Friday’s Canadian Championship draw produced a slew of local matchups with the defending champion Vancouver Whitecaps and 2023 runner-up CF Montreal watching from the sidelines at the start.
Both MLS teams get byes to the quarter-finals of the 14-team, five-round competition that runs through September with the winner hoisting the Voyageurs Cup and qualifying for the CONCACAF Champions Cup.
Toronto FC will host semi-pro Simcoe County Rovers of League1 Ontario in the preliminary round while Pacific FC of the Canadian Premier League welcomes the Victoria Highlanders of League1 BC. CS St-Laurent of Ligue1 Quebec visits the CPL’s Halifax Wanderers.
Cavalry FC hosts Vancouver FC, Forge FC welcomes York United and Atletico Ottawa entertains Valour FC in the remaining preliminary-round games in all-CPL affairs.
The draw had teams assigned to East and West pots to help facilitate early regional matchups.
The single-game preliminary round runs from April 23 to May 1 with exact times to come later.
The two-legged quarter-finals will see the Whitecaps play the Cavalry-Vancouver FC winner and Montreal face either Forge or York United.
The Ottawa-Valour winner will face either Pacific or Victoria while the TFC-Simcoe victor will take on either Halifax or CS St-Laurent.
Hosting for the preliminary round was determined by Canadian Championship club ranking index, with the higher-ranked club staging the match.
For the quarter-final and semi-final rounds, the lower-ranked club will host the first leg and the higher-ranked team will stage the return leg.
Another draw will be held after the quarter-finals to determine the semi-final matchups and location of the final.
The 2024 tournament is sponsored by Telus.