Thanks to the pandemic, the 2022 Canadian Championship will kick off a month before the final of the 2020 tournament.

Canada Soccer announced Wednesday that the 2022 edition will run May through July with 13 teams. At the same time, it said that Toronto FC and Forge FC will meet June 4 at Hamilton's Tim Hortons Field in the pandemic-delayed 2020 final.

The 2020 tournament was postponed due to COVID and then eventually whittled down to a one-off game between CPL champion Forge and Toronto, which posted the best record in a mini in-season tournament with Montreal and Vancouver when MLS resumed play in 2020 with Canadian teams playing among themselves.

Forge FC qualified for the final after winning the Island Games, the CPL's truncated 2020 season.

Canada Soccer had hoped to stage the game in the first quarter of 2021 but it never happened. Now the 2020 championship game will be finally be decided with little more than bragging rights at stake.

The draw for the 2022 tournament, meanwhile, will take place March 9.

The first round is scheduled for May 10-12 with the quarterfinals May 24-26, semifinals June 21-23, and the final on a date in July to be determined.

CPL champion Pacific FC, 2021 Canadian Championship winner CF Montreal and runner-up Toronto will receive first-round byes.

The Whitecaps, Calgary’s Cavalry FC, FC Edmonton and Winnipeg’s Valour FC will be placed in Pot 1 (West) for the draw, with the two first-round winners meeting in the quarterfinals.

Pot 2 (East) features Hamilton's Forge, York United FC, Atletico Ottawa and HFX Wanderers FC with Pot 3 (East) made up of League1 Ontario champion Guelph United FC and Quebec PLSQ winner CS Mont-Royal Outremont.

Those six teams will meet in first-round action, with the draw keeping Guelph and Mont-Royal Outremont apart in the opening round. The three winners will then meet the three bye teams in the remaining three quarterfinals.

The winner of the 2022 Canadian Championship will hoist the Voyageurs Cup and qualify to the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League, the elite club competition in North and Central America and the Caribbean. The Champions League winner advances to the FIFA Club World Cup.

Since 2008, the Canadian Championship has featured 16 different Canadian teams. Toronto FC has won the competition seven times, Montreal five times, and Vancouver Whitecaps once.