At the end of the 2022 Canadian Premier League season, the league announced that they would begin to recognize the regular season accomplishments of its member clubs to have more similarity with soccer competitions around the world, which put less emphasis on post-season results.2 At the time, the Canadian Premier League did not recognize a regular season winner. The CPL Shield was first unveiled near the end of the 2023 Canadian Premier League regular season.34 Cavalry FC were the first team to hoist the trophy following their 2023 regular season championship. The CPL Shield was also awarded retroactively to the clubs with the best regular season records from all previous seasons, meaning that Cavalry FC were also the first de-facto winners of the trophy for their first place finish in the inaugural 2019 season. Due to the unconventional format used for a shortened season in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league did not retroactively award the trophy to any team for that year.5
The trophy is a silver shield measuring about 46 centimetres (18 in) in diameter and weighing 9 kilograms (20 lb). The CPL Shield has 13 edges to represent each of the provinces and territories of Canada and features a gold CPL logo (which is a stylized maple leaf) in the centre.6 The trophy sits on a removable wooden base.
† – Trophy awarded retroactively
See also: List of soccer clubs in Canada by competitive honours won
See also: Canadian soccer clubs in international competitions
Starting in 2023, the CPL Shield winner earned Canada's berth in the following year's CONCACAF Champions Cup.8
Jacques, John (September 18, 2022). "Prize Pool: CPL Regular Season Champion To Get Money, Trophy". Northern Tribune. Retrieved October 22, 2023. https://northerntribune.ca/canadian-premier-league-regular-season-award/ ↩
O'Connor-Clarke, Charlie (September 18, 2022). "Canadian Premier League announces plans to recognize regular season champions". Canadian Premier League. Retrieved October 19, 2023. https://canpl.ca/article/canadian-premier-league-announces-plans-to-recognize-regular-season-champions ↩
"Canadian Premier League revamps trophy case with new hardware up for grabs". CTV News. The Canadian Press. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 19, 2023. https://www.ctvnews.ca/sports/canadian-premier-league-revamps-trophy-case-with-new-hardware-up-for-grabs-1.6572355 ↩
"Canadian Premier League announces new trophies". Canadian Premier League. September 21, 2023. Retrieved October 22, 2023. https://canpl.ca/article/canadian-premier-league-announces-new-trophies ↩
Galindo, Peter (August 12, 2020). "Canadian Premier League's Island Games: Everything you need to know". Sportsnet. Retrieved October 19, 2023. https://www.sportsnet.ca/soccer/canadian-premier-leagues-island-games-everything-need-know/ ↩
1st tiebreaker: total wins ↩
Although Forge was the regular season champion in 2021, they qualified to the Champions League due to their placement in the 2021 CONCACAF League, as the CPL Shield berth was only first awarded in 2023.[6] /wiki/2021_CONCACAF_League ↩