win the CPL playoffs, in addition to having already won the CPL Shield, Atlético Ottawa, who finished third in the CPL table, would qualify as the next-best team in the standings not yet qualified. Forge, who finished second, have already qualified by beating CF Montréal in the Canadian Championship final.
Previously, had this exact scenario played out, Cavalry would have taken the CPL playoff winner spot and Forge the CPL Shield winner spot, which would have shifted the Canadian Championship spot to the runner-up, CF Montréal.
While official confirmation of the exact spot priority has yet to come from Concacaf, it is presumed that the new order is as follows:
- CPL playoff winner
- Canadian Championship winner
- Best team in the CPL table not already qualified
OneSoccer created a handy graphic showing which teams would qualify for the 2027 Concacaf Champions Cup depending on which team wins the playoffs.
For Ottawa, this opens up a second route to next year's Concacaf Champions Cup, aside from winning the CPL playoffs. If they don't win the title themselves, they’ll be hoping Cavalry do.
CF Montréal can still qualify for next year's Concacaf Champions Cup if Forge win the CPL playoffs, as the Hammers would take the CPL spot over their Canadian Championship spot.
FC Supra are another team in the conversation, though their path to qualification is far simpler (to explain, at least): win the CPL playoffs.
