League1 is ready to launch.
After more than a year of planning, the Ontario semi-pro circuit announced its founding 10 clubs today. Additionally, the league indicated the structure of the league and its opening date.
League chairman Dino Rossi said that the league aspires to be the top of the pyramid for all players in the province and that the clubs selected to launch the league have all committed to operating at the highest level.
The quality of the league should be about similar to the USL PDL level.
The ten clubs selected to launch the league are King City's ANB Futbol, Pickering's Durham Power FC, Internacional de Toronto (west Toronto), Kingston Cataraqui Clippers, Scarborough's Masters FA, Toronto FC Academy, Mississauga's Sigma Academy, Vaughan Azzurri, Windsor Stars and Woodbridge Strikers.
The league will operate as a single table without playoffs. Each team will play home and away against every other side in the league. Additionally, there will be a cup competition, with the cup final operating as the climax of the season.
Rossi indicated that they plan to reach out to the Quebec federation to see if there might be some way to integrate the two D3 leagues into a inter-provincial completion.
"Even if it's just a one-off playoff between the two champions," Rossi said. "Now that we have the details in place we can start to look at that type if thing."
Rossi indicated that everyone involved in the league would like to one day see teams eligible to compete for the Voyageurs Cup in the Amway Canadian Championships.
The league will launch the last weekend of May.