# 2023 Challenge Trophy

The 2023 Challenge Trophy (French: Trophée Challenge 2023, part of the Toyota National Championships for sponsorship reasons) was the 99th edition of the Challenge Trophy, an annual cup competition contested by amateur teams in men's Canadian soccer. Ten teams participated in the tournament, which took place in Halifax, Nova Scotia from 4–9 October 2023.
The West Ottawa Warriors won the Challenge Trophy on their debut, defeating host team Western Halifax FC 1–0 in the final.

## Teams

Teams were seeded on the basis of their Provincial/Territorial Associations team's final standing in the previous year's championship.
| Group A | Group B |
| Ontario | Alberta |
| British Columbia | Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Manitoba | Nova Scotia A |
| Quebec | Prince Edward Island |
| New Brunswick | Nova Scotia B |

### Teams

Each of Canada Soccer's thirteen provincial and territorial associations can send one representative to the Challenge Trophy, with teams generally qualifying through a regional preliminary series such as an open cup or league competition.
For the 2023 tournament, nine provincial associations confirmed their participation, with Nova Scotia fielding two teams as the host.
| Province | Team | Qualified as | Previous appearances in tournament | Previous best performance | Ref. |
| British Columbia | Surrey BB5 United | BC Soccer Adult A Cup winners | 2 (2019, 2022) | Champions (2019) | |
| Alberta | Edmonton Scottish | Alberta Soccer Challenge Cup winners | 11 (1972, 1979, 1987, 1992, 1996, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019) | Champions (2016) | |
| Manitoba | FC Winnipeg Lions | Manitoba Soccer Provincial Championship winners | 11 (1996, 1998, 2002, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) | Champions (2002) | |
| Ontario | West Ottawa Warriors | MilkUP Ontario Cup winners | 0 (debut) | — | |
| Quebec | Rapides de Chaudière-Ouest | LSEQ league winners | 1 (2022) | Eighth place (2022) | |
| New Brunswick | Fredericton Picaroons Reds | NBPSL Challenge Cup Final winners | 9 (2007, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019) | Sixth place (2007, 2019) | |
| Nova Scotia | Suburban FC of Fall River | Soccer Nova Scotia AAA Cup winners | 1 (2011) | Fifth place (2011) | |
| Nova Scotia | Western Halifax FC | Soccer Nova Scotia AAA Cup runners-up | 2 (2016, 2017) | Champions (2017) | |
| Newfoundland and Labrador | Feildians AA of St. John's | Newfoundland and Labrador Challenge Cup winners | 2 (1969, 2008) | Third place (1969) | |
| Prince Edward Island | Winsloe-Charlottetown Royals | PEI winners by acclamation as the only PEI team in the NB Premier League | 1 (2022) | Seventh place (2022) | — |
    $^1$ Bold indicates champion for that year.
    $^2$ Competed in previous tournaments as Central City Breakers FC.
    $^3$ Competed in previous tournaments as Winnipeg Sons of Italy.

## Venues

Matches took place at three different venues within the Halifax Regional Municipality.
| Bedford | Dartmouth | Halifax |
| Bedford-Hammond Plains | Harbour East Field | Mainland Common Field |
| Capacity: 400 | Capacity: 400 | Capacity: 400 |
| 3km 2miles |||

## Group stage

Competing teams were divided into two groups of five teams, playing against one another in a single round-robin and advancing to the final round based on their group positioning.
The preliminary schedule was released by Canada Soccer in August 2023 without locations or kick-off times, which were later confirmed on 15 September. Teams were given bye days based on the pot they were drawn from, with pot 1 teams receiving byes on the 5th day of the group stage, pot 2 teams receiving byes on the 4th day of the group stage, etc.
* Tie-breaking criteria for group play
* The following criteria shall be used to determine the final standings:
* Most points in all group matches;
* If two (2) teams are tied in points in all group matches:
* Greater number of points in matches between the teams concerned (head to head competition);
* Greater goal difference in all group matches;
* Greater number of goals scored in all group matches;
* Kicks from the penalty mark as per the Laws of the Game, at a time and place decided by the Canada Soccer General Coordinator.
* If three (3) or more teams are tied in points in all group matches, the following are the only criteria to break the tie:
* Greater goal difference in matches between the teams concerned (head to head competition);
* Greater number of goals scored in all matches between the teams concerned;
* Greater goal difference in all group matches;
* Greater number of goals scored in all group matches;
* Drawing of lots to determine ranking at a time and place decided by the Match Commissioner.

### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | | |
| 1 | West Ottawa Warriors | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 4 | +8 | 9 | Advance to first place match | — | 2–1 | 1–0 | 1–3 | 8–0 |
| 2 | Rapides de Chaudière-Ouest | 4 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 9 | Advance to third place match | — | — | — | — | 6–1 |
| 3 | Surrey BB5 United | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 5 | +4 | 6 | Advance to fifth place match | — | 1–2 | — | 2–1 | 6–1 |
| 4 | FC Winnipeg Lions | 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 10 | 4 | +6 | 6 | Advance to seventh place match | — | 0–1 | — | — | 6–0 |
| 5 | Fredericton Picaroons Reds | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 26 | −24 | 0 | Advance to ninth place match | — | — | — | — | — |
* 1 2 Advance to first place match on criteria 2.1 with 2–1 win over Rapides de Chaudière-Ouest (head to head competition)
* 1 2 Advance to fifth place match on criteria 2.1 with 2–1 win over FC Winnipeg Lions (head to head competition)

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | | | | | |
| 1 | Western Halifax FC (H) | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | +5 | 10 | Advance to first place match | — | — | — | — | — |
| 2 | Suburban FC of Fall River (H) | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | +1 | 7 | Advance to third place match | 0–1 | — | — | — | 2–1 |
| 3 | Edmonton Scottish | 4 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 7 | Advance to fifth place match | 0–0 | 0–1 | — | 2–1 | 3–1 |
| 4 | Feildians AA of St. John's | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 6 | −2 | 4 | Advance to seventh place match | 1–3 | 0–0 | — | — | 2–1 |
| 5 | Winsloe-Charlottetown Royals | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 3 | 9 | −6 | 0 | Advance to ninth place match | 0–2 | — | — | — | — |
* 1 2 Advance to third place match on criteria 2.1 with 0–1 win over Edmonton Scottish (head to head competition)

## Final round

The final round (known as Teck Finals Day for sponsorship reasons) paired equally-ranked opponents from opposite groups to determine a final ranking for the tournament.

## Statistics
### Classification

Per statistical convention in football, matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws.
| Pos | Grp | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Final position |
| 1 | A | West Ottawa Warriors | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 13 | 4 | +9 | 12 | Champions |
| 2 | B | Western Halifax FC (H) | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 10 | Runners-up |
| 3 | A | Rapides de Chaudière-Ouest | 5 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 12 | 5 | +7 | 12 | Third place |
| 4 | B | Suburban FC of Fall River (H) | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 4 | 0 | 7 | |
| 5 | A | Surrey BB5 United | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 7 | +5 | 9 | |
| 6 | B | Edmonton Scottish | 5 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 7 | 6 | +1 | 7 | |
| 7 | A | FC Winnipeg Lions | 5 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 17 | 6 | +11 | 9 | |
| 8 | B | Feildians AA of St. John's | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 13 | −7 | 4 | |
| 9 | B | Winsloe-Charlottetown Royals | 5 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 9 | 11 | −2 | 3 | |
| 10 | A | Fredericton Picaroons Reds | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 32 | −28 | 0 | |

### Goalscorers

There were 90 goals scored in 25 matches, for an average of 3.6 goals per match.
4 goals
* Farivar Torabi
* Montassar Trimech
3 goals
* Emmanuel Dolo
* Malek Belhaj
* Jacob Tweel
* Wassim Chaouki
2 goals
* Almir Gazic
* Conor MacDonald
* Connor MacMillan
* Nicolas Morello
* Caelan Budhoo
* Matheus dos Anjos Aquino
* Aaron Hidalgo-Mazzei
* Stuart Hodges
* Michael Bastianelli
* Matias Markus
* Cohen Reddick-Stevens
* Jeremy Morin
* Julien Roy-Madore
1 goal
* Stefan Gajic
* Morgan Graham
* Dexter MacLachlan
* Yigal Bruk
* Marcel de Jong
* Yassin Essa
* Elie Gindo
* Hugo Figueiredo
* Balex Kabamba
* Nicolas Nadeau
* Elliott Peddle
* Shreyansh Choudhary
* David Itoafa
* Benjamin Law
* Kenneth Morrison
* Taj Exley
* Nicholas Jones
* Alexandre Nunes
* Ian Greedy
* Moe Jaber
* Ignacio Sanchez
* William Warren
* Isaac Geyer
* Joseph Iatrou
* Shawn Kodejs
* Jared Ndopedro
* Benjamin Thompson
* Ricky Comba
* Braden Curkovic
* Javane Henry
* Owen McKee
* Marco Natoli
* Zach El-Shafei
* Charlie Hunter
* Max Maund
* Sam Smiley
* Andrew Stewart
* Francis Assouyat
* Bastien Aussems
* Christophe Lamontagne
* Gabriel Levasseur
1 own goal
* Benjamin Law (against FC Winnipeg Lions)
* Balex Kabamba (against Rapides de Chaudière-Ouest)
* Laclan MacEachern (against Western Halifax FC)