Première Ligue de soccer du Québec

The Première Ligue de soccer du Québec (PLSQ) is a semi-professional soccer league created in 2012 and organized by the Quebec Soccer Federation, the third tier of the Canadian soccer pyramid.[1] The Canadian Soccer Association relies on provincial soccer organizations to sanction regional leagues at the tier 3 level. The men's division is below the Canadian Premier League (CPL) (Division I), and equal to League1 Ontario (L1O) (Division III). The PLSQ women's division is behind the U.S.-based National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) (Division I). The league's commissioner is Kambiz Ebadi.

Première Ligue de soccer du Québec
Founded2012
CountryCanada
ConfederationCONCACAF
Number of teams9 (men's)
8 (women's)
Level on pyramid3
Domestic cup(s)Canadian Championship
League cup(s)Coupe PLSQ
Current championsAS Blainville (men’s)
CS Monteuil (women's)
(2019)
Current cup championsCS Fabrose
(2019)
TV partnersRDS.ca (streaming)
Websitewww.plsq.ca
2020 season

History

Before the Second World War, soccer was more of a fringe activity than today; however, the best clubs in Quebec were determined in a provincial championship with the winner facing his Ontario counterpart for the title of the "National League". All the players were not amateurs; in 1934, for example, 27 professionals were identified in Quebec. The war brought a halt to Quebec's semi-professional soccer league development.

Mass immigration of quality players and ambitious leaders in the 1950s allowed Quebec to have many semi-professional teams, and even some professional clubs until the early 1960s. Organizational and competitive disagreements including unhealthy rivalries coupled with slowing immigration reduced the number of skilled young local players taking over from their predecessors. The player pool shrank.

Beginning in 1986, the semi-professional LNSQ (National Soccer League Quebec), stirred passions by creating very good memories. However, at that time the pool of players was not large enough to allow the LNSQ to survive alongside a professional team. The arrival of the Montreal Supra, with all the best players and a much greater media profile was fatal to the fledgling league which lost its splendour before giving way to today’s LSEQ.

In 2011 there are 200,000 players, 300 clubs, 25,000 coaches, 7,000 officials and 50,000 volunteers: soccer is by far the most practised sport in Quebec and is experiencing unparalleled popularity throughout the province. The organization of soccer in Quebec has changed dramatically with the recent competitions reform conducted by the Federation helping to modernize and stabilize the soccer pyramid, but also to considerably raise standards.

For several years, the senior level teams of the LSEQ (Quebec Elite Soccer League) inquired about a semi-professional competition.

The amount of coaches’ development in recent years has led to a major breakthrough in the availability of quality training offered to young participants.

Thanks to the structure of the club set up, the National Centre for High-Performance (NTC), and the Academy youth teams of the Montreal Impact, the number of top players developed in Quebec has increased sharply.

Challenges of the past are no longer as applicable, and it is hoped the PLSQ will facilitate transitioning between the club set up and amateur LSEQ to Impact de Montreal. Also, the profile of the Montreal Impact will grow with its 2012 entrance to Major League Soccer (MLS). As a result of its promotion, it is much more important for the Impact to develop its own young talent and offer attractive opportunities to players that previously would have moved to Europe.[2]

PLSQ Trophy Winners
Season Teams PLSQ Champions
League winners		 PLSQ Cup
Cup winners
2012 5 FC St-Léonard Not held
2013 7 CS Mont-Royal Outremont CS Mont-Royal Outremont
2014 6 CS Longueuil FC Gatineau
2015 7 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Lakeshore SC
2016 7 CS Mont-Royal Outremont AS Blainville
2017 7 AS Blainville AS Blainville
2018 8 AS Blainville FC Lanaudière
2019 9 AS Blainville CS Fabrose
2020[note 1] 6 Not held

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 15-20 games. The winner gets the regular season championship. At the end of the year, there is a League Cup. Th format varies each season, depending on the number of teams in the league. The most recent Cup competition featured nine teams, where three groups of three teams were formed. The winner of each group along with the best second-place finisher advanced to the semi-finals.

Each team has a minimum of nine paid players and is subject to a salary cap.

Men's Division

Current clubs

The following nine teams are members of the league for the 2020 season. Only six of the teams will participate in the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Team City Stadium Founded Joined Head Coach
Current teams
A.S. Blainville Blainville, Laurentides Parc Blainville 1986 2012 Emmanuel Macagno
Celtix du Haut-Richelieu Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Montérégie Stade Alphonse-Desjardins 1969 2020 David Sauvry
FC Lanaudière Terrebonne, Lanaudière Centre de Soccer Multifonctionnel de Terrebonne 2016 2016 Kevin Mendes Duarte
CS Longueuil Longueuil, Montérégie Parc Laurier 1970 2014 Aziz Dieng
CS Mont-Royal Outremont Mount Royal, Montréal Parc Recreatif de TMR ? 2013 Luc Brutus
CS Monteuil Laval, Laval Centre Sportif Bois-de-Boulogne 1968 2019 Antoine Katako
CS St-Hubert Saint-Hubert, Montérégie Centre Sportif Roseanne-Laflamme 1980 2017 François Bourgeais
CS Fabrose Laval, Laval Parc Cartier 1971 2018 Amine Yacine Benmouffok
Ottawa South United Ottawa, Ontario George Nelms Sports Park 2003 2020 Jim Lianos
Blainville
Celtix
Fabrose
Monteuil
Lanaudière
Longueuil
Mont-Royal
St-Hubert
Ottawa
Locations of current (red) and future (green) clubs.


Former clubs
Club City Stadium Founded Joined Left
Former teams
FC Boisbriand Boisbriand, Laurentides Parc Régional 640 1977 2012 2013
FC Brossard Brossard, Montérégie Parc Illinois 1978 2012 2013
FC St-Léonard St Leonard, Montreal Stade Hébert 1978 2012 2013
ACP Montréal-Nord Montréal-Nord, Montreal Parc Saint-Laurent 1974 2014 2014
FC L'Assomption-Lanaudière L'Assomption, Lanaudière Parc André-Courcelles 2011 2012 2015
Lakeshore SC Kirkland, Montréal John Abbott College 1966 2015 2016
Ottawa Fury FC Academy Ottawa, Ontario Algonquin College 2003 2015 2016
FC Gatineau Gatineau, Outaouais Terrain Mont-Bleu 2013 2013 2019
Dynamo de Quebec Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale Polyvalente L'Ancienne-Lorette 1991 2017 2019

Timeline

Women's Division
PLSQ Women's Trophy Winners
Season Teams PLSQ Champions
League winners		 PLSQ Cup
Cup winners
2018 5 Dynamo de Québec none
2019 6 CS Monteuil none
2020[note 2] 4 AS Blainville none

Current clubs

The following nine teams are members of the league for the 2020 season. Only four of the teams will participate in the 2020 season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Team City Stadium Founded Joined Head coach
Current teams
AS Blainville Blainville, Laurentides Parc Blainville 1986 2018 Jean-Lou Gosselin
CS Monteuil Laval, Laval Centre Sportif Bois-de-Boulogne 2018 2018 Antoine Katako
CS Mont-Royal Outremont Mount Royal, Montréal Parc Recreatif de TMR 2018 2019 Lyonel Joseph
CS Fabrose Laval Parc Cartier 2018 2019 Angelo Jean-Baptiste
CS St-Hubert Saint-Hubert, Montérégie Centre Sportif Roseanne-Laflamme 1980 2020
CS Longueuil Longueuil, Montérégie Parc Laurier 1970 2020 Gilbert Bayiha
AS Pierrefonds Lac St-Louis, Montreal ? 2020 Carlos Carvalho
Ottawa South United Ottawa, Ontario George Nelms Sports Park 2003 2020 Abraham Osman
Blainville
Longueuil
Fabrose
Monteuil
Mont-Royal
Ottawa
St-Hubert
Pierrefonds
Locations of current (red) and future (green) clubs.


Former clubs
Club City Stadium Founded Joined Left
Former teams
Dynamo de Quebec Quebec City, Capitale-Nationale ESLE 1991 2018 2019
FC Sélect Rive-Sud Longueuil, Montérégie Centre Multi Sport 2018 2018 2019
Lakers du Lac Saint-Louis Lachine, Montréal Dollard 2 2018 2018 2018

Timeline

Notable players

Players in Bold are currently playing for PLSQ clubs.

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See also

Notes
  1. Originally 9 clubs were set to participate, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, three clubs withdrew from the season
  2. Originally 8 clubs were set to participate, however, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, four clubs withdrew from the season

References
  1. "League 1 kicks off Ontario soccer season, offering a chance to rise up the ranks". chatnewstoday.ca. Canadian Press. April 28, 2017. Retrieved May 28, 2019. League 1 Ontario and the PLSQ league in Quebec are sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association as Division 3 leagues.
  2. La Federation De Soccer Du Quebec. "Historique". plsq.ca. Archived from the original on October 15, 2013. Retrieved October 14, 2013.


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