Arena Premier League
| File:Arena Premier League.png | |
| Sport | Indoor Soccer |
|---|---|
| Founded | 2017 |
| Inaugural season | 2017–18 |
| Ceased | 2019 |
| No. of teams | 6 |
| Country | Canada |
| Last champion(s) | Croatia AC |
| Most titles | Croatia AC (2 titles) |
| Official website | apl |
 2018–19 season | |
The Arena Premier League is a Canadian semi-professional indoor soccer league located in the province of Ontario. It is sanctioned by the Canadian Arena Soccer Association (CASA), with matches being played at the Canlan Sportsplex, and Hershey Centre in the city of Mississauga. The league is the premier professional development arena soccer league in Canada, and operates with a single table structure.[1] The season runs from December to April, followed by a playoff format to determine the overall champion.
The league was formed in 2017 shortly after the formation of the Canadian Arena Soccer Association, along with the Youth Arena Premier League its developmental league.[2] The purpose of the league is to develop and provide talent to the Canadian national indoor team, and to the Mississauga MetroStars in the Major Arena Soccer League.[3]
History[edit]
Historically the Canadian professional indoor soccer landscape consisted of Canadian franchises in American leagues particularly in the North American Soccer League (NASL) and the National Professional Soccer League (NPSL).[4][5][6] The height of Canadian participation in indoor soccer occurred during the 1980–81 and 1981–82 NASL seasons when four Canadian clubs participated simultaneously. The height of Canadian participation in the NPSL would eventually expand to include four teams, which consisted of the Edmonton Drillers, Montreal Impact, Toronto Shooting Stars, and Toronto ThunderHawks.[7][8] After the demise of the NPSL in 2001 the country was without a professional league structure, until the creation of the Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League (CMISL) in 2007.[9] The league served as the first exclusively Canadian professional indoor soccer league, and was primarily based in Western Canada until it ceased operations in 2012.[10]
After the creation of the Canadian Arena Soccer Association (CASA) in 2017, the governing body created a pyramid of play starting with the introduction of the Youth Arena Premier League to serve as the developmental league.[11] While the Arena Premier League would serve as the premier professional arena soccer league in Canada, and as the player pool provider for the national team program with intentions to expand nationally.[12] The APL began operations in the 2017–2018 season with the creation of the International Division with the Caribbean Stars AC, Croatia AC, Italy AC, Portugal AC, Serbia AC, South America AC, and Ukraine AC as the founding members.[13]
Teams[edit]
| Team | City/Area | Arena | Coach |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caribbean Stars AC | Mississauga, Ontario | Canlan Sportsplex | Pernell Mason[14] Rick Titus[14] |
| Croatia AC | Mississauga, Ontario | Canlan Sportsplex | Milodrag Akmadžić[15] |
| Iran AC | Mississauga, Ontario | Canlan Sportsplex | Mohammad Deylawui[16] |
| Italy AC | Mississauga, Ontario | Canlan Sportsplex | Edgar Bant[17] |
| Portugal AC | Mississauga, Ontario | Canlan Sportsplex | Danny Amaral[18] |
| Ukraine AC | Mississauga, Ontario | Canlan Sportsplex | Denys Rylskyi[19] |
Championships[edit]
| Season | Date(s) | Champion | Runner-up | Score(s) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | May 6, 2018 | Croatia AC | Caribbean Stars AC | 9–7 |
| 2018–19 | April 26, 2019 | Croatia AC | Caribbean Stars AC | 5–3 |
References[edit]
- ↑ "CASA Soccer » APL". www.casasoccer.ca. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ Colpitts, Iain (2017-06-21). "Canadian Arena Soccer Association makes Mississauga home". Mississauga.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ Colpitts, Iain (2017-06-27). "City of Mississauga goes all in on arena soccer". Mississauga.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ Sandor, Steven (2014-07-02). "PASL wants united North American indoor soccer scene | the11.ca". Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2018-03-29. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ "A History of USA Indoor Soccer". homepages.sover.net. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
- ↑ Jose, Colin (2001). On-Side - 125 Years of Soccer in Ontario. Vaughan, Ontario: Ontario Soccer Association and Soccer Hall of Fame and Museum. p. 244. Search this book on
- ↑ "LogoServer - Soccer Logos - NPSL". www.logoserver.com. Retrieved 2018-03-29.
- ↑ Sandor, Steven (2014-07-02). "MISL has interest in Canadian expansion | the11.ca". Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2018-03-29. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ Sandor, Steven (2014-07-02). ""Glitches" in proposed plan to bring CMISL to Vancouver | the11.ca". Archived from the original on 2014-07-02. Retrieved 2018-03-29. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ SANDOR, Steven (2016-04-22). "CMISL to take one-year hiatus: Plans to return for 2013-14 | the11.ca". Archived from the original on 2016-04-22. Retrieved 2018-03-29. Unknown parameter
|url-status=ignored (help) - ↑ scttmos (2017-09-05), CAF TV Episode #14 August 31, 2017, retrieved 2018-03-29
- ↑ Jab TV (2017-06-27), Canadian Arena Soccer Association (CASA) Press Conference, retrieved 2018-03-29
- ↑ scttmos (2018-01-26), Inside The APL Episode #1 January 26, 2018, retrieved 2018-03-29
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Caribbean Stars AC – APL". apl.teamsnapsites.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ "CROATIA AC – APL". apl.teamsnapsites.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ "Iran AC – APL". apl.teamsnapsites.com. Retrieved 2018-12-18.
- ↑ "Italy AC – APL". apl.teamsnapsites.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ "Portugal AC – APL". apl.teamsnapsites.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
- ↑ "Ukraine AC – APL". apl.teamsnapsites.com. Retrieved 2018-03-12.
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| Men's outdoor leagues |
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| Women's outdoor leagues |
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| Indoor and futsal competitions | |||||||||
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| College and university soccer | |||||||||
| Defunct Canadian leagues | |||||||||
| Defunct American leagues | |||||||||
| Defunct cup competitions | |||||||||
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