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.
 | |||
| Full name | Atlético Ottawa | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Ottleti[1] | ||
| Founded | January 29, 2020 | ||
| Stadium | TD Place, Ottawa | ||
| Capacity | 24,000 | ||
| Owner | Atlético Madrid | ||
| CEO | Fernando Lopez | ||
| President | Jeff Hunt | ||
| Coach | Carlos González | ||
| League | Canadian Premier League | ||
| 2023 | Regular season, 6th Playoffs, did not qualify | ||
| Website | Club website | ||
History
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.
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
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
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
Supporters
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
Players and staff
Squad
- As of April 30, 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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
| 91 | DF |  FRA | Aboubakary Sacko |
| 99 | GK |  ALG | Rayane Yesli |
| — | DF |  GUY | Jonathan Grant |
| — | DF |  ESP | Dani Morer (on loan from Famalicão) |
| — | MF | CAN | Luca Piccioli |
Out on loan
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Staff
| 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
- As of May 1, 2024
| Coach | Nation | Tenure | Record | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | Win % | ||||
| Mista | Spain | February 11, 2020 – December 28, 2021[23] | 36 | 8 | 10 | 18 | 22.22 | |
| Carlos González | Spain | February 24, 2022[21] – present | 66 | 29 | 17 | 20 | 43.94 | |
Club captains
| 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
Year-by-year
| 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 | ||
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
- As of May 5, 2024
| # | Name | Nation | Career at club | Games played | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPL | Cup | Int'l | Total | ||||
| 1 | Miguel Acosta | Spain | 2021–2023 | 81 | 4 | 0 | 85 |
| 2 | Malcolm Shaw |  Trinidad and Tobago | 2020–2023 | 80 | 3 | 0 | 83 |
| 3 | Zach Verhoven | Canada | 2021–2023 | 62 | 3 | 0 | 65 |
| Ollie Bassett | Northern Ireland | 2022– | 61 | 4 | 0 | 65 | |
| 5 | Ben McKendry | Canada | 2020–2022 | 59 | 1 | 0 | 60 |
| 6 | Nathan Ingham | Canada | 2022– | 53 | 2 | 0 | 55 |
| 7 | Brian Wright | Canada | 2021–2022 | 51 | 2 | 0 | 53 |
| 8 | Maxim Tissot | Canada | 2022– | 49 | 3 | 0 | 52 |
| 9 | Diego Espejo | Spain | 2022–2023 | 46 | 3 | 0 | 49 |
| 10 | Drew Beckie | Canada | 2021–2022 | 44 | 2 | 0 | 46 |
Note: Bold indicates active player
Most goals
- As of May 5, 2024
| # | Name | Nation | Career at club | Goals scored | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPL | Cup | Int'l | Total | ||||
| 1 | Ollie Bassett | Northern Ireland | 2022– | 19 | 3 | 0 | 22 |
| 2 | Malcolm Shaw | Trinidad and Tobago | 2020–2023 | 17 | 2 | 0 | 19 |
| 3 | Brian Wright | Canada | 2021–2022 | 13 | 1 | 0 | 14 |
| 4 | Ballou Tabla | Canada | 2022, 2024– | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 |
| 5 | Zach Verhoven | Canada | 2021–2023 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| Sam Salter | Canada | 2023– | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 | |
| 7 | Maxim Tissot | Canada | 2022– | 5 | 1 | 0 | 6 |
| 8 | Miguel Acosta | Spain | 2021–2023 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Rubén Del Campo |  Switzerland | 2023– | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | |
| 10 | Viti Martínez | Spain | 2020–2021 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 |
| Ryan Telfer | Trinidad and Tobago | 2021 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Carl Haworth | Canada | 2022–2023 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Gabriel Antinoro |  Brazil | 2023– | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
Note: Bold indicates active player
Most assists
- As of May 1, 2024
| # | Name | Nation | Career at club | Assists | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CPL | Cup | Int'l | Total | ||||
| 1 | Zach Verhoven | Canada | 2021–2023 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 9 |
| Carl Haworth | Canada | 2022–2023 | 8 | 1 | 0 | 9 | |
| 3 | Ollie Bassett | Northern Ireland | 2022– | 7 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
| 4 | Miguel Acosta | Spain | 2021–2023 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 6 |
| 5 | Ballou Tabla | Canada | 2022, 2024– | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
| 6 | Malcolm Shaw | Trinidad and Tobago | 2020–2023 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Jean-Aniel Assi | Canada | 2023 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | |
| 8 | Ben McKendry | Canada | 2020–2022 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Brian Wright | Canada | 2021–2022 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | |
| Gianni dos Santos |  Cape Verde | 2023 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
| Maxim Tissot | Canada | 2022– | 2 | 1 | 0 | 3 | |
Note: Bold indicates active player
References
External links
