Association announces title partner for new Nutrilite Canadian Championship

The Canadian Soccer Association announced today the title sponsor for its new club competition, the Nutrilite Canadian Championship. The three-team, six-match tournament kicks off next week on 27 May 2008 in Montréal at Stade Saputo. The Impact de Montréal, Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC are facing each other for a spot in the newly formed CONCACAF Champions League™.



“There is a great deal of excitement for the start of the Nutrilite Canadian Championship,” says Peter Montopoli, General Secretary, Canadian Soccer Association. “This three-team tournament is an important step in the evolution of club football in Canada.”



Along with a chance to represent Canada in the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League™ (and hopefully a chance to represent the confederation in the 2009 FIFA Club World Cup), the first-place team will be awarded the Voyageurs Cup. The Voyageurs Cup has been donated by Voyageurs to the Canadian Soccer Association for the purposes of being awarded to the champion of the new Nutrilite Canadian Championship.



The Nutrilite Canadian Championship kicks off 27 May at the new Stade Saputo in Montréal as the Impact host Toronto FC. On 17 June, the Vancouver Whitecaps FC will visit Montréal and on 25 June the Impact will play the return match at Swangard Stadium. The last three matches then take place in July: the Canada Day tilt between the Whitecaps at Toronto FC at BMO Field (1 July), the return match with Toronto FC visiting Vancouver (9 July), and the final match featuring the Impact at Toronto FC (22 July).



“With our global sponsorship of Ronaldinho and the growing popularity of soccer among Canadians, support of this exciting event is a perfect fit for our NUTRILITE brand,” said Jim Hunking, General Manager of Quixtar Canada.



The CONCACAF Champions League™ will feature four clubs each from México and the United States, two clubs each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, one club each from Canada, Belize, and Nicaragua, and three clubs from the Caribbean islands.



Sixteen of the 24 clubs – including Canada’s entry – will take part in a preliminary home-and-away series in late August and early September. The preliminary round winners will join the other eight seeded teams in the group stage which will consist of four groups of four. All the teams in each group will play each other in a round-robin system during six match dates (three home games, three away games) from 16 September to 30 October.



The top two clubs from each group will advance to the knock out phase and play a home-and-away elimination. The quarterfinals commence in February 2009, with the semifinals to begin in March, and the Final to take place in late April.



The CONCACAF Champions League™ winner will qualify as the CONCACAF’s representative to the 2009 edition of the FIFA Club World Cup.



Nutrilite is the world’s leading brand of vitamin, mineral and herbal supplements. Nutrilite is so committed to total-quality control of its plan concentrates, from seed to tablet, that it is the only global vitamin and mineral brand to grow, harvest and process plants at its own certified organic farms located in California, Washington, Mexico and Brazil.



Nutrilite products are available exclusively through Quixtar Independent Business Owners (IBOs) in North America and Amway business owners internationally. For more information on Nutrilite products, history, farming and manufacturing practices, visit Nutrilite.com or quixtar.ca.