Canada Soccer, Ontario Soccer to host PDP Championship in August 2025

Canada Soccer has confirmed that Ontario Soccer’s Zanchin Automotive Soccer Centre will be the site for all four youth Finals at the 2025 Player-Development Program Championship on Sunday 31 August in Vaughan, Ontario. On the heels of an official site visit with Ontario Soccer in preparation for the annual youth club competition, Canada Soccer also approved the use of two neighbouring fields at Vaughan Grove Sports Park.

As part of Canada Soccer’s Youth Competitions Network, the PDP Championship features four divisions across the PDP U-17 Cup and PDP U-15 Cup (boys and girls in each age category). With eight teams in each division, the PDP Championship will feature group matches from Wednesday 27 August through Saturday 30 August followed by medal and ranking matches for all 32 teams on Sunday 31 August.

Canada Soccer’s April site visit included meetings with Ontario Soccer at the Zanchin Automotive Soccer Centre, approval of the three pitches that will be used for the competition, and a meeting with the hotel that will be used by Canada Soccer officials and referees over the course of the weeklong youth competition.

This year marks the second edition of the PDP Championship and the first time with 32 qualified youth teams across the four divisions. Those 32 qualified teams come from a pool of 166 teams competing in two age groups across four standards-based youth leagues from May 2024 to July 2025: the BC Soccer Premier League; the Alberta Player-Development League; the Ontario Player-Development League; and the Québec Youth Soccer Premier League (Première Ligue de Soccer Juvénile du Québec). 

Alongside the 32 qualified youth teams, the PDP Championship will feature some of Canada Soccer’s best young referees from the Elite Referee Development Program. With 64 matches across the four divisions, the referees will be working alongside top referee prospects from the host province Ontario Soccer.

Across the first four years of the competition, Canada Soccer will host the PDP Championship alongside the four provincial member associations in which Canada’s standards-based youth leagues are played: Alberta in 2024, Ontario in 2025, Québec in 2026, and British Columbia in 2027.