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An idea that was first discussed as a friendly tournament has expanded into something bigger - and with more meaning - that will open May 27 and conclude July 22.

When representatives of the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Montreal Impact of the United Soccer Leagues and Toronto FC of Major League Soccer met last October to discuss co-operating on developing soccer in Canada, one topic was a friendly tournament. Now that the CONCACAF Champions League involving 24 clubs has replaced the eight-team CONCACAF Champions' Cup, the Canadian representative will be determined by the tournament involving Vancouver, Montreal and Toronto.

Each team will play the other in a home-and-away format. The first game, on May 27, will pit Toronto FC against the Montreal Impact at the new Stade Saputo in Montreal. The final game will be Montreal's visit to BMO Field in Toronto on July 22.

Vancouver will be at Toronto on July 1, and TFC will visit Swangard Stadium in Burnaby, B.C., on July 9. Vancouver will visit Montreal on June 17 with the return game on June 25.

Details for ticket sales will be announced.

The Canadian Soccer Association announced the details yesterday at BMO Field.

"All three clubs have achieved great things in their respective local markets," Impact president Joey Saputo said. "But this is a unique opportunity to further promote the game of soccer throughout the country."

Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi called it "a huge step in the evolution of professional soccer in Canada."

Lenarduzzi said the tournament provides a focus for soccer "that we've never, ever had in this country. I also love the fact that the three clubs and the CSA are sitting at the same table and we're all in agreement at least with this very first step."

The winner of the Canada Cup will go on to the preliminary round of the CONCACAF Champions League, which will involve 16 of the 24 teams in the competition.

The winners of the preliminary round will join the eight seeded teams in the group stage. The round-robin group matches will be played from Sept. 16 to Oct. 30.

The quarter-finals will be in February of 2009 with the semi-finals in March and the final in April.

The winner will represent CONCACAF at the FIFA World Club Championship in Japan and compete for the first prize of $5-million (U.S.).

A tournament was just one of the ideas discussed by the three Canadian clubs to improve the game in this country.

"This is probably one of many steps," said Tom Anselmi, executive vice-president and chief operating officer of Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment. "This was an opportunity we started working on long before CONCACAF awarded the slot to Canada. It was going to be a friendly. Now that it is applied to something that's meaningful, it's going to be that much better."

The CONCACAF Champions League will have four clubs each from Mexico and the United States, two each from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama, one club from Canada, Belize and Nicaragua and three clubs from Caribbean islands.

Vancouver and Montreal have both been trying to join Toronto in MLS by obtaining expansion franchises, but so far have failed to do so.

Toronto FC will open its MLS season Saturday against the Crew in Columbus, Ohio.

The Impact and Whitecaps will open their seasons in Vancouver on April 12.

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