Atlético Ottawa is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays its home games at TD Place.[2] The team was founded in 2020 by Spanish club Atlético Madrid.

Atlético Ottawa
Full nameAtlético Ottawa
Nickname(s)Ottleti[1]
FoundedJanuary 29, 2020; 4 years ago (2020-01-29)
StadiumTD Place, Ottawa
Capacity24,000
OwnerAtlético Madrid
CEOFernando Lopez
PresidentJeff Hunt
CoachCarlos González
LeagueCanadian Premier League
2023Regular season, 6th
Playoffs, did not qualify
Websitehttps://atleticoottawa.canpl.ca/
Current season

History

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From 2014 to 2019, Ottawa Fury FC competed in American-based soccer leagues, most recently the USL Championship.[3] The Fury dissolved after the 2019 season due to sanctioning issues associated with competing in the United States with the emergence of the domestic Canadian Premier League.[4] This left Ottawa without a professional soccer team heading into the 2020 season.

 
Moments after kick-off at Atlético Ottawa's first home game on August 14, 2021

On January 29, 2020, it was announced that Ottawa had been awarded the Canadian Premier League's first expansion team to be owned by Spanish club Atlético Madrid with Ottawa businessman Jeff Hunt as a strategic partner.[5] The club debuted in the 2020 Canadian Premier League season under the name Atlético Ottawa.[6][7]

The club's identity, including name, crest, and colours, was unveiled on February 11, 2020.[7][8] The day was proclaimed "Atlético Ottawa Day" by Ottawa mayor Jim Watson.[9] Mista was announced as the first head coach and general manager of the club.[7]

As of their inaugural season, Atlético Ottawa home and away games are broadcast on OneSoccer, and on TSN1200 in radio format.

After playing the 2020 season and start of the 2021 season at neutral-site venues due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Atlético Ottawa made their home debut on August 14, 2021. Over 12,000 spectators were in attendance as Ottawa defeated the HFX Wanderers 2–1.[10]

Following a 3–1 victory over Cavalry FC on September 24, 2022, Atlético Ottawa qualified for the Canadian Premier League playoffs for the first time.[11] On October 8, 2022, Atlético Ottawa clinched the 2022 CPL regular season championship.[12]

Stadium

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Atlético Ottawa play at TD Place at Lansdowne Park in the Glebe neighbourhood of Ottawa. The stadium is shared with the Ottawa Redblacks Canadian football team and formerly hosted Ottawa Fury FC and hosted nine matches from the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup.[13]

Crest and colours

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The club's identity is based upon that of its parent club, Atlético Madrid. The crest features a blue silhouette of the Peace Tower on Ottawa's Parliament Hill. Underneath are red and white stripes, evoking Atlético Madrid's crest and Canada's flag. At the base of the crest is a maple leaf. The club's alternate logo is a canoe paddle crossed by two arrows, taken from the Coat of arms of Ottawa, with the monogram "AO".[14]

Like Atlético Madrid, the club's colours are red, white, and blue (branded by the club as "federal red", "blanc d'Ottawa", and "Rideau blue").[14]

Club culture

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Supporters

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Atlético Ottawa's two main supporters groups are the Capital City Supporters Group (CCSG) and the Bytown Boys. The two groups are located in Section W of TD Place during home games and have gained a reputation for being a leading example for supporters culture in the Canadian Premier League.[15]

Some notable introductions to the gameday atmosphere from the supporters include Wally, an inflatable dinosaur that has become an adoptive mascot of the supporters section, the "Olliewood" sign on the eastern hill of TD Place, in honour of 2022 CPL Player of the Year Ollie Bassett, and wide variety of characters strewn about the supporters section in non-traditional matchday garb.[15]

The support for the club has continued to grow and manifested in a record crowd of 14,992 for the 2022 Canadian Premier League Final against Forge FC. This marked the largest paid attendance for any Atlético Ottawa match to date.[16]

Honours

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Players and staff

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Squad

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As of August 29, 2024[18]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
2 DF   CAN Zachary Roy
3 DF   ESP Jesús del Amo
4 DF   CAN Tyr Walker
5 DF   TRI Luke Singh (on loan from Toronto FC)
6 DF   ECU Liberman Torres (on loan from Villarreal)
7 FW   POR Kévin dos Santos
8 DF   ESP Dani Morer (on loan from Famalicão)
9 FW   CAN Samuel Salter
10 MF   NIR Ollie Bassett
11 MF   BRA Gabriel Antinoro
13 FW   CAN Ballou Tabla
15 DF   CAN Maxim Tissot
No. Pos. Nation Player
18 MF   CAN Luca Piccioli
19 FW   SUI Rubén del Campo
21 MF   ESP Alberto Zapater
22 MF   CAN Matteo de Brienne
23 MF   CAN Kris Twardek
29 GK   CAN Nathan Ingham
33 MF   MLI Aboubacar Sissoko
34 MF   CAN Manny Aparicio
55 DF   CAN Amer Didić
96 MF   GRE Ilias Iliadis
99 GK   ALG Rayane Yesli
DF   GUY Jonathan Grant

Out on loan

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Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player
11 MF   CAN Noah Verhoeven (at Valour FC for 2024 season)

Staff

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As of April 12, 2023[19][20][21][22]
Executive
CEO   Fernando Lopez
President   Jeff Hunt
Senior director, soccer operations / match director   Carrie McKay
Director, soccer operations   JD Ulanowski
Coaching staff
Head coach   Carlos González
Assistant coach / physical preparation lead   David Galán
Assistant coach   Kwesi Loney
Goalkeeping coach   Borja Montero
Team manager   Drew Beckie

Head coaches

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As of May 11, 2024
Coach Nation Tenure Record
G W D L Win %
Mista   Spain February 11, 2020 – December 28, 2021[23] 36 8 10 18 022.22
Carlos González   Spain February 24, 2022[21] – present 68 29 19 20 042.65

Club captains

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Years Name Nation
2020 Ben Fisk   Canada
2021 Milovan Kapor   Canada
2021–2022 Drew Beckie   Canada
2023 Carl Haworth[24]   Canada
2024 Maxim Tissot   Canada

Records

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Year-by-year

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Season League Playoffs CC Continental Average
attendance
Top goalscorer(s)
Div League Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts PPG Pos. Name Goals
2020a 1 CPL 7 2 2 3 7 12 −5 8 1.14 7th DNQ DNQ Ineligible N/A   Francisco Acuña
  Malcolm Shaw
2
2021 CPL 28 6 8 14 30 47 −17 26 0.93 8th DNQ PR DNQ 3,618   Malcolm Shaw 10
2022 CPL 28 13 10 5 36 29 7 49 1.78 1st RU PR DNQ 4,069   Ollie Bassett 8
2023 CPL 28 10 6 12 38 34 4 36 1.29 6th DNQ QF N/A 4,959   Ollie Bassett 12
2024 CPL 28 11 11 6 42 31 11 44 1.57 3rd TBD QF DNQ 5,478   Rubén Del Campo 14

1. Average attendance include statistics from league matches only.
2. Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in league season, league playoffs, Canadian Championship, CONCACAF League, and other competitive continental matches.
a: Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the season was held exclusively in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, without fans formatted as a double round robin season with a single match final[25]

Most appearances

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As of October 27, 2024
# Name Nation Career at club Games played
CPL Cup Int'l Total
1 Ollie Bassett   Northern Ireland 2022– 85 6 0 91
2 Miguel Acosta   Spain 2021–2023 81 4 0 85
3 Malcolm Shaw   Trinidad and Tobago 2020–2023 80 3 0 83
4 Nathan Ingham   Canada 2022– 71 2 0 73
5 Zach Verhoven   Canada 2021–2023 62 3 0 65
6 Ballou Tabla   Canada 2022, 2024– 59 4 0 63
7 Maxim Tissot   Canada 2022– 57 5 0 62
8 Samuel Salter   Canada 2023– 56 5 0 61
9 Ben McKendry   Canada 2020–2022 59 1 0 60
10 Brian Wright   Canada 2021–2022 51 2 0 53

Note: Bold indicates active player

Most goals

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As of October 27, 2024
# Name Nation Career at club Goals scored
CPL Cup Int'l Total
1 Ollie Bassett   Northern Ireland 2022– 23 3 0 26
2 Malcolm Shaw   Trinidad and Tobago 2020–2023 17 2 0 19
3 Brian Wright   Canada 2021–2022 13 1 0 14
Rubén Del Campo   Switzerland 2023– 12 2 0 14
5 Sam Salter   Canada 2023– 12 1 0 13
6 Ballou Tabla   Canada 2022, 2024– 9 1 0 10
7 Zach Verhoven   Canada 2021–2023 7 0 0 7
8 Maxim Tissot   Canada 2022– 5 1 0 6
9 Alberto Zapater   Spain 2023– 3 2 0 5
Manny Aparicio   Canada 2024– 5 0 0 5

Note: Bold indicates active player

Most assists

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As of September 22, 2024
# Name Nation Career at club Assists
CPL Cup Int'l Total
1 Ollie Bassett   Northern Ireland 2022– 10 0 0 10
2 Zach Verhoven   Canada 2021–2023 9 0 0 9
Carl Haworth   Canada 2022–2023 8 1 0 9
Ballou Tabla   Canada 2022, 2024– 8 1 0 9
5 Dani Morer   Spain 2024– 6 1 0 7
6 Miguel Acosta   Spain 2021–2023 6 0 0 6
7 Malcolm Shaw   Trinidad and Tobago 2020–2023 4 0 0 4
Jean-Aniel Assi   Canada 2023 3 1 0 4
Maxim Tissot   Canada 2022– 3 1 0 4
Rubén Del Campo   Switzerland 2023– 4 0 0 4

Note: Bold indicates active player

Note: 4 others tied on 3

References

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  1. ^ Bedakian, Armen (February 11, 2020). "'Main challenge is time': Atlético Ottawa firing on all cylinders ahead of 2020 kick-off". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on May 29, 2022. Retrieved February 12, 2020.
  2. ^ "Canadian Premier League awards 1st Expansion Team to Ottawa". Canadian Premier League. January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  3. ^ Vlasveld, Mike (January 29, 2020). "Ottawa getting pro soccer back, this time in Canadian Premier League". OttawaMatters. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  4. ^ Mazur, Alexandra (November 8, 2019). "Ottawa Fury FC forced to suspend operations over league 'politics', says president". Global News. Archived from the original on December 9, 2019. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  5. ^ "CPL awards expansion team to Ottawa for 2020 season". Sportsnet. Canadian Press. January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on January 29, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2020.
  6. ^ "Pro soccer returning to Ottawa this spring". CBC News. Ottawa. January 29, 2020. Archived from the original on February 1, 2020. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
  7. ^ a b c Woods, Michael (February 11, 2020). "Ottawa's new soccer team is called Atletico Ottawa". CTV News. Ottawa. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2020. The city's newest sports franchise is called Atletico Ottawa, it was announced Tuesday ... The club also announced its first head coach and general manager: Mista,
  8. ^ Molinaro, John (February 11, 2020). "CPL officially unveils Atlético Ottawa, as pro soccer returns to nation's capital". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on February 16, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  9. ^ Watson, Jim (February 11, 2020). "Pleased to proclaim 'Atletico Ottawa Day' ahead of a big announcement at noon! @CPLsoccer @atletienglish @TD_Place". Twitter. Archived from the original on February 12, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  10. ^ The Canadian Press (August 14, 2021). "Atlético Ottawa defeats HFX Wanderers with late goal in 1st-ever home game". CBC Sports. Archived from the original on June 19, 2022. Retrieved August 18, 2021.
  11. ^ CanPL.ca (September 24, 2021). "HIGHLIGHTS: Atlético Ottawa clinch playoff spot for first time in club history with win over Cavalry". CanPL.ca. Archived from the original on September 29, 2022. Retrieved September 24, 2021.
  12. ^ O'Connor-Clarke, Charlie (October 8, 2022). "Atlético Ottawa win 2022 CPL regular season title". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on November 4, 2022. Retrieved October 17, 2022.
  13. ^ "Ottawa". FIFA. Archived from the original on May 12, 2012. Retrieved July 5, 2018.
  14. ^ a b "Emblem Inspiration". Atlético Ottawa. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  15. ^ a b Gangué-Ruzic, Alexandre. "BIG READ: How supporters helped turn Atletico Ottawa's MASSIVE dreams into reality in 2022". onesoccer.ca. OneSoccer. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  16. ^ Rhodes, Benedict (December 5, 2022). "'I'm not going anywhere': Atlético Ottawa captain Drew Beckie announces retirement". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on February 1, 2023. Retrieved February 1, 2023.
  17. ^ "Atlético Ottawa win 2022 CPL regular season title". CanPL.ca. October 8, 2022. Archived from the original on November 4, 2022. Retrieved October 9, 2022.
  18. ^ "Roster". Atlético Ottawa. Archived from the original on March 1, 2022. Retrieved May 12, 2022.
  19. ^ "Atlético Ottawa CEO Fernando Lopez pens open letter to club's fans". September 27, 2020. Archived from the original on August 21, 2021. Retrieved August 21, 2021.
  20. ^ "ATLÉTICO OTTAWA: OWNERSHIP PROFILE". Atlético Ottawa. Archived from the original on February 24, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  21. ^ a b "Atlético Ottawa names Carlos González as new Head Coach". Atlético Ottawa. February 24, 2022. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved February 24, 2022.
  22. ^ "Atlético Ottawa announce Drew Beckie as Team Manager". Atlético Ottawa. December 22, 2022. Archived from the original on April 12, 2023. Retrieved April 12, 2023.
  23. ^ "Thank you from the bottom of my heart. - Mista". Atlético Ottawa. December 28, 2021. Archived from the original on October 30, 2022. Retrieved December 28, 2021.
  24. ^ "Carl Haworth named Atlético Ottawa club captain with new captain group announced". Atlético Ottawa. April 15, 2023. Archived from the original on April 19, 2023. Retrieved April 19, 2023.
  25. ^ "Canadian Premier League". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on August 12, 2020. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
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