It was a cruel twist of fate for the Canadian Premier League. In 2025, the first year that the league produced a genuine marketing campaign for the run-in, there was virtually no competition in the playoff race. The point discrepancies were large, but there’s a positive in those mismatches: the CPL’s top five are the elite, making the playoffs quite intriguing.
Forge is on the strive for five championships. Atlético Ottawa and their historically-good offense would love to play spoiler. Cavalry FC can win back-to-back North Star Cups. The Halifax Wanderers and York United, clubs with little playoff success, are aiming for deep runs, even if they have to run the gauntlet out of the midweek wild card match.
A reminder of the CPL playoff structure, which is akin to the page format used in curling: Halifax will host York on Wednesday, with the winner advancing to Sunday’s quarterfinal at Cavalry’s Spruce Meadows. That same day, Forge welcomes Ottawa in the Championship semi-final. The winner of that match gets a bye week and hosts the November 8 final, while the loser plays the winner of the quarterfinal.
Even if the regular season left something to be desired, the playoffs are bound to be electric.
Courtesy: Michael Chisholm/Canadian Premier League
York United
York’s first season under Mauro Eustáquio has been a journey. They started the year by relinquishing leads and valuable points almost every week. The Nine Stripes managed to turn that scoring in dominance by the summer, but during the run-in, York is now the team conceding early and increasingly often. York can, without a doubt play fluid, entertaining football and isn’t afraid to use the dark arts here and there. Whether that can translate to wins is another question.
The pieces are in place for York to succeed: Adonijah Reid and Massimo formed a strong partnership in the final third. Marquee midseason signing Leonel López was a bastion of quality and elevated Steffen Yeates and Kembo Kibato’s play without overshadowing them. Diego Urtiaga has developed quite well in his first season in Canada. The backline is coping decently without henchman Oswaldo León, who was handed a gigantic suspension.
It’s also not ideal that neither Julian Altobelli nor Shaan Hundal are in peak form, leaving York without a reliable striker. Eustáquio and Co. are more than happy to play spoiler, but going to Wanderers Grounds, where they haven’t played spectacularly this year, makes their chances slim.
Biggest strength: Difference makers on the bench like Gabriel Bitar and Shola Jimoh
Biggest weakness: Set-pieces
X-factor: Frank Sturing, the dual-threat centre-back who now leads the backline
Courtesy: Trevor MacMillan/HFX Wanderers FC
Halifax Wanderers
On their day, Halifax is immensely exciting. The Wanderers, though, can also be mightily frustrating. That’s led to a topsy-turvy season in which Halifax has been competitive, week-in and week-out, but maybe should have hit higher heights.
The Wanderers boast some of the CPL’s best in key areas — Tiago Coimbra has finally broken out with 12 goals, Sean Rea is a threat to unwind any defence, and Rayane Yesli literally and figuratively stands tall between the sticks — but everyone performing at the same clip at the same time has been rare. Their 4-0 destruction of York on Labour Day might be the only match in 2025 where everything went right. Coimbra has been up-and-down and certainly boosted his goal total by going crazy versus non-playoff sides. (Half of his goals were against Valour.) The truly reliable pieces lie in midfield, where Lorenzo Callegari and Isaiah Johnston have been excellent, the latter often teaming up with Rea to loosen his load.
Thomas Meilleur-Giguère’s playoff experience is invaluable as the Wanderers’ core hasn’t gone on deep runs like the 2021 and ’23 Pacific teams Meilleur-Giguère was on. This is only the second playoff berth of the Patrice Gheisar era, and victory on Wednesday would be the biggest W of his tenure.
Biggest strength: Midfield
Biggest weakness: Wings, where neither Yohann Baï or Jason Bahamboula have excelled
X-factor: The backline not folding late
Courtesy: Tony Lewis/Cavalry FC Media
Cavalry FC
Cavalry’s CPL championship defence wasn’t nearly as dominant as Tommy Wheeldon Jr. would have hoped for. Maybe it was simply that the Cavs had a target on the backs, but they did regress a bit in 2025. A revolving door of injuries and players heading away for international duty didn’t help, either.
Still, the Cavs put together a solid season. Despite reigning Golden Boot winner Tobias Warschewski struggling, Ali Musse and Sergio Camargo picked up the slack. The summer returns of Goteh Ntignee and Daan Klomp lifted the club back to familiar heights. Wheeldon Jr.’s coaxing of his alumni to return and go after a trophy together could very well get a storybook ending if Cavalry is dealt the right cards.
Shamit Shome’s sheer excellence has boosted the midfield to new levels, and Cavalry need to use that to their advantage. The Cavs’ difficulty breaking down low blocks has plagued them, and they have also bled goals more than ever. Shome and Niko Myroniuk, Max Piepgrass, Diego Gutierrez offer the remedy. If they can’t, the playoff demons Cavalry extinguished last season could return.
Biggest strength: Midfield
Biggest weakness: There isn’t a bona fide centre-back partner to Daan Klomp
X-factor: Marco Carducci, who has always stood on his head in net come playoff time
Atlético Ottawa
Courtesy: Phil Lavrière/Atlético Ottawa
Under Diego Mejía, Ottawa entered 2025 as a big question mark. Crucial components of the side that reached the 2023 semifinal left, and the group was decidedly more unknown. Mejía brought fellow Mexican talents Juan Castro and David Rodríguez with him, yet they were unknowns in the CPL. Now, Mejía is surely cackling in his office at his genius. Ottawa scored more goals in a single season than any team in CPL history, boosted by Sam Salter’s record 19 and Rodríguez’s sensational form, notching 18 goal contributions.
The twist was defensive general Amer Didic’s season-ending injury in May, but a backline made up of three U21 players kept the ship floating. Noah Abatneh, Sergei Kozlovskiy, and Loïc Cloutier played well behind their years every week. It’s a rare feat that a club places at the top end of the standings and U21 minutes leader, but Ottawa have done it.
Mejía is the latest in a braggadocious line of Ottleti managers who aren’t shy to gas their team up. He’s stated that Ottawa is the outright best team in the CPL this year. It’s time to prove he can walk it like he talks it.
Biggest strength: Attack
Biggest weakness: Fullbacks
X-factor: Ballou Tabla, who is either perfect in front of goal or leaves a lot to be desired
Forge FC
Courtesy: Jojo Yanjiao Qian/Forge FC
Bar Salter and Ottawa’s scoring, Forge has been the team rewriting the CPL history books in 2025. An unheard of 20 game undefeated streak in the league (24 in all competitions) was the talk of the town for months. While Forge weren’t invincible, in fact stumbling in late August and through September, they collected themselves for a second straight CPL Shield triumph.
Skipper Kyle Bekker demanded that no player touch the silverware last Saturday. He, like every player affirmed in post-match interviews, made it known that this is not where Forge’s story stops. They want to be the first CPL team to ever win a domestic double. That everything clicked on Saturday was encouraging. David Choinière was his old self, Tristan Borges was unstoppable, Brian Wright scored a brace… the most formidable parts of this team were cutting their teeth for the playoffs.
Forge doesn’t really have flaws. They’re spotless, or perhaps as close as can be. The North Star Cup is theirs to lose, and runs through Hamilton, where Forge hasn’t lost since February.
Biggest strength: Top-to-bottom exceptional players
Biggest weakness: Occasional missteps in front of goal
X-factor: Brian Wright
