Draft:CF Montréal–Vancouver Whitecaps rivalry

The CF Montréal–Vancouver Whitecaps rivalry is a rivalry which has existed between the various incarnations of professional soccer teams from Vancouver, British Columbia and Montreal, Quebec which can trace their roots all the way back to the original Canadian Soccer League. The rivalry became more intense when both teams competed in the American Professional Soccer League, where they, alongside the Toronto Blizzard, were the only Canadian clubs in the league. The rivalry also intensified in 2002 when the Voyageurs Cup was established, which brought higher stakes in league fixtures between the two clubs.

History
CF Montréal and Vancouver Whitecaps FC have a long competitive history which started in 1993 when the clubs' lower league variants: the Montreal Impact and the Vancouver 86ers met for the first time in the American Professional Soccer League. The Vancouver 86ers had joined the league following the dissolution of the original Canadian Soccer League. The Montreal Impact were formed in 1992 after Joey Saputo, a Montreal businessman, purchased the assets of the Canadian Soccer League side: Montreal Supra, and founded a new soccer club to play in the 1993 American Professional Soccer League season. The Montreal Supra and Vancouver 86ers did meet several times in the Canadian Soccer League, and there was no notable rivalry between them at first, as Vancouver was a much more prominent team which eliminated the potential for a competitive rivalry, and there was no intra-Canadian animosity in an exclusively Canadian league. However this would change in 1992 when the Vancouver head coach Bob Lenarduzzi took the Canada men's national team job. This coincided with Supra players being dropped from the national team in favour of 86ers players who previous played under Leonarduzzi. This hatred towards Vancouver would carry over into the 1993 Montreal Impact team, as many of the former Supra players and staff would find positions within the new APSL club.

The first playoff meeting between Montreal and Vancouver happened in 2006 in the 2006 USL First Division semi-finals. After a goalless draw in the first leg in Vancouver and a goalless 90 minutes back in Montreal, former Montreal Impact player Eduardo Sebrango finally put Vancouver in the lead with 5 minutes to go in extra time. Sebrango was then sent off (second booking) a moment later for an excessive goal celebration. Despite the numerical disadvantage, Vancouver scored again in the final minute to win 2–0 on aggregate.

In 2008, Montreal and Vancouver would compete in the newly established Canadian Championship alongside Toronto FC for a place in the CONCACAF Champions League. Montreal would defeat Vancouver in both legs, and despite not being able to win a match against Toronto, were able to win the championship on total points. Both teams would also meet that season in the USL–1 playoffs. In the first leg, Vancouver's goalkeeper Jay Nolly was sent-off for a professional foul, however the Whitecaps persevered and held Montreal to a 1–0 defeat. With full strength back in Vancouver, the Whitecaps would score two first-half goals and advance to the final, where they would win their second USL playoff title.

The 2009 season was a focal point of the rivalry, including several key placing matches and controversial coaching decisions. In that year's Canadian Championship, Vancouver would win three of their four matches, including two victories over the Impact. With Vancouver leading the round-robin table by three points, and a +4 goal differential, Montreal would go on to lose their last match against Toronto by a score of 1–6, allowing Toronto FC to clinch the title. The popular theory among fans of the Vancouver Whitecaps was that Montreal had deliberately thrown the match to eliminate Vancouver. This theory wasn't entirely baseless, as the Impact, who were already mathematically eliminated, had rested key players in their final match, which also came to their advantage when Montreal utilized those fresh players in the league to defeat the Whitecaps two days later. The decision to rest those players also angered the supporters of Montreal, who believed that gaining the league advantage was not worth embarrassing themselves against their arch rivals, and was generally unsporting. The Montreal Ultras protested the coaching decision by not attending the first-half of the match against Vancouver on June 20th. Montreal and Vancouver would only place 5th and 7th in the standings, but both made deep playoff runs to meet in the final for the USL–1 championship. In the two-legged final series, Montreal would win both games in a 6–3 aggregate victory, leaving the Whitecaps trophy-less for the second time that season.

Montreal's first match in the MLS was against the Vancouver Whitecaps FC (mirroring Vancouver's first MLS match against Canadian opposition Toronto FC) in an attempt to instigate a Canadian rivalry in the MLS era. Vancouver won the match 2–0.

Since both teams joined Major League Soccer, there have been less notable league and playoff fixtures as they played in different conferences, however they would still meet several times in the Canadian Championship, including the 2013 and 2015 Canadian Championship Finals.

On 1 April 2023, Vancouver defeated Montreal by a score of 5–0 in the Major League Soccer regular season, which broke the record for the largest margin of victory between the two sides. Later that season, Vancouver and Montreal would also contest the 2023 Canadian Championship final, with Vancouver winning by a score of 2–1.

APSL/USL era

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 * style="background-color:#FBCEB1"|Voyageurs Cup Match
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MLS/NASL split
In 2011, the Vancouver Whitecaps joined Major League Soccer while the Montreal Impact joined the newly created North American Soccer League. Because of this, they only met in that year's Canadian Championship semi-finals.

MLS era
In 2012, the Montreal Impact became an MLS team where they would once again meet the Vancouver Whitecaps in league fixtures.

All time results
As of July 6, 2024