CPL–U Sports Draft

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from CPL-U Sports Draft)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
Error creating thumbnail: File missing
Logo of the CPL–U Sports Draft

The CPL–U Sports Draft (French: Repêchage de la PLC–U Sports) is an annual event in which Canadian Premier League clubs select players from U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. The draft allows student-athletes to play professional soccer that year without affecting their university eligibility.[1]

Rules and procedure

[edit | edit source]

Players are eligible to be drafted if they have one or more years of U Sports eligibility remaining and have declared for the draft.[2] Players who signed development contracts the previous year can be retained by their CPL clubs as long as they have U Sports eligibility remaining. Previously drafted players who do not sign and remain draft-eligible can re-enter the draft in subsequent years.[3]

The previous season's league standings, including playoffs and final standings, determine the draft order. The draft previously employed a "snake draft" format with the selection order reversing after each round, however this was discontinued after the 2021 draft.[4] Clubs have a window of time in which they must submit their pick, and failure to do so results in a pass. There is a break between each round, as well as one timeout per club.[5]

U Sports contract

[edit | edit source]

Drafted players will get an invitation to the team's preseason camp, with the opportunity to earn a U Sports contract. The U Sports contract allows players to be paid to play in the CPL in the spring and summer, before returning to their university team before August 15 for the U Sports men's soccer season.[6] Players on U Sports contracts do not count toward their team's 23-man roster limit.[7] Players can also sign fully professional CPL standard contracts and forego their remaining university eligibility.[8]

Signed players can remain with their CPL club until the end of the season in early November by extending their U Sports contract. These players would be ineligible to participate in U Sports the same season as their contract but would regain eligibility the following year.[9]

List of drafts

[edit | edit source]
Draft Season Date Rds Picks City First selection School Team Ref
2018 2019 November 12, 2018 3 21 Vancouver, British Columbia File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Gabriel Bitar Carleton Cavalry FC [10]
2019 2020 November 11, 2019 2 14 Montreal, Quebec File:Flag of England.svg Cory Bent Cape Breton HFX Wanderers [11]
2021 2021 January 29, 2021 2 16 Held virtually File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Thomas Gardner British Columbia FC Edmonton [12]
2022 2022 January 20, 2022 2 16 Held virtually File:Flag of Portugal (official).svg José Cunha Cape Breton Atlético Ottawa [13]
2023 2023 December 15, 2022 2 16 Held virtually File:Flag of Canada (Pantone).svg Anthony White Toronto Vancouver FC [14]
2024 2024 December 14, 2023 2 16 Held virtually Canada Owen Sheppard Cape Breton Valour FC [15]
2025 2025 December 5, 2024 2 16 Held virtually Canada Jevontae Layne Toronto Metropolitan Valour FC [16]
2026 2026 November 28, 2025 2 16 Held virtually Moldova Călin Calaidjoglu Université de Montréal FC Supra du Québec [17]

References

[edit | edit source]
  1. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  2. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  3. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  4. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  5. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  6. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  7. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  8. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  9. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  10. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  11. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  12. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  13. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  14. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  15. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  16. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).
  17. ^ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2172: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).