CF Montréal

CF Montréal, North American professional football (soccer) club that plays in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of men’s club soccer competition on the continent. Along with Toronto FC and Vancouver Whitecaps FC, it is one of three Canadian franchises in the MLS. Based in Montreal, it plays its home games at Stade Saputo. CF Montréal is owned and managed by the Saputo family.

Formation and history

CF Montréal was founded in December 1992 as L’Impact de Montréal (French: “Montreal Impact”). It joined the now-defunct American Professional Soccer League (APSL) for the 1993 season. The club finished its first season in last place out of seven teams, a result ameliorated by a seven-game win streak that closed out the season.

The Montreal Impact won its first league title in 1994. The club finished third in the regular season that year before defeating the Los Angeles Salsa in the playoffs and then the Colorado Foxes in a memorable home final. It followed this up in 1995 by finishing the regular season at the top of the standings, though it was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs; three of its players were named to the league’s end-of-season “A Team.” This was the first of three straight top-of-the-table finishes before losses in the playoffs. In 1988 the club didn’t finish top of the table but still reached the playoffs. After skipping the 1999 outdoor season to better prepare for the indoor season that year, the club re-formed as an outdoor squad the next year.

In 2001 the Impact went bankrupt but managed to complete the season with the support of the league. Investments from the provincial government of Quebec, the utility company Hydro-Quebec, and businessman Joey Saputo guaranteed the club’s future for the next five years.

In 2002 Montreal won the inaugural Voyageurs Cup, awarded to the top Canadian team in the league. It would go on to win the cup each of the next five years. The club started the 2004 season by winning 12 games in a row. That year, for the first time in five playoff clashes, the Impact defeated its archrival, the Rochester Raging Rhinos, and went on to win the A-League Championship. In the next two years the club finished each regular season at the top of the league but lost in the playoffs; it also set league attendance records in each season.

Stade Saputo was inaugurated in 2008 as the club’s home ground, with a capacity of nearly 20,000, in Montreal’s Olympic Park. Since then the club has also played in the larger, neighboring Olympic Stadium, including for many home openers. The Impact won the inaugural Canadian Championship that year and made its first appearance in the Confederation of North, Central American, and Caribbean Association Football (CONCACAF) Champions League, a tournament for top clubs across the Americas. The team lost to Mexican club Santos Laguna in the quarterfinals.

In 2009 the club won its third league trophy, the USL First Division Championship. The next year, the Impact was confirmed for a move to the MLS, starting in 2012. The team spent 2011 in the second-division North American Soccer League (NASL), finishing seventh. On March 10, 2012, the Impact made its MLS debut against the Vancouver Whitecaps, losing 2–0. The club finished the season in 12th place.

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The Impact qualified for the MLS playoffs for the first time in 2013 but lost 3–0 to the Houston Dynamo. The team won the Canadian Championship for a second and third time in 2013 and 2014. In 2015 the Impact reached the finals of the CONCACAF Champions League but suffered a heartbreaking home defeat to Mexican team Club America. As of 2025 this was the club’s best performance in the tournament. In the MLS the Impact qualified for the playoffs and advanced to the semifinals, losing to Columbus Crew SC. In 2016 the club faced Toronto FC in the MLS Cup semifinals in a bid to become the first Canadian finalist, but the win went to Toronto. The club had middling results in the MLS until 2022, when it finished third at the end of the season. The club did, however, win the Canadian Championship in 2019 and 2021. In January 2021 the club officially changed its name to CF Montréal.

Key personnel

The club has had several managers over the years, starting with Eddie Firmani in 1993. Nick de Santis, who led the club from November 2003 to June 2008 and again from June through September 2011, is its longest-serving manager. Former French international footballer Thierry Henry is the team’s most high-profile manager to date, holding the post from November 2019 to February 2021. Since March 2025 Italian Marco Donadel, who played for the club, has been interim head coach.

Canadian midfielder Samuel Piette has appeared for CF Montréal the most times in the MLS, with more than 230 appearances. Since the club’s inception Canadian former midfielder Mauro Biello has the most caps with 344. Argentinian former left winger Ignacio Piatti has been its most successful goal scorer, with 79 goals in 163 appearances; former forward Anthony Jackson-Hamel is the top Canadian goal scorer, with 18 goals in 91 appearances. Two-time English Premier League Golden Boot winner Didier Drogba of Côte d’Ivoire joined the club in 2015 and scored 23 goals in 41 appearances. Biello and Piatti have each won the Giuseppe Saputo Trophy, awarded to CF Montréal’s most valuable player at the end of each season, four times. Since 2022 the club has awarded the Jason Di Tullio Trophy, named in honor of the former CF Montréal player (2005-09) and assistant coach (2021-22) who died in 2022, to a player demonstrating fighting spirit.

Statistics

CF Montréal’s MLS league results by season are as follows.