Fifteen teams competing in the 2026 TELUS Canadian Championship will learn their fate on Saturday, Jan. 17, when Canada Soccer hosts the official draw for this year's tournament.
The draw, which will map out the full preliminary round, will be conducted live on OneSoccer during coverage of the Canadian men's national team's match against Guatemala (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT).
All eight Canadian Premier League clubs, as well as the three Canadian sides in Major League Soccer, will participate, and they'll be joined by four provincial champions from League1 Canada competitions (League1 BC, League1 Alberta, League1 Ontario and Ligue1 Québec).
New CPL side FC Supra du Québec will make their tournament debut, as will League1 sides Langley United, Calgary Blizzard and Woodbridge Strikers. Returning to the competition are L1Q champions CS Saint-Laurent, who debuted in the 2024 CanChamp and defeated the Halifax Wanderers before bowing out against Toronto FC.
This year's draw features four pre-seeded teams, who are the four highest-ranked in the Canadian Championship Club Ranking Index. Defending champions the Vancouver Whitecaps have a bye to the quarter-final round, while CF Montréal, Toronto FC and Forge FC have been placed in the bracket to ensure none of them can meet before the semifinals.
The rest of the clubs have been placed into two regional pots. The western draw pot features:
- Pacific FC (CPL)
- Vancouver FC (CPL)
- Cavalry FC (CPL)
- Langley United (L1BC)
- Calgary Blizzard (L1A)
The eastern pot includes:
- Atlético Ottawa (CPL)
- Inter Toronto FC (CPL)
- Halifax Wanderers FC (CPL)
- FC Supra du Québec (CPL)
- CS Saint-Laurent (L1Q)
- Woodbridge Strikers (L1O)
The 2026 TELUS Canadian Championship will kick off in May, with single-knockout preliminary round matches to be played between May 5-10. The two-legged quarter-finals will take place with Leg 1 on July 8, and Leg 2 between July 11-13. The semifinals will be played on Sept. 1-3 and Sept. 15-17, and the Voyageurs Cup final will take place on Oct. 21.
In general, the higher-ranked club in the Ranking Index will host preliminary round matches, and the second leg of quarter- and semifinal ties.
The full bracket layout is as follows:
