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Atletico Madrid start Canadian team

In a further step towards the globalisation of football, Atletico Madrid have been issued a licence to launch an Ottawa-based club in the Canadian Premier League in time for the team to be included in the 2020 season starting in April. The club will play in the 24,000-capacity TD Place Stadium in the Canadian capital, formerly the home of the now-defunct Ottawa Fury Football Club.

For Atletico, it is a relatively low cost way of getting themselves better known internationally, an arena in which Real Madrid have excelled. To make the project possible, Atletico Madrid worked with Jeff Hunt, a Canadian businessman who holds stakes in the Canadian Football League's Ottawa Redblacks and in the Ontario Hockey League's Ottawa 67's.

To make way for the club, the Canadian Premier League (CPL) has been expanded from seven to eight teams. This of itself reflects the relative weakness of soccer in Canada. The great Canadian passion is, of course, ice hockey, although women's soccer has made some headway. Soccer is also popular as a participation sport.

The CPL has teams from five of Canada's ten provinces. Three teams are from Ontario, two are from Alberta and one is from out west in British Columbia. There are no teams from Quebec.

Toronto FC competes in the American based Major Soccer League.

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