CONCACAF has informed the Ottawa Fury that the confederation will not sanction the team for play in the USL Championship for the 2019 season.



The ruling, which was communicated on Wednesday morning, came as a surprise to the Fury. The club had been approved in November by the Canadian Soccer Association (CSA) to play across the border in the American second-division league. Ottawa opted to remain in the USL in 2019 instead of signing on for the inaugural season of the newly-formed Canadian Premier League.



CONCACAF originally notified the CSA of its decision, and the national association relayed it to the Fury. A letter from CSA president Steven Reed to Ottawa stated that CONCACAF was taking the position because the Canadian Premier League is set to play in 2019, and so Ottawa no longer qualified as an “exceptional circumstance” to play in a cross-border league. According to FIFA Article 73, “Associations, leagues or clubs that are affiliated to a...