Eight-time cup winner Toronto FC will host Atletico Ottawa, the Canadian Premier League champion, in preliminary round action in the 2026 Canadian Championship.
The 15-team field features three clubs from Major League Soccer, eight from the Canadian Premier League and four from League1 Canada. The winner qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions Cup, the region's elite club competition.
The Vancouver Whitecaps, as defending champion, received a bye into the quarterfinal round while the remaining 14 sides square off in the single-game preliminary round.
CF Montreal will entertain League1 Alberta champion Calgary Blizzard SC while FC Supra, an expansion CPL side, hosts League1 Ontario champion Woodbridge Strikers SC.
In other preliminary round games, it's Cavalry FC at Pacific FC, League1 B.C. champion Langley United at Vancouver FC, Halifax Wanderers FC at Forge FC and Ligue1 Quebec champion CS Saint-Laurent at Inter Toronto FC.
The Whitecaps will meet the Pacific-Cavalry winner, while the TFC-Ottawa victor moves on to face either FC Supra or Woodbridge. The Montreal-Calgary Blizzard winner will take on either Vancouver FC or Langley.
The Whitecaps and Montreal could meet in the semifinal. Toronto's side of the draw features five CPL teams and Woodbridge and Saint-Laurent.
The single-game preliminary round is to be played May 5-10. The two-legged quarterfinals will see the first legs July 8 and the return matches between July 11-13. The two-legged semifinals are scheduled for Sept. 1-3 and Sept. 15-17 with the championship game slated for Oct. 21.
The lower-ranked club will host the first leg in the quarterfinals and semifinals. Saturday's draw determined that the winner of the western bracket will host the final.
MLS teams have dominated the tournament with the Whitecaps hoisting the Voyageurs Cup at the last four editions of the tournament, bringing their championship total to five with seven runner-up finishes.
TFC tops the list with its eight championships but has not won since the pandemic-shortened 2020 edition (which was not decided until June 2022). Toronto has lost the final seven times. Montreal has won four times, most recently in 2021, and finished runner-up three times.
TFC and Montreal met in the first round last year, with Montreal prevailing in a penalty shootout after a 2-2 draw. Forge knocked Montreal out in the quarterfinals before falling to the Whitecaps in the semifinal.
Vancouver FC, which finished last in the CPL at 4-15-9, made it all the way to the final where it was beaten 4-2 by the Whitecaps. The CPL side won penalty shootouts against both Pacific FC and Cavalry FC before dispatching Atletico Ottawa in the semifinal.
The Whitecaps, Toronto FC, Montreal and the CPL's Forge FC were placed in Pot 1 as seeds, based on the Canadian Championship club ranking index, so they don't meet before the semifinal round. Toronto, Montreal and Forge, the CPL's regular-season leader, were allocated to designated positions in the preliminary round bracket.
The draw was also set up to promote geographical balance.
Pacific, Vancouver FC, Cavalry, Langley United and Calgary Blizzard were placed in Pot 2 as West teams while Atletico Ottawa, Inter Toronto, Halifax, FC Supra, CS Saint-Laurent and Woodbridge represented the East in Pot 3.
The draw also ensured that the semi-pro teams — Langley, Calgary Blizzard, Saint-Laurent and Woodbridge — would not meet in the opening round.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 17, 2026
