The business of soccer isn’t personal. It’s hard-edged. Clubs, leagues and national associations do things to their competitors. We need to manage our strengths and vulnerabilities. Major League Soccer, the United Soccer League and by extension, the United States Soccer Federation operating in Canada is unfortunate. But it has underlined that its really important to change our soccer economy as we don’t want to be as vulnerable to the whims of the Americans as we are in terms of the broader economy.
The epigraph above is my spin on Jim Basillie’s words that kicked off my last blog entry. Make no mistake about it: there are very real parallels between our trading relationship with the United States and that of our professional game – at least in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver.
I’ll not lie to you: America’s soccer success has created envy and resentment in me. I’m threatened by MLS, the USL, the USSF and the USMNT. In a relatively short amount of time, they’ve become credible, mid-level international contenders and they’ll most likely become giants.
As a CanMNT supporter, it bothers me that we managed to fall so far behind the Americans and I know I’m not the only Canadian supporter who feels that way.
However, instead of being intimidated by the success of American soccer, I and a majority of Canadian supporters have begun to recognize the potential of our country to compete and ultimately excel.
Indeed, along with our growing soccer sophistication and interest in Canadian football, there’s a certain confidence among stakeholders that soon, there’ll be an end to the sharing of our pitches with American professional soccer in Canada. But to get to that point, there’s still a lot of work to be done.
Over the past decade or so, some of that heavy lifting has been done and a rough path cleared that could, with the support of Canadians, lead to an authentic Canadian soccer sovereignty free from the influence of American corporate soccer.
It’s a path that influential and persuasive football influencers have begun to increasingly wander down whilst speaking openly about the need for a made-in-Canada nexus between the grassroots, governance and elite game that addresses the country’s hitherto inadequate soccer economic capacity in terms of administrators, managers and player development – and the lack of professional opportunities.
In response to growing Canadian soccer nationalism, the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) has continued to embrace, earnestly, an ethos of reform aimed at internal governance, player development and the creation of a life-long attachment to the sport along with the organization of a pathway to elite club soccer and ultimately, to the national side.
This reformation has seen the CSA refreshing its approach to the provincial and territorial associations thus creating a new level of trust between the central governing body and the regions. With greater transparency and increased professionalism at the executive and administrative levels, its reported that many of the provinces and territories feel that their inclusion and input has become much more meaningful.
And tangible evidence of this improved relationship? The continual and genuine uptake of the CSA’s Long-term Player Development strategy by those same associations, an area of long and profound dispute between the groups.
Though Canada’s soccer renaissance is long from over, the CSA’s efforts thus far must be applauded.
There’s no doubt that being Canada’s First Minister of Football is just as taxing as being the Prime Minister: the complexities of language and geography combined with varying histories of soccer development and regional authority makes governance challenging to say the least.
However, despite the CSA’s best efforts to put its stamp upon the game in Canada, it remains – in my view – in competition for political and practical authority with American professional soccer operating in Canada. And it isn’t an understatement to say that the winner of this competition will determine how the game is to be defined in Canada and ultimately, what our CanMNT teams will bring to the pitch.
So, for those of you who aren’t completely aware of our what our crowded and admittedly, confusing football landscape looks like, here’s a simplified analysis of our soccer pyramid.
At the top, there is our putative top flight – three Canadian-based MLS clubs – and a CSA sanctioned first division, the Canadian Premier League (CanPL) that’s to begin play with seven clubs next Spring.
And it’s not with malice that I characterize MLS as our country’s presumed top flight. In the eleven seasons of play in Canada, MLS has never obtained the CSA’s blessing as our first division. It’s only through determined marketing and the absence – until now – of a fully-sanctioned domestic league that MLS has been able to emerge as the country’s top flight though only in mind and spirit among a decreasing number of supporters and players.
Now, however, after a few years of white-boarding in the offices of the CSA and private investors, the CanPL is set to launch with seven teams forming the inaugural table with another three joining in 2020. It’s anticipated that expansion will occur regularly and when the league fills out to 16, 22 or even 26 teams, its been stated that they’ll be split in half to form a second division along with promotion and relegation between the two.
As for a Canadian second division, well, at this point, there isn’t one. But like our current, so-called top flight, MLS, we also have a make-believe second tier as Ottawa Fury FC compete in the USSF’s second division, United Soccer League (USL) Championship.
In terms of division three soccer, there are two CSA-sanctioned leagues, League 1 Ontario (L1O) and the Premiere Ligue de Soccer du Quebec (PLSQ) with a total of 25 clubs and there are plans for additional circuits elsewhere in the country.
And as a side note, Toronto FC II, Toronto FC’s reserve side, are currently playing in the American second division but in 2019, will step-down to the soon-to-be USSF-sanctioned third division, USL League One.
Finally, our fourth tier is yet again is a make-believe affair and is made up of five Canadian clubs competing in USL League Two, which interestingly, remains unsanctioned by the USSF.
Oh, and before I forget, there is no promotion and relegation between the divisions.
Get all that?
I suppose some of you, especially readers outside of Canada, may find our set-up a little bit confusing. I mean, where else in the world can you find a country’s top four divisions mired in a system of sanctioned and unsanctioned play along with domestic and foreign leagues and two national associations governing them, along with no movement between the tiers?
At this point, that’s soccer made in Canada.
Till next time, keep calm and support your CanPL and CanMNT.