Toronto FC vs. Montreal Impact

ALL-TIME MLS REG. SEASON RECORD: Montreal Impact: 4 wins (1 away win)

Toronto FC: 6 wins (3 away wins)

4 ties ALL-TIME MLS CUP PLAYOFFS RECORD: Montreal: 2 wins (both at home)

Toronto FC: 1 wins (at home)

0 ties ALL-TIME CANADIAN CH'SHIP RECORD: Montreal: 3 wins (all at home)

Toronto FC: 9 wins (3 away wins)

4 ties

Rivalry Highlights:

The 2016 postseason spotlight is shining brightly on one of Major League Soccer’s fiercest rivalries, as the Montreal Impact duel Toronto FC in the Eastern Conference Championship, arguably the two biggest games in each club’s growing history.

Known as the 401 Derby, after the highway forms most of the route between Canada’s two biggest cities, the series between the Impact and TFC dates back to Toronto’s early days as an MLS side. It is also the latest chapter in a bigger rivalry between the two cities that has encompassed far more than just sports.

Though professional soccer teams from Toronto and Montreal have faced off regularly since 1971, the first meeting between TFC and the Impact came in 2008 in the first edition of the Canadian Championship. Toronto would score a win and a draw against their rivals from Quebec, only to see the Impact come out on top in the three-team round-robin tournament.

Despite that setback, Toronto would go on to dominate the early series between the two teams – including a memorable 6-1 win in Montreal – owing partly to the fact that TFC were already an MLS side, while the Impact were still playing in the various iterations of North America’s second division.

That all changed when the Impact were announced as an MLS expansion team starting in the 2012 season. They promptly registered their first-ever win over Toronto FC, a 2-1 result at the Olympic Stadium in April of that year, and would go on to split the season series even as Toronto once again pushed aside Montreal to win the Canadian Championship

However, Montreal would end Toronto’s dominant run in that tournament in the following year, and in stunning fashion. After Toronto took a 2-0 lead in the first leg of the semifinal, the Impact put six unanswered goals past Toronto at Stade Saputo, giving Impact fans plenty of ammunition to taunt their rivals after four years of hearing about that 6-1 loss.

Toronto have continued to hold a slight edge in the MLS regular-season series between the two teams, even into 2016, but the playoffs have been a different story so far. The two teams were pitted against each other in the Knockout Round of the 2015 postseason in a game that was played in Montreal owing to the Impact’s Decision Day win over Toronto at BMO Field.

Montreal would go on to take apart their rivals to the tune of a 3-0 scoreline, adding insult to injury after Toronto had to watch Montreal’s magical run to the final of the CONCACAF Champions League earlier that year. That means that for now, it is Montreal who can claim the upper hand in the 401 Derby, though if the matchup’s nine-year history has taught us anything, it’s that no team seems to stay on top for too long.

All-Time Matches: