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Ligue1 Québec

Organising body	Soccer Quebec
Founded	August 31, 2011; 13 years ago (2011-08-31)
Country	Canada
Provinces	Quebec (11 teams) Ontario (1 team)
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of clubs	10 (men's) 12 (women's)
Level on pyramid	3
Domestic cup(s)	Canadian Championship (men) Interprovincial Championship (women)
League cup(s)	Coupe L1QC
Current champions	CS Saint-Laurent (men's) PEF Québec (women's) (2023)
Current league cup champions	CS Saint-Laurent (men's) PEF Québec (women's) (2023)
TV partners	RDS.ca (streaming)
Website	ligue1quebec.ca
Current: 2024 season (men) 2024 season (women)

Ligue1 Québec (L1QC) is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2011 as the Première ligue de soccer du Québec, the league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Quebec Soccer Federation.

In the Canadian soccer league system, the men's division is behind the fully-professional Canadian Premier League. It is part of League1 Canada, the national third tier with regional division, along with three other provincial leagues. The men's league champion qualifies for the Canadian Championship, Canada's domestic cup tournament.

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. 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. 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. 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).

Foundation

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. 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, 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. FC Saint-Léonard won the inaugural season. 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. In 2014, the province of Ontario created its own semi-professional level 3 league, League1 Ontario, and the Inter-Provincial Cup was established which would be contested between the champions of each league and ran for three years until 2016. In 2015, the league added its first club from outside of the province of Quebec, with the Ottawa Fury FC Academy joining the league.

Beginning in 2018, the league champion qualified to participate in the Canadian Championship for the following season. In 2018, a women's division was added, starting with five teams. The start of the 2020 season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it ultimately resumed with a shortened season, although some teams opted out of playing for the season. 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).

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. In 2024, it was announced that USL League Two club Vermont Green FC would host the reigning L1Q champion each year in a friendly each year, known as the Maple Cup.

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. 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. 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 ten teams are members of the league for the 2025 season:

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

Former clubs

Timeline

Women's Division

Current clubs

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

Former clubs

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
Kevin Chan-Yu-Tin	Mauritius	2016
Zohib Islam Amiri	Afghanistan	2019
Lemus Christopher	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	2022

Women

Player	Country	Year	Ref
Stefani Kouzas	Guyana	2022

L1QC clubs in other competitions

See also

• Canadian soccer league system
• League1 Canada

Notes

1. CS Lanaudière-Nord was known as FC L'Assomption-Lanaudière from 2012 to 2015. They departed the league after 2015, returned in 2022, before again departing after 2023
2. AS Laval was known as CS Monteuil until the 2021 season
3. FC Laval was known as CS Fabrose until the 2020 season

References

1. Chenoix, Eric (October 15, 2018). "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. Mahmoudi, Nelson (April 20, 2024). "Vermont Green To Host League1 Quebec Champion In New 'Maple Cup'". Northern Tribune.
21. "À Propos De La Coupe PLSQ" [About the PLSQ Cup]. RDS (in French).
22. Gray, Shawn (January 31, 2017). "Quebec's 3rd Division". Northern Starting XI.
23. Ducharme, Jean-François (September 15, 2014). "Un Citadin au Burundi" [A Citizen in Burundi]. Université du Québec à Montréal (in French).
24. "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.
25. 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).
26. "T&T Men secure 2-0 win over St Vincent/Grenadines". Trinidad and Tobago Football Association. June 11, 2022.
27. "Lady Jags Head Coach embraces "underdogs" tag". News Room. April 8, 2022.

External links

• Official website

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Men's national teams	Senior results players records and statistics U-23 (Olympic) U-20 U-17 Beach soccer Futsal
Women's national teams	Senior results players U-20 U-17
Men's outdoor leagues	Tier 1 Canadian Premier League Playoffs Finals Major League Soccer Playoffs MLS Cup Tier 3 League1 Canada Alberta British Columbia Ontario Québec MLS Next Pro Below tier 3 USL League Two United Premier Soccer League Alberta Major Soccer League Ligue de soccer élite du Québec Manitoba Major Soccer League Ontario Soccer League Pacific Coast Soccer League Vancouver Metro Soccer League Non-FIFA Canadian Soccer League Finals
Women's outdoor leagues	Professional Northern Super League (planned for 2025) Pro-am League1 Canada Alberta British Columbia Ontario Québec United Women's Soccer
Indoor and futsal competitions	MASL Futsal Canadian Championship
Cup competitions	Pro / Semi-pro Canadian Championship Finals Voyageurs Cup Women's Inter-Provincial Championship Amateur National championships Challenge Trophy Jubilee Trophy Provincial championships BC NL ON
Other competitions	Soccer at the Canada Games Croatian-North American Soccer Tournament
College and university soccer	U Sports men's Championship U Sports women's Championship CCAA Soccer National Championship
Defunct Canadian leagues	Canadian Professional Soccer League (1983) Canadian Soccer League (1987–1992) National Soccer League Pacific Coast Soccer League (1939–1973) Eastern Canada Professional Soccer League Western Canada Soccer League Canadian Major Indoor Soccer League
Defunct American leagues	United Soccer Association National Professional Soccer League (1967) North American Soccer League (1968–1984) Soccer Bowl Western Soccer Alliance American Professional Soccer League A-League Finals USL First Division Finals USSF Division 2 Professional League North American Soccer League (2011–2017) Soccer Bowl North American Soccer Football League USL W-League
Related American leagues	USL Championship Finals USL League One Women's Premier Soccer League
Defunct cup competitions	Inter-Provincial Cup Mainland Cup Open Canada Cup Victoria Challenge Cup WFA Challenge Cup Women's Voyageurs Cup
Other	Canadian clubs in American leagues Canadian clubs in international competitions
Associations	AB BC MB NB NL NS NT NU ON PE QC SK YT Historical: DFA (1877–1881) WFA (1880–1940)

• Ligue1 Québec
• Soccer leagues in Canada
• Women's soccer leagues in Canada
• Soccer leagues in Quebec
• Third level association football leagues in North America
• Sports leagues established in 2012
• 2012 establishments in Quebec
• League1 Canada