Ligue1 Québec

Ligue1 Québec is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Quebec, Canada. Founded in 2011 as the Première ligue de soccer du Québec, the league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Quebec Soccer Federation. In 2025, the league expanded and introduced two new divisions Ligue2 Québec and Ligue3 Québec, following the ending of the amateur Ligue de soccer élite du Québec, with the teams being folded into L1Q.
In the Canadian soccer league system, the men's division is behind the fully-professional Canadian Premier League. It is part of Premier Soccer Leagues Canada, the national third tier with regional divisions, along with four other leagues. The men's league champion qualifies for the Canadian Championship, Canada's domestic cup tournament.

History

Background

The history of soccer in Quebec dates back to 1884, with the first league established in 1886. In 1911, the Province of Quebec Football Association, now known as the Quebec Soccer Federation was founded. In 1986, a semi-professional league called the Ligue nationale de soccer du Québec was created, but it merged with different rival leagues to form the Ligue de soccer élite du Québec in 1992. In 1993, five of the former LNSQ clubs Corfinium St-Leonard, Cosmos de LaSalle, Luso Stars Mont-Royal, Montreal Croatia, and Montreal Ramblers joined the Canadian National Soccer League to form the league's Eastern Division. Following this, the amateur Ligue de soccer élite du Québec served as the top level of soccer in the province, although Quebec clubs did play in the United Soccer League and the semi-professional Canadian Soccer League.

Foundation

In 2011, the Première ligue de soccer du Québec was established, marking the return of a semi-professional soccer league to the province for the first time in 20 years. The league was sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association as a level 3 league, below Major League Soccer and the North American Soccer League and United Soccer League, which were American-based fully professional leagues featuring some Canadian teams, including the Montreal Impact of the MLS.
The league had its debut season in 2012 with a men's division featuring five teams – A.S. Blainville, FC Brossard, FC Boisbriand, FC L'Assomption, and FC Saint-Léonard. FC Saint-Léonard won the inaugural season. The following season, the league added a league cup to its schedule, the Coupe PLSQ, which would take place annually at the conclusion of the season, unrelated to the results of the regular season. In 2014, the province of Ontario created its own semi-professional level 3 league, League1 Ontario, and the Inter-Provincial Cup was established which would be contested between the champions of each league and ran for three years until 2016. In 2015, the league added its first club from outside of the province of Quebec, with the Ottawa Fury FC Academy joining the league.
Beginning in 2018, the league champion qualified to participate in the Canadian Championship for the following season. In 2018, a women's division was added, starting with five teams. The start of the 2020 season was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but it ultimately resumed with a shortened season, although some teams opted out of playing for the season. However, the remainder of the men's season was cancelled about three-quarters of the way through the season, due to a resurgence of the pandemic.
In 2022, the PLSQ joined League1 Canada along with League1 Ontario and League1 British Columbia. On April 19, 2023, the league rebranded to Ligue1 Québec to align with its partner leagues. In 2024, it was announced that USL League Two club Vermont Green FC would host the reigning L1Q champion each year in a friendly each year, known as the Maple Cup.

Competition format

Depending on the number of teams in the league, teams play every other team two to four times per season, for a total of between 15 and 20 games. The winner gets the regular season championship. Each team has a minimum of nine paid players and is subject to a salary cap.

Coupe L1QC

At the end of the year, there is a league cup, called the Coupe L1QC, which began in 2013. The format varies each season, depending on the number of teams in the league. The most recent cup competition featured the top four teams from league play in a single-knockout tournament. In the past, the cup has also used a group stage and knockout format where three groups of three teams were formed, and the winner of each group along with the best second-place finisher advanced to the semi-finals.

Yearly results

Season	Ligue1 division	Coupe L1Q	Ligue2 division	Ligue3 division
2025

Clubs

Over the course of its history, various clubs have joined and departed the league. A.S. Blainville is the only club to have participated in every season since the league's inception. Blainville has been the most successful club, winning the league championship four times and the league cup twice and CS Mont-Royal Outremont has been second-most successful with four league championships and one league cup title.

Current clubs

Ligue1 Québec

The following twelve teams are members of the league for the 2026 season:

Ligue2 Québec

The following teams are members of the league for the 2026 season:

Ligue3 Québec

The following teams are members of the league for the 2026 season:

Former clubs

Timeline

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id:L2 value:rgb legend:Ligue2_QC
id:L3 value:rgb legend:Ligue3_QC
id:Former value:gray legend:Former
id:Hiatus value:rgb legend:On_hiatus
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width:20 textcolor:white shift: anchor:from fontsize:m
bar:1 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:end text:AS Blainville
bar:2 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2013 text:FC Boisbriand
bar:2 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Revolution FC
bar:3 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2013 text:FC Brossard
bar:3 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:AS Brossard
bar:3 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:4 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2015 text:FC L'Assomption-Lanaudière
bar:4 color:L1 from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2023 text:CS Lanaudière-Nord
bar:4 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:01/01/2026 text:
bar:5 color:L1 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2013 text:FC St-Léonard
bar:5 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:AS St-Léonard
bar:5 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:6 color:Former from:01/01/2013 till:12/31/2019 text:FC Gatineau
bar:7 color:L1 from:01/01/2013 till:12/31/2019 text:CS Mont-Royal Outremont
bar:7 color:Hiatus from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2020 text:
bar:7 color:L1 from:01/01/2021 till:end
text:
bar:8 color:Former from:01/01/2014 till:12/31/2014 text:ACP Montréal-Nord
bar:9 color:L1 from:01/01/2014 till:end text:CS Longueuil
bar:10 color:L1 from:01/01/2015 till:12/31/2016 text:Lakeshore SC
bar:10 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end
text:
bar:11 color:Former from:01/01/2015 till:12/31/2016 text:Ottawa Fury FC Academy
bar:12 color:Former from:01/01/2016 till:12/31/2019 text:FC Lanaudière
bar:12 color:Hiatus from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2020 text:
bar:12 color:Former from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2021 text:
bar:13 color:Former from:01/01/2017 till:12/31/2019 text:Dynamo de Quebec
bar:14 color:L1 from:01/01/2017 till:end text:CS St-Hubert
bar:15 color:L1 from:01/01/2018 till:12/31/2020 text:CS Fabrose
bar:15 color:L1 from:01/01/2021 till:end text:FC Laval
bar:16 color:L1 from:01/01/2019 till:12/31/2019 text:CS Monteuil
bar:16 color:Hiatus from:01/01/2020 till:12/31/2020 text:
bar:16 color:L1 from:01/01/2021 till:12/31/2021 text:
bar:16 color:L1 from:01/01/2022 till:end text:AS Laval
bar:17 color:L1 from:01/01/2020 till:end text:Celtix du Haut-Richelieu
bar:18 color:L1 from:01/01/2020 till:end text:Ottawa South United
bar:19 color:L1 from:01/01/2021 till:end text:Royal-Sélect Beauport
bar:20 color:Former from:01/01/2022 till:12/31/2024 text:CF Montréal U23
bar:21 color:L1 from:01/01/2022 till:end text:CS Saint-Laurent
bar:22 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:CS Ambassadeurs Saint-Jérôme
bar:22 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:23 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:01/01/2026 text:FC Anjou
bar:24 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:FC Boréal
bar:24 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:25 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Boréal d'Alma
bar:26 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till: 12/31/2025 text:CS Boucherville
bar:26 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:27 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:CS Braves d'Ahuntsic
bar:28 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:AS Chaudière-Ouest
bar:29 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Chevaliers NDMC
bar:30 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Fury Rimouski
bar:31 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:AS Gatineau
bar:31 color:L1 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:32 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Haute-Saint-Charles
bar:33 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CF L'International Québec
bar:34 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:CS LaSalle
bar:34 color:L1 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:35 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:CS Lévis-Est
bar:35 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:36 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Mistral Sherbrooke
bar:37 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Mondial de Rivière-du-Loup
bar:38 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:AS Montis
bar:38 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:39 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Montréal Centre
bar:40 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Notre-Dame-de-Grâce
bar:41 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:Panellinios St Michel FC
bar:42 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:Phénix des Rivières
bar:42 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:43 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Rivières-des-Prairies
bar:44 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Rousillon
bar:45 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Saint-Lazare/Hudson
bar:46 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:FS Salaberry
bar:47 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Titans
bar:48 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Trident
bar:49 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:12/31/2025 text:CS Trois-Rivières
bar:49 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:
bar:50 color:L2 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Union Lanaudière Sud
bar:51 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Vallée de l'Or
bar:52 color:L3 from:01/01/2025 till:end text:CS Venturi de Saguenay
bar:53 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:Granby Cosmos
bar:54 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:West Ottawa
bar:55 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:Pointe Clare
bar:56 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:Saint-Lambart
bar:57 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:Dollard SC
bar:58 color:L3 from:01/01/2026 till:end text:Victoriaville
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