Men’s Soccer
The Canadian Premier League announced the 16 draft picks from the 2021 CPL-U SPORTS draft during a live presentation held today. Sixteen players will be invited to CPL Clubs’ preseason camp this year.Since 2018, at the conclusion of the U SPORTS Men’s Soccer Championship, the Canadian Premier League holds a draft for eligible U SPORTS men’s soccer players who have registered and declared themselves ‘available’ to be selected through the League’s annual draft. This draft is open to any eligible U SPORTS underclassman that register for the draft. The CPL-U SPORTS Draft consisted of two rounds, eight picks in each round.
The player draft picks were announced in succession on January 29, 2021 at 3:00pm ET on CanPL.ca, @cplsoccer Twitter, OneSoccer and CBC digital.
1st Round
Pick | CPL Club | First Name | Last Name | School | Pos. | Hometown | Elig. | Program |
1 | FC Edmonton | Thomas | Gardner | UBC | M | North Vancouver, B.C. | 3 | Arts |
2 | Atlético Ottawa | Cristopher | Malekos | Carleton | D | Saint-Hyppolyte, Que. | 4 | Commerce |
3 | Valour FC | Yuba-Rayane | Yesli | Montreal | GK | Tizi-Ouzou, Algeria | 1 | Kinesiology |
4 | York United FC | Christopher | Campoli | Ontario Tech | M | Woodbridge, Ont. | 2 | Finance |
5 | Pacfic FC | Chris | Lee | UBC | D | West Vancouver, B.C. | 1 | Kinesiology |
6 | Cavalry FC | Victor | Loturi | Mount Royal | M | Calgary, Alta. | 1 | Open Studies |
7 | HFX Wanderers FC | Stefan | Karajovanovic | Carleton | F | Gatineau, Que. | 4 | Criminology & Criminal Justice |
8 | Forge FC | Garven | Metusala | Concordia | D | Terrbonne, Que. | 1 | Economics |
2nd Round
Pick | CPL Club | First Name | Last Name | School | Pos. | Hometown | Elig. | Program |
9 | Forge FC | Jose | da Cunha | Cape Breton | D | Cascais, Portugal | 1 | Arts & Community Studies |
10 | HFX Wanderers FC | Kareem | Sow | Montreal | D | Sherbrooke, Que. | 3 | Mechanical Engineering |
11 | Cavalry FC | Ethan | Keen | Mount Royal | D | Calgary, Alta. | 1 | Business |
12 | Pacfic FC | Victory | Shumbusho | UBC | F | Chilliwack, B.C. | 4 | Arts |
13 | York United FC | Danial | Rafisamii | Ontario Tech | M | Toronto, Ont. | 2 | Liberal Studies |
14 | Valour FC | Tony | Mikhael | Carleton | D | Ottawa, Ont. | 3 | Commerce |
15 | Atlético Ottawa | Reggie | Laryea | York | D | Toronto, Ont. | 4 | Health Studies |
16 | FC Edmonton | Jackson | Farmer | UBC | D | Edmonton, Alta. | 4 | Arts |
* The order of the draft was based off of the Club’s regular season record over the course of the CPL’s 2020 season (Island Games) and was formatted in a “snake draft” order with FC Edmonton receiving the first-round selection.
This truly unique partnership between the Canadian Premier League and U SPORTS provides student-athletes with an opportunity to be signed to a CPL-U SPORTS Developmental Contract that allows a student-athlete with one to five years of U SPORTS eligibility remaining to sign with a CPL Club, while preserving their eligibility before returning to U SPORTS competition.
Read more to learn more about the 2021 CPL-U SPORTS Draft here.
More CPL-U SPORTS Draft Coverage
FC Edmonton take UBC’s Thomas Gardner 1st overall in CPL-U SPORTS Draft
Thomas Gardner: ‘Surreal’ to be picked 1st overall in CPL-U SPORTS Draft
2021 CPL-U SPORTS Draft by the numbers: Facts and figures from the draft
How the CPL-U SPORTS Draft has evolved: ‘Clubs can be creative’