There have been a number of updates to the 2018 Ontario Cup. 

Please ensure your teams and clubs are up-to-date before registering. 

The dates for the 2018 Ontario Cup have been posted and are now available on the Ontario Soccer website.

Ontario Soccer has completed the one year U-13 Pilot Project, which was carried out during the 2017 Ontario Cup. The Pilot Project was thoroughly analyzed and the results were carefully reviewed. The findings highlighted that it is key to strike a balance between “player safety” and “participant experience and satisfaction” and that both these ideals must be taken into consideration in the future design and delivery of the Ontario Cup.

Through collaboration with Ontario Soccer’s Technical Advisory Committee and the Competitions Management Committee, a hybrid format has been developed for the 2018 season for youth competition levels (U13-U17) that will address the concerns of player safety, including playing three games in three days and extensive player travel, while still giving many of the teams an authentic Ontario Cup tournament experience leading into Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals and Cup Finals.

In 2018, the Ontario Cup Preliminary Tournament Round format will change to a single knock-out game format. The winning teams will advance to the Ontario Cup Tournament Round. The losing teams will be eliminated from the competition. While it still means that some teams may only play one game in the competition before being eliminated, the number of teams that might be affected is much smaller than it would be if a single game elimination format was implemented for the entire competition. There is the possibility that a team could advance to or be drawn to the tournament round and be guaranteed three games.

With this change, one round of tournament play is eliminated. Fewer tournament hosts will be required, which will allow Ontario Soccer to go to single groups of four at the Tournament Round stage. If hosts only have one four team group, it will allow them greater scheduling flexibility and will allow Ontario Soccer to restrict the game times to allow for more rest between games.

Changes to Ontario Cup Competition Rules:

Rule 16.6.3

Going to a single group of four for tournament host, will result in the the kick-off times being the following:

• Friday night – games must kick-off between 5:00pm and 8:00pm
• Saturday – games must kick-off between 2:00pm and 6:00pm
• Sunday – games must kick-off between 1:00pm and 5:00pm

Rule 10.2 – Game Duration

Game durations would change to the following:

A rule will be added to the Ontario Cup Competition Rules requiring teams to have a minimum of 15 players on their roster to be eligible for the Ontario Cup.

The Ontario Cup Tournament Host Application Form for the 2018 Ontario Cup is now available on the Ontario Soccer website.

The deadline for Clubs to submit the application to its District Association is January 12, 2018. The Competitions Management Committee will be meeting at the end of January to approve the applications that have been submitted through the District Associations. Districts should forward the applications received by no later than January 19, 2018, so they can be compiled.

If you have questions, please contact Robyn McComb.