Hamilton named a founding city for Canadian pro soccer league

A new Canadian pro soccer league will feature a team from Hamilton playing in the Tim Hortons Field stadium, the Tiger-Cats' Caretaker Bob Young announced.

"Today is an historic day for soccer fans, aka footie followers, in our country," Young wrote. "Almost every Canadian has played soccer at one time or another, now we will have our own league to cheer for and for our kids to aspire to play for."

The Canadian Soccer Association voted Saturday to form a professional league, the Canadian Premier League (CPL).

The team and the league has been in the works for some time.Trademarks for the Canadian Premier League, the Hamilton Steelers and Hamilton United were all filed at the end of September.

The trademark information says the Steelers and United names include soccer competitions, games, and a host of merchandising like apparel, jerseys, and mobileapps.

And Young said soccer fans, including the fan group theBarton Street Battalion, made the idea of a team in Hamilton a reality.

"They have tirelessly drummed up interest and support locally (and nationally) for the CPL and Hamilton's future soccer club over the past 15 months," he said.

Besides Hamilton, Winnipeg was also named a founding city Saturday.

The proposed league is a Tier 1 FIFA-sanctioned league, according to apress release. There are 10 other Canadian cities interested in a CPL team, the league said.