It was first held in 2011 following Canada Soccer's decision to replace the round-robin format with a knockout competition to reduce fixture congestion for the participating teams.

It was decided in 2011 that the competition would be reformatted to have a two-legged semifinal round, of which the winners would then face each other in a single match final hosted by the higher seeded team.

[citation needed] Before the beginning of the competition, this format was slightly amended once more so that the final would also be played over two legs.

[4] In 2024, Canada Soccer brought back the usage of two-legged ties for the quarter-final and semi-final rounds, but the final remained as a single match.

Despite playing in five semi-finals, FC Edmonton were never able to reach the finals during their eleven seasons of professional soccer.