The 2025 CPL season has officially concluded, and now the calendar turns to the time of the year full of strategizing, signings, speculation and squad building.
For some, the runway to do so is shorter than others, as a record three Canadian Premier League clubs will compete in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup: Forge FC, Atlético Ottawa and Vancouver FC. Newcomers FC Supra du Québec, meanwhile, need to construct their inaugural roster from scratch.
But each of the league's teams face big questions over the next few months that will come to define their off-season, and perhaps the campaign ahead.
Here is one big question that needs to be answered by each CPL club over this off-season:
How much of their championship core can Atlético Ottawa maintain?
The champagne hasn't even fully dried yet in the Atlético Ottawa locker room, and they have been on an epic celebration tour — including dropping the puck out of the North Star Cup at a Senators game this week.
But ahead of a short off-season with the club's first-ever Champions Cup appearance coming up in February, work has begun to make sure the team is in a good place to follow up this success in 2026.
They already know that next year's group won't look the same. Captain Alberto Zapater has retired, and Golden Boot winner Sam Salter is off to GAIS in Sweden. Other significant roster questions remain, including the fact that Nathan Ingham is a free agent, and David Rodríguez's loan from Atlético San Luis is up. A number of other young players could be ready for their next challenge.
They've already been looking ahead to next season with signings like Richie Ennin — who opened his account for the club in their regular season finale. But how they build around the pieces they are able to retain, and crucially, how they replace Sam Salter's record-setting goal tally, is vital to Atleti running it back in 2026.
Can Cavalry FC find more consistency in midfield?
It's fair to say this was a bit of an odd year for a club that came into 2025 as the defending CPL champions.
After becoming the first CPL side to win a match in the Concacaf Champions Cup, they failed to find consistency during the regular season and finished 16 points behind Forge at the top of the CPL table.
Still, a great run to the 2025 CPL Final showed that this team still has plenty of talent and a good core of players ready to compete again in 2025 — especially in attack.
As they look ahead to 2026, however, one area where Cavalry could use some strengthening is in midfield. With the retirement of Charlie Trafford following that Concacaf run, the departure of Jesse Daley, and various injuries to Diego Gutiérrez, Shamit Shome and Michael Baldisimo that kept them out for large stretches of the season, the middle of the park was a merry-go-round for Cavalry.
Max Piepgrass did well when given the opportunity, as did Eryk Kobza. But a few more experienced signings in the midfield could be imperative to Cavalry getting back to both lineup and result consistency in 2026.
Will Forge FC change their approach to 2026?
For most of 2025, Forge seemed unbeatable. In fact, they went 24 matches in all competitions without losing, and went on to lift the CPL Shield as regular season winners.
But they won just three of their final 11 in all competitions, including being dominated 4-0 by the Vancouver Whitecaps in the CanChamp semi-final second leg and losing in both the championship and contender semifinals to Atlético Ottawa and Cavalry at home, respectively.
In fact, this was the second consecutive year where they won the regular season before falling short in the playoffs. Perhaps that will mean a shift in approach next season, to one that prioritizes peaking at the tail end of the season.
This could manifest itself in everything from game management to how they recruit for 2026, perhaps allowing some of their younger players to get opportunities early in the season before adding weapons later in the year.
Who will be the new coach in Halifax?
Before it even comes to their squad for the 2026 CPL season, the biggest question surrounding the Halifax Wanderers is who will lead them.
After three seasons in charge, head coach Patrice Gheisar departed the club following a heartbreaking loss in the 2025 CPL Playoff knockout match to York United on penalties. While Gheisar's sides played a thrilling brand of football and broke multiple club records, they ultimately failed to win when it mattered most.
Top of the agenda for any new head coach is finding a style of football that is conducive to getting results on the road. Given Halifax's difficult travel schedule, this is something they have struggled to do since their inception and it has held them back from pushing into the league's upper echelon.
Beyond that, Halifax have a very strong core, and it will be intriguing to see how a new coach operates with those players and whoever is brought in to complement them in 2026.
Can Pacific FC get the best out of their stars?
This was supposed to be the championship core bringing glory back to the Island. Instead, despite the return of Marco Bustos, Kadin Chung and eventually Alejandro Díaz, Pacific finished with the fewest points in club history and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2019.
Bustos, in particular, returned to the league with a lot of hype but struggled to contribute the way he, or the team, would have hoped. He finished with two goals and four assists, but didn't score until the regular season's final month.
He did finish fifth in the league in chances created with 47, but often lacked a target in the box to finish off those opportunities.
The return of Díaz midway through the season helped to some extent, as the CPL's all-time leading goalscorer added six more in a Pacific shirt to his tally this season.
But it just never really clicked on the Island in 2025. If Pacific are to get back to their former glory next season, they are going to have to find ways to get more out of their stars — while putting a more consistent collection of talent around them.
Will FC Supra make a marquee signing?
The Canadian Premier League's newest club evidently have the most to do of any club this off-season as they build their roster from scratch.
They have already been out in the heavily talented Québec soccer community, hosting trials with some of the province's top players. The club has made it clear that local talent will make up the bulk of their squad.
But any new team needs to make a splashy signing. Whether that is someone known within the league, or potentially a Quebecois player abroad, having a face of the club for its first season — similar to what Vancouver FC had with the signing of Callum Irving — will be big.
Can Vancouver FC build on strong finish to 2025?
It's pretty rare for a last-place team to go into an off-season with so much optimism. But with the way the Eagles rounded out their 2025 campaign, there is a lot to build on.
Vancouver finished the season going unbeaten in six straight — with results against each of the CPL's top five teams in 2025. Their biggest success, however, came in the Canadian Championship, where they reached the final and played a highly competitive 4-2 loss to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
As a result of reaching the final, and the Whitecaps qualifying for Concacaf through their MLS regular season finish, Vancouver FC begin 2026 with their first-ever continental competition. That could go a long way toward recruitment and just the profile of the club in general.
Coaching is a question for the Eagles as well. Martin Nash did an excellent job of managing the side through the back half of the 2025 season with an interim tag, but whether or not that becomes permanent for 2026 remains to be seen.
Can York United add to their strong foundation?
In their first year under Mauro Eustáquio, there was a lot to like for York United.
While they finished one spot, and one point lower than they did in 2024, a largely new team made up of local talent had a clear and competitive identity while scoring a club record 43 goals.
They showed tremendous fight to win the 2025 CPL Playoff knockout match in penalties, battling back twice in regulation, and then extra time under difficult circumstances against the Halifax Wanderers.
This summer will be about adding talent to that impressive core in key positions. That includes, perhaps, adding some depth to both their midfield and central defensive positions.