Alberta Premier League
The Alberta Premier League is a semi-professional men's and women's soccer league in Alberta, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Alberta Soccer Association as a third division pro–am league in the Canadian soccer league system.
In the Canadian soccer league system, the men's division is below the Canadian Premier League. It is part of League1 Canada, the national third tier with regional divisions, with L1AB equivalent to Ligue1 Québec, Ontario Premier League, and British Columbia Premier League. The men's league champion qualifies for the Canadian Championship, the domestic cup championship, while the women's league champion qualifies for the League1 Canada Women's Inter-Provincial Championship.
History
In 2021, a group of clubs from British Columbia, Alberta, and Manitoba organized the 2021 Summer Series, a series of friendly soccer matches played between Western Canadian soccer clubs to showcase a potential national second division. In 2022, another exhibition showcase was organized by four clubs – three from Alberta and one from Manitoba – as an entity known as Central League1.In March 2023, League1 Alberta was announced with an exhibition series being organized, with six clubs participating – the Calgary Foothills, Edmonton Scottish, St. Albert Impact, and BTB Soccer Academy fielded teams of both genders, while Cavalry FC fielded a team in the men's series and the Calgary Blizzard in the women's division. The first matches were played on May 12, 2023, with an official league season planned to be launch for the following season.
In December 2023, it was announced that the league would officially be sanctioned for official competition under the League1 Canada umbrella for the 2024 season, with seven clubs participating in each division.
In January 2026, the league re-branded as the Alberta Premier League, in line with a move across all the leagues in Canada.