Plans for an Ottawa club in the Canadian Premier League are now official, as the circuit awards an expansion team for a 2020 launch.
Set to begin play in April 2020 at TD Place in Ottawa – which sits on the Unesco World Heritage Site, the Rideau Canal – the expansion bid was led by Club Atlético de Madrid.
Ottawa will be the CPL’s eighth team, joining seven existing clubs that are returning from the league’s inaugural 2019 season. It marks the first expansion team in CPL history.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ottawa as the Canadian Premier League’s 8th Club and Club Atlético de Madrid as our newest owners of the Ottawa club,” said Commissioner David Clanachan. “We are very excited to launch the club with one of the world’s most iconic and successful soccer brands and look forward to them taking to the pitch for the 2020 CPL season.”
Club Atlético de Madrid’s leadership includes President Enrique Cerezo and CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín. Coach Diego Pablo Simeone leads a team of world stars that includes Jan Oblak, Koke, João Félix, Diego Costa and Saúl.
“We are delighted to be part of such an exciting project in an amazing country. We would like to bring our expertise to a very strong and structured league and will work together with the CPL and the rest of the clubs to contribute to the growth of Canadian soccer. We want Ottawa soccer fans to be able to feel proud of belonging to the Atlético de Madrid family so we can start sharing our values with them,” said Atlético de Madrid´s CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín.
Club Atlético de Madrid’s ownership has also announced Ottawa businessman Jeff Hunt as a strategical partner. Familiar to Ottawa sports ownership, as part owner of the Ottawa Redblacks football club of the Canadian Football League and the Ottawa 67’s hockey club of the Ontario Hockey League, Hunt brings experience from both local teams.
Hunt along with Club Atlético de Madrid’s ownership and CPL Commissioner, David Clanachan will be in Ottawa at a public unveiling event to be held at TD Place on February 12.
Image courtesy Canadian Premier League. Pictured left to right: CSB CEO Scott Mitchell, CPL Commissioner David Clanachan, Club Atlético de Madrid CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín, Ottawa strategic partner Jeff Hunt, and CFO of CSB Doug Rye.
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