Professional football in Canada
Only one professional football league has a permanent presence in Canada: the Canadian Football League (CFL), an organization founded in 1958 to accommodate the ongoing trend of professionalism in the Canadian football ranks since the 1940s. The CFL, like most amateur Canadian football leagues, plays on a larger field using a rulebook with several significant rule differences compared to the game as it is played in the United States. The league is composed of two divisions and nine teams in most of the largest Canadian markets, with at least one team in each province between British Columbia (BC Lions) and Quebec (Montreal Alouettes) inclusive. The only presence in Atlantic Canada is a semi-regular series of games in Moncton (Touchdown Atlantic) and a smattering of earlier preseason contests. The CFL operates a two-week preseason beginning in June, an 18-game season from July to October, and a six-team playoff tournament, culminating in the Grey Cup on the fourth weekend of November.
Soccer in Canada
Soccer in Canada is the most popular sport in terms of participation rate. According to FIFA's Big Count, 2,695,712 people played in Canada in 2006. Professional soccer in Canada is played in Major League Soccer, the United Soccer League, and the Canadian Premier League. Canada also has many semi-professional and amateur soccer leagues. Canada's men's and women's national soccer teams are ranked 79th and 5th respectively in the FIFA World Rankings, as of September 3, 2018.