Record-breaking crowd was highlight of 2009 club season

The Impact de Montréal’s 2:0 victory in front of 55,571 fans at Stade Olympique was the highlight of the 2009 club season in Canada. The big win over Mexico’s Club Santos Laguna came on 26 February in the first leg of the quarter-final stage of the 2008-09 CONCACAF Champions League season.
The Impact more than tripled the previous attendance record for a CONCACAF Champions League match that evening in Montréal. The crowd and atmosphere made “an incredible statement” for soccer in Canada.
“Our Canadian champions have made an incredible statement with this match – the passion for our sport in Canada has never been higher,” says Canadian Soccer Association general secretary Peter Montopoli at the time. “The Impact has done this city and our country proud in setting the CONCACAF Champions League attendance record tonight. Everyone in the Impact organisation should be congratulated.”
The Impact had qualified for the inaugural CONCACAF Champions League season by winning the 2008 Nutrilite Canadian Championship. Despite a big win in the opening leg, the Impact ultimately lost the quarter-final stage one week later at the Estadio Corona in Torréon, Mexico.
As for the 2009 season, the Impact failed to win a second Nutrilite Canadian Championship and qualify for the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League season. Instead, it was Toronto FC that captured the Voyageurs Cup after finishing first ahead of Vancouver Whitecaps FC and the Impact. Toronto FC won the Canadian crown in improbable fashion after a 6:1 victory over the Impact in the sixth and final match of the tournament. That victory pushed Toronto FC ahead of Whitecaps FC in the standings.
Canadian Dwayne De Rosario won the George Gross Memorial Trophy as tournament MVP after scoring three goals in the final game. He became the first Toronto FC player to score a hat trick while the Voyageurs Cup became the first trophy in the Toronto FC trophy case. Toronto FC, who regularly play in Major League Soccer, was eliminated in the preliminary phase of the 2009-10 CONCACAF Champions League season in August.
In league play, the Impact won the 2009 United Soccer Leagues First Division championship in October. The Impact won the two-leg final over Whitecaps FC, the reigning USL-1 champion from 2008. In Major League Soccer, Toronto FC missed the playoffs by just one point.
The Impact’s reserve team Attak Trois-Rivières won the 2009 Canadian Soccer League championship. The Attak defeated the reigning 2008 champion – Toronto’s Serbian White Eagles – in the final.
Thanksgiving weekend, of course, was the weekend of champions in the 2009 BMO National Championships. The big winners were Winnipeg’s Hellas SC in the Challenge Trophy men’s competition and Edmonton Victoria in the Jubilee Trophy women’s competition. Both senior competitions took place at SaskTel Sports Centre in Saskatoon, SK.
In the Sony U-18 Cup in Sherwood Park, AB, Foothills Crew won the men’s competition while Calgary Foothills Athletics won the women’s competition. In the adidas U-16 Cup in Winnipeg, MB, Conquérants Laval won the boys’ competition while Beauport won the girls’ competition. In the U-14 Cup in Sydney, NS, Edmonton Juventus won the boys’ competition while Ajax Strikers won the girls’ competition.
In the over-35 competitions, Vancouver’s Columbus FC Masters won the Western Masters, Eurocan Dorval-Outremont won the Western Classics, and Markham Lightning won the Eastern Masters.
Next year’s BMO National Championships club competitions take place 6-11 October in Charlottetown, PE (senior), Mount Pearl, NL (U-18), Vaughan, ON (U-16) and New Brunswick (U-14). As for the 2010 Nutrilite Canadian Championship, the full schedule is expected to be announced in February 2010 featuring Toronto FC, Impact de Montréal and Vancouver Whitecaps FC.