Toronto, ON – (June 5, 2020) – Today, the Canadian Premier League together with its owners, clubs and player leadership unanimously agreed on the structure and concept of a proposed strategy on the possibility of a 2020 CPL season.
The CPL feels an obligation on behalf of our players, teams, supporters and partners, to get back on the pitch and that can’t happen without the players’ input and support. The health and safety of all is the single most important issue and it is vital that appropriate health and safety protocols mandated by the local and Provincial officials are in place and agreed to by all stakeholders – players, clubs, owners, league and Canada Soccer, the CPL’s governing body.
“Our position since we began the journey of building the League from the ground up has been to work together,” said David Clanachan, Canadian Premier League Commissioner. “We started this process behind the scenes many weeks ago in consultation with our owners last week on the many details and protocols required to safely return to the field of play, and potential opportunities that may emerge. This led to the next step of a collaborative discussion with the players this week.”
Clanachan continued, “It’s been gratifying and rewarding to see how much collective enthusiasm and co-operation there has been, and we have landed in an excellent and unanimous position with our clubs and club player leadership.”
“I think the calls we had with the team and the league this week were a real step forward in getting back to doing what we love. We appreciate being taken through all of the phases of (return to) play and safety protocols,” said York9 FC captain, Manny Aparicio. “We can see the league is working hard to make things happen and get us back to normal. Understanding the safety protocols that are being implemented, we as players have one goal on our minds and that is to get back to playing.”
The next step will be to engage with the fans and partners as the Canadian Premier League with its Clubs work collectively to find a solution for a 2020 CPL season.
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For more information contact:
Micki Benedetti
micki.benedetti@canpl.ca