2012 Canadian Soccer League season

Canadian Soccer League
First Division
Season2012
ChampionsToronto Croatia (regular season)
Toronto Croatia (playoffs)
Matches played176
Goals scored621 (3.53 per match)
Top goalscorer20 goals:
Dražen Vuković
Best goalkeeperAntonio Ilic
Biggest home winMTL 8–1 SCW
(20 May)
WIN 7–0 BNF
(25 August)
Biggest away winSTC 0–7 TOR
(19 September)
Highest scoring10 goals:
BNF 2–8 BRA
(10 June)
MIS 6–4 SER
(10 August)
KFC 3–7 SER
(8 September)
2011
2013

The 2012 Canadian Soccer League season (known as the Givova Canadian Soccer League for sponsorship reasons) was the 15th since its establishment where a total of 28 teams from Ontario and Quebec took part in the league. The season began on 5 May 2012, and concluded on 27 October 2012. Toronto Croatia defended their championship in a 1–0 victory over the Montreal Impact Academy in the CSL Championship final at Centennial Park Stadium in Toronto.[1] Montreal became the second Quebec club after Trois-Rivières Attak to reach the final, while Toronto added more silverware to their cabinet by winning the double during the regular season. In the Second Division SC Toronto B won their first Second Division championship, and TFC Academy II secured the regular season title.

The league grew to a record amount of 16 first division teams with Kingston, Waterloo, and Niagara being promoted to the first division.[2] A number of CSL teams began operating their academy teams in the Canadian Academy of Futbol (CAF).[3] During the past three seasons the league's player developmental system made further advances with 27 players moving overseas, and 42 being selected to the Canada national team program.[4][5] While six TFC Academy players were signed by first team Toronto FC of the Major League Soccer.[6]

Rogers TV continued broadcasting matches for the CSL, while CogecoTV provided coverage to the Niagara and Kingston regions. The league reintroduced their television program This Week in the CSL with producer Alex Bastyovanszky returning to host the program with Rogers TV broadcasting the program.[7]

  1. ^ "October 27, 2012 CSL Final—Toronto Croatia vs Montreal Impact Academy (from CSL website)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  2. ^ "April 3, 2012—Record 16 Teams CSL's Six-Month Long First Division Campaign (from CSL website)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  3. ^ "December 1st, 2011—CAF Player Development Program Set For 2012 (from CSL website)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  4. ^ "January 13th, 2012—Business of Soccer a League Priority Urges CSL Team Owner (from CSL website)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  5. ^ Hylton, Kamal. "CSL and Youth Development: Trouble brewing for Canadian Soccer". rednationonline.ca. RedNation Online: Your Canadian Soccer. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
  6. ^ "May 2, 2012 CSL Announcements at Press Conference held in Toronto. (from CSL website)". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  7. ^ Glover, Robin. "May 1, 2012 CSL—CSL Pre-season Press Conference". www.rocketrobinsoccerintoronto.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.