Vancouver FC were blown out 5-0 (8-0 on aggregate) by Mexican powerhouse Cruz Azul on Friday, just days after Forge were knocked out 4-1 by Tigres.
The Concacaf Champions Cup has proved a very difficult competition for Canadian Premier League clubs since the Hammers' first appearance in 2022.
Across 14 matches, Canadian Premier League sides have lost 12, winning and drawing just once each.
Cavalry hold the sole victory, defeating Pumas in leg one of the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup, a result they understandably flex about to the others.
Forge played to a goalless draw with Tigres a few days ago in leg one before the eventual loss in Mexico.
The rest? All losses.
The stats are grim.
Canadian Premier League clubs have scored just seven times in 14 games while conceding 35, leaving them with a goal difference of -28.
"How can we improve at the international level?"
The truth is, we likely won't. Not under this format, at least.
When Concacaf rebranded the tournament in 2024 alongside its new 27-team format, it introduced two guaranteed qualification spots for Canada's domestic league.
The new format, which re-added a preliminary round to the competition, began using a club ranking index to determine which teams are in which pots.
To no one's surprise, Pot 1 has consisted of Major League Soccer and Liga MX sides every year, meaning Canadian Premier League clubs — who will always remain in Pot 2 — have lost the opportunity to face teams from Central America or the Caribbean in the opening round.
Luck hasn't been on our side either. Of the seven ties played by Canadian Premier League clubs, six have been against Liga MX opposition. Forge have gone four for four in drawing Mexican clubs, facing Cruz Azul in 2022, Chivas in 2024, Monterrey in 2025, and Tigres this year. Vancouver's surprise appearance saw them dismantled 8-0 on aggregate by Cruz Azul, while Cavalry drew Pumas, beating them in the first leg but falling in the second — though only by one goal, making them by far the best CPL performers to date. The one tie against an MLS club came in 2024 when the Cavs were dismantled 6-1 on aggregate by Orlando City.
The schedule isn't ideal either.
Canadian Premier League clubs are in the midst of their pre-season when they travel to face some of the region's biggest clubs, who are in mid-season form. To this day, we've yet to see a CPL club play a Champions Cup game with mid-season sharpness.
#BringBackConcacafLeague
Here's a fun fact you may not know: The Canadian Premier League is the only Division 1 league in all of Concacaf that doesn't feature in a regional cup — Major League Soccer and Liga MX play in Leagues Cup, while Concacaf organizes its own cup competitions in Central America and the Caribbean.
This wasn't always the case for the Canadian Premier League, though.
From 2019 to 2022, its clubs participated in the Concacaf League, the secondary continental tournament of the North American region behind the Champions League. Six clubs — four semi-finalists and two playoff winners — would earn a spot in the Champions League, and Forge took advantage in 2021.
Canadian Premier League clubs qualified to the Concacaf League by winning the playoffs (except in 2019, when Forge, Valour, and Edmonton played in a home-and-away round robin to determine the participant). Forge competed three times, famously reaching the semi-finals in the 2021 edition only to bow out on away goals (2-2 on aggregate) to Honduran side Motagua. Pacific were the only other CPL club to participate, reaching the round of 16 in 2022 before falling to Costa Rica's Herediano on penalties.
The Concacaf League ended after the 2022 edition due to the expansion of the Concacaf Champions League (then renamed the Champions Cup) for the 2024 season. As a replacement, Concacaf created a Central American Cup and a Caribbean Cup while officially sanctioning Leagues Cup for MLS and LigaMX in 2023, leaving the Canadian Premier League as the only Division 1 league in the region without a regional cup.
The Concacaf League brought something we've been missing in the CPL: playing league matches on weekends, then travelling to San Pedro Sula or Panama City on Wednesdays.
The Champions Cup's current format and schedule leave an awkward gap for Canadian Premier League clubs, who finish the domestic season, have a two-month break, get eliminated in the first round, and then have another two-month break.
Up next
Atlético Ottawa are the sole Canadian Premier League team left in the competition, preparing to face Nashville on Tuesday at Hamilton Stadium (TD Place was unavailable).
After an off-season that saw David Rodriguez and Sam Salter depart, the reigning league champions are hoping to turn around the CPL's negative image internationally.
