The Montreal Impact will begin defence of their Amway Canadian Championship title vs Toronto FC.
The Impact are scheduled to host TFC at Stade Saputo in the first leg of their semifinal on May 6. The second leg is a week later at BMO Field.
The Canadian Soccer Association on Thursday revealed the full schedule for this year’s tournament, which opens with North American Soccer League sides Ottawa Fury and FC Edmonton squaring off in a two-match preliminary round on April 22 and 29. The winner of that series advances to the semifinals where they will meet the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The Whitecaps are the top seed because they had the best record of any Canadian team in MLS last season, and thus will face the fourth seed, the NASL playoff winner, in the semifinals.
The two-legged final has been pushed back to August this year to avoid overlapping with the FIFA Women’s World Cup and the CONCACAF Gold Cup.
The tournament champion wins the Voyageurs Cup and earns the right to represent Canada at the 2016-17 CONCACAF Champions League.
The Montreal Impact have won the last two Canadian club championships, defeating Vancouver in 2013 and Toronto last year. The Impact also won the inaugural competition in 2008 when it was still competing in the second-tier NASL.
Impact midfielder Justin Mapp has been named tournament MVP the past two seasons. Teammate Jack McInerney was the competition’s top scorer in 2014.
TFC won four in a row from 2009 to 2012. Vancouver has never won this tournament.
Sportsnet will have live coverage of the 2015 Amway Canadian Championship. Broadcast details to follow in the coming weeks.
Full schedule (home team listed first)
April 22: Preliminary round – first leg
Ottawa Fury vs FC Edmonton
April 29: Preliminary round – second leg
FC Edmonton vs Ottawa Fury
May 6: Semifinal – first legs
Ottawa Fury/FC Edmonton vs Vancouver Whitecaps
Montreal Impact vs Toronto FC
May 13: Semifinal – second legs
Vancouver Whitecaps vs Ottawa Fury/FC Edmonton
Toronto FC vs Montreal Impact
August 12: Final – first leg
TBD vs TBD
August 26: Final – second leg
TBD vs TBD