Première Ligue de soccer du Québec

Première Ligue de soccer du Québec
Founded 2012
Country Canada
Confederation CONCACAF
Number of teams 8 (Men's)
5 (women's)
Level on pyramid 3
Domestic cup(s) Canadian Championship
League cup(s) Coupe PLSQ
Current champions AS Blainville
(2017)
Current cup champions AS Blainville
(2017)
TV partners RDS.ca (Webdiffusion)
Website Première Ligue de soccer du Québec
2018 PLSQ season

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. The Canadian Soccer Association relies on provincial soccer organizations to sanction regional leagues at the tier 3 level behind the men's division Major League Soccer (MLS) (Division I), the United Soccer League (USL) (Division II), while roughly equal to the League1 Ontario (L1O). 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.

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.[1]

PLSQ Trophy Winners
Season PLSQ Champions
Champions winners		 PLSQ Cup
Cup winners
2012 FC St-Léonard
2013 CS Mont-Royal Outremont
2014 CS Longueuil FC Gatineau
2015 CS Mont-Royal Outremont Lakeshore SC
2016 CS Mont-Royal Outremont AS Blainville
2017 AS Blainville AS Blainville

Format

Seven teams play an 18-game season. The winner gets the regular season championship. At the end of the year, there is a League Cup where the top six teams participate by separating the teams in two groups of three, with the top team in each group making it to the final. The final is played at a neutral venue.[2]

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

Men's Division

Current clubs

The following eight teams will take part in the 2018 season:

Blainville
Celtix
Fabrose
Gatineau
Lanaudière
Longueuil
Mont-Royal
St-Hubert
Dynamo
Locations of current (red) and future (green) clubs.

Future clubs

The following teams are expected to join the league:

Former clubs

Women's Division

Current clubs

The following five teams will take part in the 2018 season:

Blainville
Longueuil
Dollard-des-Ormeaux
St-Hubert
Dynamo
Locations of current (red) and future (green) clubs.


Notable players

Players in Bold are currently playing for PLSQ clubs.

See also

References

  1. ↑ La Federation De Soccer Du Quebec. "Historique". plsq.ca. Retrieved October 14, 2013.
  2. ↑ "Le Fc Gatineau Et Le Cs Mont-Royal Outremont Joignent Les Rangs De La Première Ligue De Soccer Du Québec. - La Première Ligue De Soccer Du Québec". Premiereliguedesoccerduquebec.ca. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
  3. ↑ "La PLSQ accueille le CS Fabrose". plsq.ca. PLSQ. Retrieved 8 July 2017.
  4. ↑ "PLSQ on Twitter". twitter.com. PLSQ. Retrieved 3 February 2016.
  5. ↑ http://plsq.ca/actualites/le-cs-monteuil-se-joindra-a-la-pslq-masculine-en-2019
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