As far as potential movie-type endings go, this weekend has the potential to be a Hollywood blockbuster for Atlético Ottawa forward Sam Salter.
Salter is coming off the single best campaign of any player in the history of the Canadian Premier League, the country’s top men’s soccer league that is in its seventh year. Salter finished the 2025 regular season by winning the Golden Boot as the CPL’s top scorer with 19 goals for the capital club. In doing so, he set a new league record for most goals in a single year.
On Friday night, he was recognized for his efforts when he was named the league’s MVP, while also taking home the Players’ Player of the Year award. The cherry on the cake could come in Sunday’s CPL Final when Atlético hosts defending league champions Cavalry FC of Calgary at TD Place Stadium, where Salter and his teammates are undefeated in their previous 22 matches in all competitions.
“It would mean a whole lot, winning it in front of our fans. The work we’ve put in this year – we have a special, special group. And it would be so special if we won, and it would mean a whole lot to the fans that supported us every day this year at every home game, every away game,” Salter told Sportsnet.
Win or lose, Sunday will mark Salter’s final match in the nation’s capital. Scheduled to be out of contract at the end of this year, he signed a pre-contract last month with GAIS, one of the top teams in Sweden’s first division. Salter will join the Gothenburg-based club in January on a four-year deal, reuniting with former Atlético teammate Matteo de Brienne.
Bigger challenges await Salter, who has long had ambitions of playing club soccer in Europe. But he’s not thinking about his pending move to Sweden at the moment. First things first: winning Sunday’s championship and hoisting the North Star Cup trophy.
“I don’t look at the personal stuff [the move to Sweden]. I think a lot of it is just for headlines or the media that like to talk about certain things. I try not to be distracted by all of the noise outside and just focus on myself and what I can bring to the team,” Salter said.
He added: “Ottawa was my home away from home. I’ve come to love Ottawa a lot. The past three years have been, for me, the best in my life. I love this place; I’ve been really happy to spend these three years here playing for Atlético. And the best way to finish would be to lift a trophy for the fans on Sunday.”
Ottawa has been in the position once before, squandering the chance to win the league championship at home when it lost to Hamilton’s Forge FC in the 2022 final, when Salter was still playing for the Halifax Wanderers. But Atlético is in a better position to win it this time around, having gone through that experience. It also doesn’t hurt that they had the top-ranked attack during the 2025 regular season with 54 goals and boasted the CPL’s second-best defence (28 conceded).
Central to Ottawa’s success has been Salter, a 25-year-old from Laval, Que., who enjoyed a breakout campaign this year after scoring 26 goals across his four previous CPL seasons – two with Atlético and two with Halifax.
What was different about this year that led to a significant uptick in his goal production? He credits, in part, the tactics of Diego Mejía, the club’s Mexican manager, who was hired in January and was a finalist for the league’s coach of the year award.
“The way we played this year was very offensive-minded, which allowed me to play with confidence up top. … He’s a very good manager; very, very positive. He changed a lot of things, and as far as mentality for some of the guys and for myself, too,” Salter offered.
Salter also had a stronger supporting cast around him compared to previous seasons in Ottawa, mostly thanks to the arrival of David Rodríguez, who had nine goals and eight assists in his debut CPL season. The Mexican midfielder was also a nominee for the Players’ Player of the Year honour, alongside Salter and Ottawa teammates Manny Aparicio and Balou Tabla, both of them former Canadian internationals.
“The stuff [Rodríguez] does on the pitch, there’s not a lot of guys who can do it in the league. When he’s in possession, it allows others to have more space to get on the ball. He likes to drive with the ball, take defenders on 1v1. So, it just makes the game a lot easier for me and for everyone,” Salter explained.
Standing in Atlético’s way on Sunday are Cavalry, who opened their playoff campaign with a home win over York United and then defeated Forge last week in Hamilton to book their spot in the final.
The Cavs finished third in the table during the regular season, a whopping 14 points behind second-place Atlético. Ottawa also won the season series with three wins and a draw, so it enters the match as the favourite, especially at home.
But Salter warned that the CPL champions will not be easy to overcome at TD Place Stadium.
“It’s going to be a very tough game. They’re coming off hot the last few games of the season and two playoff wins. They have a pretty solid squad: good defence, good midfield, good offensive players. Really dangerous on the counter attacks, and we have to be mindful of that. They’re fast up top. They have a lot of threats going forward,” Salter said.
“We had success against them, but that’s in the past. It was four games of the regular season. We know the playoffs are different.”
Editor’s note
John Molinaro is one of the leading soccer journalists in Canada, having covered the game for over 20 years for several media outlets, including Sportsnet, CBC Sports and Sun Media. He is currently the editor-in-chief of TFC Republic, a website dedicated to in-depth coverage of Toronto FC and Canadian soccer.
