We are Massive: Breaking Down Atlético Ottawa’s Record-Breaking Season
“It’s never an upset if the so-called underdog has all along considered itself the better team.” – Woody Hayes
Call it arrogance, but we’ve earned it. No team in the CPL has achieved what Atlético Ottawa has this year, and now we’re reaping the reward – hosting the CPL final. This is what happens when a team gets everything right, and Ottawa is that team – the one that made history week after week, the one that proved youth doesn’t mean inexperience, and that records are meant to be broken.
While the pundits were fawning over Forge FC and their fabled undefeated run, Atléti were silently working to deliver the best season the club has ever seen. You may counter my claims by stating the team failed to secure a spot in the Telus Canadian Championship Final and finished second in the league. However, the team has done so much more, and the stats don’t lie. This club has broken numerous club and league records, the players have been recognized and rewarded for their skills, and fans are more involved than ever. So let me break down exactly how Ottawa has delivered this season.
Exceptional Young Talent
Every team needs a strong foundation, and leading up to the season, we expected a backline of veteran players: the club taking an option on Amer Didić, signing Brett Levis, and encouraging Jonathan Grant’s return from injury, leaving our young players sprinkled in as depth. Yet ATO was dealt a curveball when Didić suffered a season-ending injury, Levis was sidelined for a large stretch, and Grant wasn’t able to regain full match fitness.
Facing the unexpected, Ottawa now had the youngest backline in the league at an average age 19 years old, including two players marking their professional debuts in the opening matches of the season. And instead of cracking under the pressure, they thrived.
Loïc Cloutier quickly grew into a composed, intelligent presence on the pitch, reading plays like a seasoned pro. Then came Sergei Kozlovskiy, ATO’s first Exceptional Young Talent signing and Canadian Men’s National Team U17 call-up, who at 16 became the second-youngest player to start for the club, missing the record by 50 days. These two were supported by Noah Abatneh, who led the league in passes with an accuracy of 95.6%, earning Defender of the Year and Best Canadian U21 nominations.
Anchoring the defenders was veteran goalkeeper and first club centurion Nathan Ingham, who collected three Goalkeeper of the Month awards and a Golden Glove nomination. Together, the backline held firm, conceding only 28 goals – the fewest in club history — and keeping 11 clean sheets, the most for the club in a single season. Ingham, alongside teammate Manuel Aparicio, also made a record-breaking 12 Team of the Week appearances. This wasn’t just defense; it was the foundation and the launchpad that allowed our attack to hit the ground running.
It also wasn’t just ATO’s young defenders proving themselves; the spark carried forward through our wings and attack, where the energy of Gabriel Antinoro and Joaquim Coulanges turned youthful potential into pure excitement. Antinoro didn’t simply rack up minutes — he owned them, logging more U21 time on his own than the entire York United squad. His efforts didn’t go unnoticed either – Gabi capped off his breakout season with a nomination for Best Canadian U21 Player, alongside Abatneh. Coulanges, meanwhile, made his mark by scoring off the bench in his second professional game.
By season’s end, ATO had more U21 minutes than York, Forge, and Halifax combined, and averaged 150% more U21 minutes than the other clubs. That’s not luck – that’s a club living its philosophy of developing young talent while setting a new club record of 8,575 minutes and surpassing the 2,000-minute threshold in a record eight matches.
Attacking Masterclass
With such a strong back core, our attacking players had the freedom to push the limits - and they did, smashing records in a campaign that redefined what great football looks like in the CPL. Atlético didn’t just score goals; they flooded the net, setting a new CPL regular-season record of 56 goals.
At the heart of it all was Player of the Year nominee Sam Salter, rewriting the record book himself with 19 goals in regular play and 24 across all competitions, earning him the CPL Golden Boot. Helping him reach that honour was his four-goal masterclass against Valour FC, the most by a player in a single game, later matched by York FC’s Shaan Hundal. He is also, as of writing, the outright all-time CPL top goal scorer with 46 marks in five seasons, three of which came with ATO.
However, Salter wasn’t carrying the load alone. The trio of Salter, David Rodríguez, and Ballou Tabla combined for more regular-season goals than Pacific FC, Valour FC, and Vancouver FC managed as entire teams. Player of the Year nominee Rodríguez was the creative engine, tying the CPL’s regular-season assist record with nine, while Tabla worked magic in the final third and moonlight as Atléti penalty wizard. Together, they marked 48 goals and 21 assists across all competitions.
Their skills weren’t unnoticed either; each player earned Player of the Week honours. Further, along with teammate Manu Aparicio (one goal and six assists himself), they claimed four of the league’s seven Player of the Month awards and were each nominated for Player’s Player of the Year. ATO’s attacking prowess wasn’t just prolific, it was historic.
A Club United
I’ve outlined the brilliance of the individual player performances, but now it’s time to discuss the sum of the parts. Atlético Ottawa dominated the Team of the Week, with fourteen players recognized in 64 appearances (13 more than the runner-up and another league record) and four of the top five league-wide Team of the Week features belonging to ATO players.
On the pitch, history was made as Ottawa set a club record for most wins in a season and finished with a 15W-11D-2L record, securing their earliest playoff qualification on August 31st. With a 12-game unbeaten streak across all competitions and becoming the first team in league history to go undefeated at home (later matched by Forge the next week), and adding a club-record 35 goals in front of the home fans was the cherry on top.
Atléti also clutched their first appearance in the Telus Canadian Championship Semi-finals, and they finally broke the dreaded winless-at-home-September-onwards curse that had plagued the team since 2021.
Off the pitch, the team has been just as remarkable. Fans showed up. With an average home attendance of 4,707, the biggest single-game crowd at 6,087, and 568 total fans attending watch parties across the season — including a record 59 at a single away game. But it’s not just numbers; it’s heart. In partnership with Maple Lodge Farms, the club donated 30,000 meals to the Cadwell Family Centre over the past two years, supporting the community in addressing food insecurities, and there’s nothing quite like hearing kids at TD Place point out a player on the field who attended their practice the week before, eyes wide in awe that an ATO player saw them score.
We Are Massive
As the 2025 season comes to an end, I can’t help but reflect back on the club’s incredible performance. Two-time Manager of the Month and Coach of the Year nominee Diego Mejía came into his role with a vision and philosophy that he has stayed true to. This has been the most exciting, attacking football the team has ever played, and the numbers don’t lie: at least twenty club and league records were broken this year. ATO has been on the front foot, and they’ve excelled. They may not have brought home hardware yet, but they have still achieved so much despite the odds.
I hope this was enough to convince you that this is the best Atlético Ottawa team we’ve seen, and arguably the best team in the league this season. But the story isn’t over yet – the final chapter is ours to write. On Sunday, November 9th at 5PM, TD Place will host the CPL Final. Let’s turn the stands red and white in support of the boys, break our own CPL Final attendance record, and show the league what real passion, real fans, and real football looks like. One team. One city. One last chance to make history. It’s going to be MASSIVE.
About the author
C.D. Girard (she/her/elle) discovered Atlético Ottawa during their 2023 season and has been a loyal fan ever since. A long-time admirer of the sport, she first began playing football at the age of seven and most looks forward to international competitions, supporting both Canada and the Netherlands.
