The schedule for the 2025 Canadian Premier League regular season was revealed on Wednesday ahead of the league’s seventh season. The regular season gets underway on April 5, the earliest start in league history, and will go all the way until mid-October.
After the 112-game regular season, the playoffs begin on October 22, using the same five-team playoff format as the past two seasons. The North Star Cup will be lifted in early November, on either Nov. 8 or 9 depending on which club earns the right to host the 2025 CPL Final.
There is a lot of football to be played before anyone starts thinking about trophies, though. Here are ten dates for CPL fans to circle on their calendars, listed in chronological order.
April 5: Battle of CPL Shield, North Star Cup winners highlights opening day
What better way to kick off the new campaign than a match between the two best teams from a year ago? CPL Shield winners Forge FC host North Star Cup winners Cavalry FC in a rematch of the 2023 and 2024 CPL Finals, months after the Cavs ended their hopes of three-peating the CPL playoff title.
Any meeting between these bitter rivals is an exciting one, but with both sides looking to get off to a hot start again in 2025, expect some fireworks in round one. Also part of the opening day triple-header are Atlético Ottawa vs Halifax Wanderers and Pacific FC vs Valour FC, before Vancouver FC hosts York United on Sunday, Apr. 6 to round out the weekend.
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April 19: York United visit Atlético Ottawa as Ontario rivalry enters a new era
Round three of the regular season features a match that many have been waiting for months, although it will feature plenty of new faces. Atlético Ottawa welcome York United back to TD Place for the first time since their epic playoff game last season, which featured a war of words in the buildup and then the league’s first-ever playoff penalty shootout after 120 minutes of dramatic, back-and-forth action.
The coaches of both clubs, central to the off-field sparks before the match, have since moved on over the offseason, but Mauro Eustáquio has been elevated from the assistant job into the York head role. Diego Mejía has replaced Carlos Gonzalez in the capital, and will look to steer Ottawa into the playoffs again, and potentially toward a second trophy in club history.
It’s a new era for the Ontario rivalry, but with any luck it will be just as fierce as the last one.
April 26 and 27: Salish Sea Derby and 905 Derby close first month of the season
Okay fine, it’s cheating to put two days in one spot, but CPL fans won’t want to miss this weekend at the end of April.
The weekend ends with the first 905 Derby of the season as Forge FC visit York United at York Lions Stadium, but not before Saturday night’s main event with Pacific FC travelling to the Lower Mainland to take on local rivals Vancouver FC.
The other matches on the schedule that weekend aren’t too shabby either, with Ottawa visiting the champions in Calgary earlier on Saturday, and some Friday night football in Winnipeg for Valour’s home opener against Halifax Wanderers FC.
May 13 and June 4: Forge and Valour host school day matches
It’s cheating again to put two dates on this list a second time, but hopefully the fans in attendance at the two CPL school day matches this season don’t pick up the habit.
After the massive success of last year’s school day game in Hamilton, Forge FC will again invite local students out to a match on May 13, when they host Atlético Ottawa at 11 a.m. ET. Valour FC will host a school day match of their own a few weeks later, welcoming Vancouver FC to town at 11 a.m. CT on June 4.
Could one of these games inspire a future Canadian Premier League star?
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May 17: First coastal clash between two teams looking to jump into playoffs
The distance between Nova Scotia and British Columbia makes any matches between CPL clubs from the provinces one of the longest road trips in the footballing world. There are eight such matches on the calendar again this year with Halifax Wanderers FC set to play Vancouver FC and Pacific FC twice home and twice away each.
The first coastal clash actually comes in mid-April when the Wanderers host Pacific for their home opener. But we also have the May 17 game between Vancouver and Halifax in Vancouver circled as it will be the first long-distance battle between a pair of clubs looking to build on underwhelming 2024 campaigns and jump above the playoff line in 2025. Both sides have freshened up their rosters over the off-season, and this will be a great chance to gauge where they’re at a quarter of the way into the season.
July 1: Wanderers host Valour in annual Canada Day match
Oh Canada, oh baby!
July 1 is always a day of celebration across the country, and playing CPL games on Canada Day has become a great tradition since the league’s inception. It won’t be any different in 2025, when the Halifax Wanderers welcome Valour FC to the east coast for some Tuesday afternoon football.
There could be fireworks on and off the pitch as the month of July starts with a bang, and the nation celebrates its 158th birthday.
July 13: Ottawa and Forge highlight triple-header to close first half of the season
There will be FIVE tripleheaders in the first half of the regular season, including on Sunday, July 13, when the first half of the campaign comes to a close with some mouth-watering matchups.
The show begins in the nation’s capital, where Atlético Ottawa host Ontario rivals Forge FC at TD Place. Staying in Ontario, York United host Valour FC in the second match of the day, before the action heads west to British Columbia, where Vancouver FC welcome Cavalry FC to Willoughby Community Park. Pacific FC host Halifax Wanderers FC on the Saturday.
Title races and playoff spots will be far from locked up by that point, but by the end of July 13 we’ll likely have a pretty good idea of which teams are contenders or pretenders.
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August 4: Holiday Monday double-header helps kick off the month of August
What better way to end the August long weekend than with a pair of CPL matches?
The opening weekend of the month features the 17th round of the regular, including a pair of games on the holiday Monday. Vancouver FC make the long trek across the country to take on Halifax Wanderers FC in Nova Scotia, before Pacific FC host Cavalry FC at Starlight Stadium.
Forge host Valour on Saturday to open that weekend’s action, with Atletico Ottawa hosting York United on the Sunday sandwiched in between.
September 27: Four of five playoff teams from 2024 battle it out near end of regular season
With the 2025 CPL Playoffs looming, four of the five teams that made the postseason last year will be in action on the same day at the end of September, in matches that could potentially go a long way to deciding their fate. Atletico Ottawa hosts Cavalry FC first, before Forge FC take on Pacific FC in Hamilton.
This also means of course that if any teams that weren’t in the Playoffs last year wish to jump in, then that weekend could prove to be crucial. In other action, York United (who finished fourth last season) host Valour FC on the Sunday, before the weekend wraps up with Vancouver FC hosting Halifax Wanderers FC in Langley.
October 18: The Outcome! — all eight teams play simultaneously on final day of the regular season
Just like last year, all eight CPL clubs will play at the same time on the final day of the regular season, to give everyone an even playing field in case the games count for things like playoff positioning, or potentially even the CPL Shield.
In 2024 111 of 112 regular season matches were meaningful for the playoff race, and if we are lucky enough to say the same in 2025, you’ll want to be glued to as many screens as you can get OneSoccer on.
