League1 Ontario

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League1 Ontario
Men's Division
File:League1 Ontario Logo.png
FoundedNovember 15, 2013
CountryCanada
ConfederationCanadian Soccer Association
Number of teams16
Level on pyramid3
Promotion toNone
Relegation toNone
League cup(s)League1 Ontario Cup
Current championsOakville Blue Devils
(2015)
Current cup championsWoodbridge Strikers
(2015)
WebsiteLeague1 Ontario website
Current: 2016 League1 Ontario season

League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Ontario, Canada, and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a Division III league in the Canadian soccer league system. The league was currently has 16 teams in the men's division, while the women's division has 11 teams heading into its second season.

In the Canadian soccer league system, it is behind Major League Soccer (MLS) (Division I) and the North American Soccer League (NASL) (Division II), while roughly equal to the Première Ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ).

History

League1 Ontario was founded on November 15, 2013 in an announcement by the Ontario Soccer Association (OSA) that it would pilot the semi-professional league in 2014 and 2015 as a key pillar of long-term player development in Canada. The league would be administered by DG Sports, who also operate the province's amateur Ontario Soccer League, with Dino Rossi serving as commissioner. OSA President Ron Smale stated that the league's core group of players are to consist of U-23s, with League1 complementing the newly formed Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) elite youth league as a pathway for professional player development.[1]

On April 8, 2014 the OSA revealed its plans for the inaugural season of League1 to feature 10 teams, chosen through a standards-based application process, with the first games to take place during the final weekend in May 2014. The founding 10 clubs would be: ANB Futbol, Durham Power FC, Internacional de Toronto, Kingston Cataraqui Clippers, Masters FA, Sigma FC, Toronto FC Academy, Academy Vaughan Azzurri, Windsor Stars and Woodbridge Strikers.[2]

Dylan Sacramento of Toronto FC Academy scored the first ever goal in the league with a 10th-minute strike against Vaugham Azzuri.[3] In the same game Mateo Restrepo received the league's first red card.[3]

On July 22, 2014, the league and the Ontario Soccer Association announced the termination of Internacional de Toronto's license agreement due to "failure to comply with agreed-upon league standards,"[4][5] with league matches rescheduled for the season to accommodate the change.

Toronto FC Academy were crowned the inaugural league champions on Oct. 4, 2014 after defeating the Cataraqui Clippers 3-1 to secure the top place in the regular season standings.[6][7] Vaughan Azzurri and Sigma FC contested the inaugural League1 Ontario Cup on October 19, 2014 at BMO Field, with the Azzurri winning the single-game cup final 2-1 to be crowned champions.[8][9]

In January 2015, L1O announced the launch of a women's division that would include seven teams. In the same release the number of men's teams would go up to 12 for the new season.[10] Expansion continued for the 2016 season by adding four teams to each division[11] and the introduction of a conference format in the men's division.[12]

Men's Division

Competition format

The League1 Ontario regular season runs from May through October using a two-conference format, with each team playing two matches against teams from their own conference and one match against teams from the opposing conference. The top team from each conference will face each other for the league championship at the end of the season.[13]

A single-elimination cup tournament runs concurrently with the regular season, with cup games taking place during mid-week.

Clubs

Current clubs

Team City Stadium Founded First season Head coach
Western Conference
FC London London German Canadian FC Stadium 2008 2016 Croatia Mario Despotović[14]
North Mississauga SC Mississauga Hershey Centre, Field 2 1982 2016 Trinidad and Tobago Rick Titus[15]
Oakville Blue Devils Oakville Sheridan Stadium 1994 2015 England Duncan Wilde[16]
ProStars FC Brampton Victoria Park Stadium 2015 2015 Hungary Josef Komlodi[17]
Sanjaxx Lions Toronto Monarch Park Stadium 2012 2015 England Peter Mellon[18]
Sigma FC Mississauga Hershey Centre, Field 1 2005 2014 Greece Bobby Smyrniotis[19]
Toronto FC Academy North York, Toronto KIA Training Ground 2008 2014 Scotland Stuart Neely[20]
Windsor Stars Windsor McHugh Stadium 2004 2014 Canada Shane Topalovic[21]
Eastern Conference
Aurora United FC Aurora Sheppard’s Bush 1964 2016 Canada Jim Brennan[22]
Durham United FA Pickering Kinsmen Park 2014 2014 Canada Sanford Carabin[23]
Kingston Clippers Kingston Tindall Field, Queen's University 1971 2014 Canada Christian Hoefler[24]
Master's Futbol Scarborough, Toronto L'Amoreaux Park 2012 2014 Andre Savelev[25]
North Toronto Nitros Toronto Varsity Stadium 1980 2016 Cameroon Hermann Kingué[26]
Toronto Skillz FC Scarborough, Toronto Birchmount Stadium 2008 2016 Trinidad and Tobago Leslie Fitzpatrick[27]
Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan McNaughton Park 2014 2014 Canada Carmine Isacco[28]
Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge, Vaughan Vaughan Grove 1976 2014 Canada Peter Pinizzotto[29]

Former clubs

Former teams
Team City Stadium First Season Final Season
Internacional de Toronto Old Toronto, Toronto Lamport Stadium 2014 2014
ANB Futbol Richmond Hill, York The Country Day School 2014 2015

Organization

Regulations

League1 Ontario was founded with a series of values, objectives and standards all aimed at furthering the league's stated objective of improving player development in Ontario and Canada. Some of these regulations include:[30]

  • Standards-based club licensing, renewed annually (not a franchise/ownership model). Standards include technical, organizational, facility and financial criteria.
  • Maximum of 3 non-Canadian players per club.
  • 18-man game day rosters must include a minimum of 8 U-23 players.
  • Starting 11 must include a minimum of 4 U-23 players.
  • Maximum of 5 substitutions per match.

Women's Division

The seven teams that which contested the inaugural season of the women's division were announced by League1 Ontario and the Ontario Soccer Association on January 28, 2015.[31] Four additional teams were added for the 2016 season.[11]

Durham United FC won the inaugural league championship, while North Mississauga SC were the 2015 cup champions.

Current clubs

Current teams
Team City Stadium (Capacity) Founded First Season Head Coach
Aurora United FC Aurora, Ontario Sheppard's Bush 2015 2016 Ramin Mohammidi
Darby FC Whitby, Ontario Whitby Soccer Centre & Darlington Fields 2015 2016 Mirco Schroff
Durham United FC Pickering, Ontario Kinsmen Park 2015 Ron Clarke
Kingston Clippers Kingston, Ontario Tindall Field, Queen's University 2014 2016 Christian Hoefler
FC London London, Ontario German Canadian FC Stadium 2015 2016 Mike Marcoccia
North Mississauga SC Mississauga, Ontario Hershey Centre 2015 Jhon Ardila
Sanjaxx Lions Toronto Monarch Park Stadium 2015 JamaicaPatrick (Laza) Lowe
Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan, Ontario McNaughton Park 2015 Carmine Isacco
Woodbridge Strikers Vaughan, Ontario Vaughan Grove 2015 David Porco
League1 Ontario is located in Southern Ontario
Aurora
Aurora
Darby FC
Darby FC
Durham
Durham
Kingston
Kingston
London
London
North Miss.
North Miss.
Sanjaxx
Sanjaxx
Vaughan
Vaughan
Woodbridge
Woodbridge
class=notpageimage|
Location of teams for the 2016 League1 Ontario Women's Division season.

Former clubs

Former teams
Team City Stadium First Season Final Season
ANB Futbol Richmond Hill, Ontario The Country Day School 2015 2015
Pro Stars FC Brampton, Ontario Victoria Park 2015 2015

See also

References

  1. ^ "OSA TO PILOT SEMI-PRO LEAGUE1 ONTARIO IN 2014-2015". OntarioSoccer.ca. November 15, 2013. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
  2. ^ "OSA announces League1 Ontario teams". OntarioSoccer.ca. April 8, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
  3. ^ a b http://www.league1ontario.com/article/toronto-fc-academy-1---vaughan-azzurri-1
  4. ^ "Notification". League1Ontario.com. July 22, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  5. ^ "OSA statement on Internacional de Toronto". OntarioSoccer.ca. July 22, 2014. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  6. ^ Tim Kelly (October 6, 2014). "Toronto FC Academy 3 - Kingston Cataraqui Clippers 1". League1Ontario.com. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  7. ^ "TFC Academy Triumphs". torontofc.ca. October 4, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  8. ^ Kamal Hylton (October 20, 2014). "L1 Cup Final: Vaughan Azzurri 2 - Sigma F.C. 1". League1Ontario.com. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  9. ^ Kamal Hylton (October 19, 2014). "Vaughan Azzurri crowned 2014 League1 Cup champions". RedNationOnline.ca. Retrieved January 25, 2015.
  10. ^ "League1 Ontario Announces 12-Team 2015 Men's Division". league1ontario.com. League1 Ontario. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
  11. ^ a b "League1 Ontario Announces Eight New Teams For Upcoming Season". league1ontario.com. League1 Ontario. Retrieved 17 December 2015.
  12. ^ "LEAGUE1 ONTARIO GROWING AGAIN IN 2016". league1ontario.com. League1 Ontario. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  13. ^ "LEAGUE1 ONTARIO GROWING AGAIN IN 2016". league1ontario.com. League1 Ontario. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  14. ^ "Everything new at FC London". lfpress.com. The London Free Press. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  15. ^ "Introducing NMSC Men's League 1 Coach – Rick Titus". North Mississauga SC. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  16. ^ "L1 Team". Oakville Blue Devils. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  17. ^ "Coaches & Staff". Pro Stars FC. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  18. ^ "Peter Mellon profile". Sanjaxx Soccer School. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  19. ^ "Coaching Staff". Sigma FC. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  20. ^ "TFC names Neely Academy Senior Team head coach". Toronto FC. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  21. ^ "Shane Topalovic named head coach of Windsor Stars soccer club". The Windsor Star. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  22. ^ "AUFC". Aurora United FC. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  23. ^ "Durham United FC – League One Ontario". Oshawa Kicks. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  24. ^ "Staff". Kingston Clippers SC. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  25. ^ "Master's Futbol". League1 Ontario. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  26. ^ "Hermann Kingue profile". North Toronto SC. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  27. ^ "Toronto Skillz FC". League1 Ontario. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  28. ^ "Vaughan Azzurri". League1 Ontario. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  29. ^ "League1". Woodbridge S.C. Strikers. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  30. ^ "League1 Ontario Presentation, April 9, 2014" (PDF). VaughanSoccer.com. April 9, 2014. Retrieved July 10, 2014.
  31. ^ "League1 And OSA Announce 2015 Women's Division". league1ontario.com. Retrieved 29 January 2015.

External links

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