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The CPL–U Sports Draft (French: Repêchage de la PLC–U Sports) is an annual event in which Canadian Premier League clubs select players from U Sports, Canada's governing body for university sports. The draft allows student-athletes to play professional soccer that year without affecting their university eligibility.^[1]

Rules and procedure

Players are eligible to be drafted if they have one or more years of U Sports eligibility remaining and have declared for the draft.^[2] Players who signed development contracts the previous year can be retained by their CPL clubs as long as they have U Sports eligibility remaining. Previously drafted players who do not sign and remain draft-eligible can re-enter the draft in subsequent years.^[3]

The previous season's league standings, including playoffs and final standings, determine the draft order. The draft previously employed a "snake draft" format with the selection order reversing after each round, however this was discontinued after the 2021 draft.^[4] Clubs have a window of time in which they must submit their pick, and failure to do so results in a pass. There is a break between each round, as well as one timeout per club.^[5]

U Sports contract

Drafted players will get an invitation to the team's preseason camp, with the opportunity to earn a U Sports contract. The U Sports contract allows players to be paid to play in the CPL in the spring and summer, before returning to their university team before August 15 for the U Sports men's soccer season.^[6] Players on U Sports contracts do not count toward their team's 23-man roster limit.^[7] Players can also sign fully professional CPL standard contracts and forego their remaining university eligibility.^[8]

Signed players can remain with their CPL club until the end of the season in early November by extending their U Sports contract. These players would be ineligible to participate in U Sports the same season as their contract but would regain eligibility the following year.^[9]

List of drafts

Draft	Season	Date	Rds	Picks	City	First selection	School	Team	Ref
2018	2019	November 12, 2018	3	21	Vancouver, British Columbia	Gabriel Bitar	Carleton	Cavalry FC	^[10]
2019	2020	November 11, 2019	2	14	Montreal, Quebec	Cory Bent	Cape Breton	HFX Wanderers	^[11]
2021	2021	January 29, 2021	2	16	Held virtually	Thomas Gardner	British Columbia	FC Edmonton	^[12]
2022	2022	January 20, 2022	2	16	Held virtually	José Cunha	Cape Breton	Atlético Ottawa	^[13]
2023	2023	December 15, 2022	2	16	Held virtually	Anthony White	Toronto	Vancouver FC	^[14]
2024	2024	December 14, 2023	2	16	Held virtually	Owen Sheppard	Cape Breton	Valour FC	^[15]
2025	2025	December 5, 2024	2	16	Held virtually	Jevontae Layne	Toronto Metropolitan University	Valour FC	^[16]