Valour coach likes new format

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This article was published 21/02/2020 (2369 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Some big changes have been made to the Canadian Premier League for the 2020 campaign.

In Year 1, the CPL had a 10-game spring season and an 18-game fall season. The winners of each would then meet in a championship series. Or, if the same team won both seasons (which was the case with Cavalry FC), they’d be matched up against the squad with the next-highest point total over the span of both seasons.

Well, whether you agreed with that format or not, it’s been tossed out the window.

The CPL, now an eight-team league thanks to expansion club Atlético Ottawa, revealed its 2020 schedule on Friday. The biggest takeaway is the league now has a single-table format with a 28-game schedule, with the top three teams advancing to the post-season. The first seed will have a bye to the final and the other two teams will play in a semifinal match.

Valour FC general manager and head coach Rob Gale approves of the change.

“I think this makes it more like every league around the world where you need to be consistent and the top teams should come out on top. I think that’s better, rather than a quick schedule,” Gale said.

The schedule will also be more fan friendly. Valour’s calendar features one Friday night match, seven Saturday matchups and four Sunday games, with more than 90 per cent of CPL matches being played on holidays or weekends in 2020.

Valour kicks off Year 2 on the road against York9 FC on April 17. Winnipeg’s professional soccer team will play their home opener at IG Field on May 2 against Atlético Ottawa.

Other notable matches include a Canada Day meeting at home against Forge FC and a Labour Day weekend matchup against Cavalry FC at IG Field on Sept. 6. Valour will close out the season at TD Place on Oct. 4 against Ottawa. The full schedule is available on Valour’s website.

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Last year, Valour opened the season with five games in two and a half weeks. Gale said this year’s schedule is a big improvement.

“Obviously, one of the biggest hurdles that people don’t appreciate is that some stadiums are multi-use. It’s very hard to balance everybody’s needs and schedules,” he said.

“I think they’ve done a really good job and they listened to fans’ demands for more weekend games, less weekday games, especially in the fall.”

taylor.allen@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @TaylorAllen31

Taylor Allen
Reporter

Taylor Allen is a sports reporter for the Winnipeg Free Press. Taylor was the Vince Leah intern in the Free Press newsroom twice while earning his joint communications degree/diploma at the University of Winnipeg and Red River College Polytechnic. He signed on full-time in 2019 and mainly covers the Blue Bombers, curling, and basketball. Read more about Taylor.

Every piece of reporting Taylor produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.