Cavalry chasing history as unprecedented CPL double comes into view

But it’s not the focus of Cavalry FC at the moment, even after his team punched its ticket to the Canadian Premier League post-season Sunday.

“Yeah … for us, it’s not really about the playoffs right now,” confirmed Cavalry’s superstar defender and goal-getter in Sunday’s 1-0 knock-off of host Pacific FC.

“We do want to win that regular-season shield first before we focus on anything else,” Klomp told reporters after the victory over its CPL rival. “So it’s nice that we’ve got into the playoffs already, but now the focus is on the next match and getting three points again.”

Truly, though, the goal from the first kick of the footie campaign is a capture of both championships — regular season and playoffs.

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And Cavalry looks to be in superfine form to pull that off in 2026. No CPL club has completed the double.

Through seven finished seasons, the CPL Shield winner as regular-season victors has never gone on to capture the North Star Cup as playoff champion.

Forge FC had the latest opportunity in 2025 after winning the Shield, but Atlético Ottawa took the playoff crown.

The previous year, Forge finished first before Cavalry beat the Hamilton club in the CPL Final.

In 2023, the roles were reversed: Cavalry won the Shield before Forge eliminated the Calgary side to claim post-season championship.

Cavalry now has another shot at the piece of league history that has remained out of everyone’s reach.

Sunday’s victory at B.C.’s Starlight Stadium improved the Cavs to 15-2-4 and 49 points. They lead Forge by four points with seven regular-season matches remaining and host their closest challenger Saturday at ATCO Field (3 p.m., OneSoccer, OneSoccer.ca).

That makes the meeting much more than a playoff preview. It is the biggest remaining swing game in the Shield race.