Forced to play both away from home and outside of their home country for parts of the past two seasons, all three MLS teams based in Canada were cleared Friday to host home games in August.
The Vancouver Whitecaps, CF Montreal and Toronto FC have been cleared to follow the cross-border public health protocols first set in place July 5. All players and staff, whether they are vaccinated or not, must submit to COVID-19 testing upon arrival in Canada.
The Whitecaps, who play at Vancouver’s BC Place, play their first three August games on the road and are not scheduled to play at home until Aug. 21 against Los Angeles FC.
CF Montreal is set to play at Stade Saputo on Aug. 4 against Atlanta United, while Toronto FC is scheduled to face Nashville SC on Aug. 1 at BMO Field. Toronto has already held two matches at BMO Field in July, and Montreal hosted one at Stade Saputo.
The Whitecaps played home games at Portland to finish off the 2020 season and have been playing home contests at Real Salt Lake’s home venue this year. CF Montreal played home games at New Jersey’s Red Bull Arena last season and at Inter Miami CF’s home field this year.
Toronto FC played at East Hartford, Conn., to finish last season’s home schedule and has played at Orlando’s Exploria Stadium this season.
When play resumed last season following a pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic, all three teams remained in Canada and played against each other until moving temporarily to the United States in order to expand their schedules.
–Field Level Media