Ligue1 Québec

Ligue1 Québec (L1QC), formerly Première ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ), is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Quebec, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Quebec Soccer Federation as a pro-am league in the Canadian soccer league system.

Ligue1 Québec
Organising bodySoccer Quebec
FoundedAugust 31, 2011 (2011-08-31)
CountryCanada
ProvincesQuebec (11 teams)
Ontario (1 team)
ConfederationCONCACAF
Number of teams12 (men's)
12 (women's)
Level on pyramid3
Domestic cup(s)Canadian Championship (men)
Interprovincial Championship (women)
League cup(s)Coupe PLSQ
Current championsFC Laval (men’s)
A.S. Blainville (women's)
(2022)
TV partnersRDS.ca (streaming)
Websiteligue1quebec.ca
Current: 2023 season (men)
2023 season (women)

In the Canadian soccer league system, the men's division is behind the Canadian Premier League (CPL). It is part of League1 Canada, the national third tier with regional division, along with League1 Ontario (L1O) and League1 British Columbia (L1BC). The men's league champion qualifies for the Canadian Championship, the domestic cup championship, for the following season.

History

Background

The history of soccer in Quebec dates back to 1884, with the first league established in 1886. In 1911, the Province of Quebec Football Association, now known as the Quebec Soccer Federation was founded.[1] In 1986, a semi-professional league called the Ligue nationale de soccer du Québec (LNSQ) was created, but it merged with different rival leagues to form the Ligue de soccer élite du Québec in 1992.[2][3] In 1993, five of the former LNSQ clubs Corfinium St-Leonard, Cosmos de LaSalle, Luso Stars Mont-Royal, Montreal Croatia, and Montreal Ramblers joined the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL) to form the league's Eastern Division.[4][5] Following this, the amateur Ligue de soccer élite du Québec served as the top level of soccer in the province, although Quebec clubs did play in the United Soccer League (Montreal Impact) and the semi-professional Canadian Soccer League (Laval Dynamites/Trois-Rivières Attak and Montreal Impact Academy).[6]

Foundation
Original league logo

In 2011, the Première ligue de soccer du Québec was established, marking the return of a semi-professional soccer league to the province for the first time in 20 years.[2][7] The league was sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association as a level 3 league, below Major League Soccer (level 1) and the North American Soccer League and United Soccer League (level 2), which were American-based fully professional leagues featuring some Canadian teams,[2] including the Montreal Impact of the MLS.

The league had its debut season in 2012 with a men's division featuring five teams – A.S. Blainville, FC Brossard, FC Boisbriand, FC L'Assomption, and FC Saint-Léonard.[8] FC Saint-Léonard won the inaugural season.[9] The following season, the league added a league cup to its schedule, the Coupe PLSQ, which would take place annually at the conclusion of the season, unrelated to the results of the regular season.[10] In 2014, the province of Ontario created its own semi-professional level 3 league, League1 Ontario,[11] and the Inter-Provincial Cup was established which would be contested between the champions of each league and ran for three years until 2016.[12] In 2015, the league added its first club from outside of the province of Quebec, with the Ottawa Fury FC Academy joining the league.[13]

Beginning in 2018, the league champion qualified to participate in the Canadian Championship for the following season.[14] In 2018, a women's division was added, starting with five teams.[15] The start of the 2020 season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic,[16] but it ultimately resumed with a shortened season, although some teams opted out of playing for the season.[17] However, the remainder of the men's season was cancelled about three-quarters of the way through the season, due to a resurgence of the pandemic (the female season had already concluded).[18]

In 2022, the PLSQ joined League1 Canada along with League1 Ontario and League1 British Columbia. On April 19, 2023, the league rebranded to Ligue1 Québec to align with its partner leagues.[19]

Competition format

Depending on the number of teams in the league, teams will play every other team between 2-4 times per season, for a length of usually between 15 and 20 games. The winner gets the regular season championship. Each team has a minimum of nine paid players and is subject to a salary cap.

Coupe L1QC

At the end of the year, there is a league cup, called the Coupe L1QC (formerly the Coupe PLSQ), which began in 2013. The format varies each season, depending on the number of teams in the league.[20] The most recent cup competition featured the top four teams from league play in a single-knockout tournament. In the past, the cup has also used a group stage and knockout format where three groups of three teams were formed, and the winner of each group along with the best second-place finisher advanced to the semi-finals.

Yearly results

Men's Division

Over the course of its history, various clubs have joined and departed the league. A.S. Blainville is the only club to have participated in every season since the league's inception.[21] Blainville has been the most successful club, winning the league championship four times and the league cup twice and CS Mont-Royal Outremont has been second-most successful with four league championships and one league cup title.

Current clubs

The following twelve teams are members of the league for the 2022 season:

Team City Stadium Joined
Current teams
A.S. Blainville Blainville, Laurentides Parc Blainville 2012
Celtix du Haut-Richelieu Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Montérégie Parc Pierre-Benoît 2020
CS Lanaudière-Nord[note 1] Joliette, Lanaudière École secondaire Barthélemy-Joliette 2022 (2012)
AS Laval[note 2] Laval Parc de Lausanne 2019
FC Laval[note 3] Laval Collège Montmorency & Parc Roseval 2018
CS Longueuil Longueuil, Montérégie Parc Laurier 2014
CF Montréal U23 Montréal CF Montréal training grounds 2022
CS Mont-Royal Outremont Mount Royal, Montréal Parc Recreatif de TMR 2013
CS Saint-Laurent Saint-Laurent, Montreal Vanier College Stadium 2022
CS St-Hubert Saint-Hubert, Montérégie Centre Sportif Roseanne-Laflamme 2017
Ottawa South United Ottawa, Ontario TAAG Park (Carleton University) 2020
Royal-Sélect de Beauport Quebec City Stade Beauport 2021
  1. CS Lanaudière-Nord was known as FC L'Assomption-Lanaudière from 2012 to 2015. Departed league after 2015, returned in 2022
  2. AS Laval was known as CS Monteuil until the 2021 season
  3. FC Laval was known as CS Fabrose until the 2020 season
Ligue1 Québec is located in Southern Quebec
Blainville
Blainville
Celtix
Celtix
FC Laval
FC Laval
AS Laval
AS Laval
Lanaudière-Nord
Lanaudière-Nord
Longueuil
Longueuil
CF Montréal
CF Montréal
Mont-Royal
Mont-Royal
St-Hubert
St-Hubert
Ottawa SU
Ottawa SU
Beauport
Beauport
Saint-Laurent
Saint-Laurent
Locations of current (red) and future (green) clubs.


Former clubs
Club City Stadium Joined Left
Former teams
FC Boisbriand Boisbriand, Laurentides Parc Régional 640 2012 2013
FC Brossard Brossard, Montérégie Parc Illinois 2012 2013
FC St-Léonard St Leonard, Montreal Stade Hébert 2012 2013
ACP Montréal-Nord Montréal-Nord, Montreal Parc Saint-Laurent 2014 2014
FC Lanaudière Terrebonne, Lanaudière Centre de Soccer Multifonctionnel de Terrebonne 2016 2021
Lakeshore SC Kirkland, Montréal John Abbott College 2015 2016
Ottawa Fury FC Academy Ottawa, Ontario Algonquin College 2015 2016
FC Gatineau Gatineau, Outaouais Terrain Mont-Bleu 2013 2019
Dynamo de Quebec Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale Polyvalente L'Ancienne-Lorette 2017 2019

Timeline

Women's Division

Current clubs

The following twelve teams are members of the league for the 2022 season:

Team City Stadium Joined
Current teams
A.S. Blainville Blainville, Laurentides Parc Blainville 2018
AS Chaudière-Ouest Lévis Parc Renaud-Maillette 2022
Pierrefonds FC Lac St-Louis, Montreal Pierrefonds Community High School 2020
Celtix du Haut-Richelieu Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Montérégie Parc Pierre-Benoît 2021
AS Laval[note 1] Laval, Laval Parc de Lausanne 2018
FC Laval[note 2] Laval, Laval Parc Roseval & Parc Raymond-Millar 2019
CS Longueuil Longueuil, Montérégie Parc Laurier 2020
CS Mont-Royal Outremont Mount Royal, Montréal Parc Recreatif de TMR 2019
CS St-Hubert Saint-Hubert, Montérégie Centre Sportif Roseanne-Laflamme 2020
Ottawa South United Ottawa, Ontario TAAG Park (Carleton University) 2020
PEF Québec Laval, Laval Centre Sportif Bois-de-Boulogne 2022
Royal-Sélect de Beauport Beauport, Quebec City Stade Beauport 2021
Ligue1 Québec is located in Southern Quebec
Blainville
Blainville
Longueuil
Longueuil
FC Laval
FC Laval
Celtix
Celtix
AS Laval
AS Laval
Mont-Royal
Mont-Royal
Ottawa
Ottawa
St-Hubert
St-Hubert
Pierrefonds
Pierrefonds
Beauport
Beauport
Chaudière-Ouest
Chaudière-Ouest
Locations of current (red) and future (green) clubs.


Former clubs
Club City Stadium Joined Left
Former teams
Dynamo de Quebec Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale ESLE 2018 2019
FC Sélect Rive-Sud Longueuil, Montérégie Centre Multi Sport 2018 2019
Lakers du Lac Saint-Louis Lachine, Montréal Dollard 2 2018 2018

Timeline

Players who earned national team caps while in the L1QC

The following players have earned a senior national team cap while playing in the L1QC (the year of their first cap while playing in the league is listed). Players who earned caps before or after playing in the L1QC are not included, unless they also earned caps while in the league. This section also does not include youth caps (U23 or below).

Men
Player Country Year Ref
Armel Dagrou  Burundi 2014 [22]
Kevin Chan-Yu-Tin  Mauritius 2016 [23]
Zohib Islam Amiri  Afghanistan 2019 [24]
Lemus Christopher  Saint Vincent and the Grenadines 2022 [25]

Women
Player Country Year Ref
Stefani Kouzas  Guyana 2022 [26]

L1QC clubs in other competitions
SeasonMen's divisionWomen's division
ClubCompetitionResultRecord ClubCompetitionResultRecord
2012 No competition held No women's division
2013
2014 CS Longueuil Inter-Provincial Cup Runner-up 0–1–1
2015 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Inter-Provincial Cup Runner-up 0–1–1
2016 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Inter-Provincial Cup Champions 1–1–0
2017 No competition held
2018 A.S. Blainville Canadian Championship Second qualifying round 2–0–2 No competition held
2019 A.S. Blainville Canadian Championship First qualifying round 0–1–1
2020 No competition held
2021 A.S. Blainville Canadian Championship Preliminary round 0–0–1
2022 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Canadian Championship Preliminary round 0–0–1 A.S. Blainville Interprovincial Championship Champions 2–0–0
AS Laval Runner-up 1–0–1
2023 FC Laval Canadian Championship Preliminary round 0–0–1 PEF Québec Inter-provincial Championship Runner-up 1–0–1

See also

Notes
  1. AS Laval was known as CS Monteuil until the 2021 season
  2. FC Laval was known as CS Fabrose until the 2020 season

References
  1. Chenoix, Eric. "L'avant 1911" [Before 1911]. Viau Park (in French).
  2. "Retour d'une ligue semi-pro" [Return of a semi-pro league]. Ici Radio-Canada Télé. August 30, 2011.
  3. Phillips, Randy (May 9, 1992). "New league groups best in Quebec". Newspapers.com. Montreal Gazette. p. 71. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  4. "Roundup Overtime". Newspapers.com. The Leader-Post. January 7, 1993. p. 11. Retrieved March 31, 2020.
  5. "25 Sep 1993, 75 - The Gazette at Newspapers.com". Newspapers.com. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  6. "2001 - May 20 - Expanded CPSL set to kickoff". Canadian Professional Soccer League. December 24, 2001. Archived from the original on December 24, 2001. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  7. canadienne, La Presse (September 1, 2011). "La Première Ligue de soccer du Québec voit le jour". Le Devoir (in French). Retrieved April 23, 2023.
  8. "La Première ligue voit le jour" [The Premier League is born]. Le Journal de Montréal (in French). April 3, 2012.
  9. Gauthier, Audrey (October 15, 2012). "FC Saint-Léonard, champions" [Saint-Léonard FC, champions]. Métro (in French).
  10. "Toute une saison inaugurale!" [A whole inaugural season!]. Métro (in French). November 7, 2013.
  11. "OSA announces League1 Ontario teams". Ontario Soccer Association. April 8, 2014. Archived from the original on May 18, 2014. Retrieved April 13, 2014.
  12. "OSA and QSF announce Division 3 Inter-Provincial Cup final". Ontario Soccer Association. Archived from the original on October 19, 2014. Retrieved October 14, 2014.
  13. "Fury FC Academy and the Premier League de Soccer du Quebec". Bytown Boys. May 1, 2015.
  14. Tierney, Mitchell (March 9, 2017). "Report: Provincial Champions to Play in Voyageurs Cup as Early as 2018". Waking the Red. Retrieved March 11, 2017.
  15. O'Neill, Paméla (January 11, 2018). "Une première saison de PLSQ féminine!" [A first season of women's PLSQ!]. Viau Park (in French).
  16. "COVID-19: Report du Début de la Saison" [COVID-19: Postponement of Early Season]. PLSQ (in French). March 25, 2020.
  17. "La Première ligue de soccer du Québec lancera bientôt sa saison" [The Premier league of Quebec soccer will launch its season soon]. RDS (in French). July 13, 2020.
  18. "COVID-19 : Mise à Jour Du 29 Septembre 2020" [COVID-19: Update September 29, 2020]. Quebec Soccer Federation (in French). September 29, 2020.
  19. "Première ligue de soccer du Québec transitions to Ligue1 Québec". League1 Canada. April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 20, 2023.
  20. "À Propos De La Coupe PLSQ" [About the PLSQ Cup]. RDS (in French).
  21. Gray, Shawn (January 31, 2017). "Quebec's 3rd Division". Northern Starting XI.
  22. Ducharme, Jean-François (September 15, 2014). "Un Citadin au Burundi" [A Citizen in Burundi]. Université du Québec à Montréal (in French).
  23. "Kevin Dean Chan-Yu-Tin (Lakeshore SC): L'international Mauricien" [Kevin Dean Chan-Yu-Tin (Lakeshore SC): The International Mauritius]. Première ligue de soccer du Québec. March 20, 2017.
  24. Rialdi, Irwan Febri (November 8, 2021). "3 Bintang Timnas Afghanistan yang Perlu Diwaspadai, Ada Eks Persib Bandung" [3 Stars of the Afghanistan National Team to Watch Out for]. Bola Times (in Indonesian).
  25. "T&T Men secure 2-0 win over St Vincent/Grenadines". Trinidad and Tobago Football Association. June 11, 2022.
  26. "Lady Jags Head Coach embraces "underdogs" tag". News Room. April 8, 2022.
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