Ligue1 Québec

Première Ligue de soccer du Québec

File:Première Ligue de soccer du Québec logo.png
Founded	2012
Country	Canada
Confederation	CONCACAF
Number of teams	9 (men's) 6 (women's)
Level on pyramid	3
Domestic cup(s)	Canadian Championship
League cup(s)	Coupe PLSQ
Current champions	AS Blainville (men’s) Dynamo de Québec (women's) (2018)
Current cup champions	FC Lanaudière (2018)
TV partners	RDS.ca (streaming)
Website	www.plsq.ca
Current: 2019 men's, 2019 women's

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. The men's division is below the Canadian Premier League (CPL) (Division I), and equal to League1 Ontario (L1O) (Division III). 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.

PLSQ Trophy Winners

Season	PLSQ Champions League 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
2018	AS Blainville	FC Lanaudière

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.

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

Men's Division

Current clubs

The following nine teams will take part in the 2019 season:

Blainville

Celtix

Fabrose

Monteuil

Gatineau

Lanaudière

Longueuil

Mont-Royal

St-Hubert

Dynamo

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Locations of current (red) and future (green) clubs.

Future clubs

The following teams are expected to join the league:

Women's Division

Current clubs

The following six teams will take part in the 2019 season:

Blainville

FC Sélect Rive-Sud

Fabrose

Monteuil

Mont-Royal

Dynamo

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Locations of current (red) and future (green) clubs.

Notable players

Players in Bold are currently playing for PLSQ clubs.

• Karamfil Ilchev
• Gilbert Bayiha
• Jonathan Beaulieu-Bourgault
• Philippe Davies
• Abraham François

• Sandro Grande
• Pierre-Rudolph Mayard
• Frederico Moojen
• Rocco Placentino
• Antonio Ribeiro

• Eduardo Sebrango
• Dimitrios Anastasopoulos
• Julien Edwards
• Gabard Fénélon
• Kevin Chan-Yu-Tin

See also

• Canadian soccer league system
• United Soccer League
• League1 Ontario
• USL League Two

External links

• Official website