Whatever happens in this year’s Canadian Championship, Toronto FC will remain in with a chance of playing in the CONCACAF Champions League next season. Their Voyageurs Cup win last season coupled with the continental competition’s reformatting, which created a lost year, means the Reds will contest a play-off match for a place among North and Central America’s top clubs in 2018 even if they do not successfully defend the trophy they currently hold.
If they are crowned Canadian champions again, that play-off match will be redundant and Toronto will take their place in the Champions League as expected.