The 2001 Canadian Professional Soccer League season was the fourth season for the Canadian Professional Soccer League. The season began on May 25, 2001 and concluded on October 14, 2001 with

St. Catharines Wolves St. Catharines Roma Wolves (also known as St. Catharines Wolves or simply Roma Wolves), are a Canadian soccer team, founded in 1967. The team currently plays in the semi-professional League1 Ontario in both the men's and women's divisions. The ...

defeating

Toronto Supra SC Toronto was a Canadian soccer team, founded in 1994. The team was a member of the Canadian Soccer League, and played its final home games at Lamport Stadium in the city of Toronto, Ontario. The club found success early on since its incep ...

by a score of 1-0 to win their second

CPSL Championship The Canadian Soccer League championship final or CSL Championship is the post-season match of the Canadian Soccer League (CSL) and is the successor to the CNSL Championship. The winner is crowned champion in the same manner as in other North A ...

(known as the Rogers CPSL Cup for sponsorship reasons) . The final was hosted in

St. Catharines St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontario ...

with Club Roma Stadium as the venue, while the match received coverage from

Rogers TV Rogers TV (stylized as Rogers tv) is a group of English-language community channels owned by Rogers Communications. Many of these channels share common programs. Rogers TV broadcasts in the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick, Newfoundland and ...

. The season saw the league expand to a total of 12 teams, and went beyond the GTA and Ontario border to include a

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

and

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

franchise. Throughout the regular season the Ottawa Wizards became the first club to end the

Toronto Olympians Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anchor ...

league title dynasty. The CPSL also launched the CPSL Soccer Show with Rogers TV providing the broadcasting, and granting Rogers naming rights to the CPSL Championship. Other major sponsors included the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

, which served as the sole sponsor for the CPSL Rookie of the Year Award. The league also announced a working partnership with the Canadian United Soccer League a task force originally started by the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ( ...

in order forge a unified professional structure with the cooperation of the Canadian franchises in the USL A-League to launch a Canadian first and second division domestic league.

Changes from 2000 season

All 8 clubs from the previous season returned, and the league expanded to include 4 new entries the Brampton Hitmen,

Montreal Dynamites Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

Ottawa Wizards Ottawa Wizards were a Canadian soccer club which operated in the Canadian Professional Soccer League (CPSL), from 2001 to 2003. The team's home stadium was the OZ Optics Stadium. Though the team had a relatively short tenure with the CPSL, the cl ...

, and

all began play this year. Oshawa Flames changed their name to the Durham Flames in order to represent the entire

Durham Region The Regional Municipality of Durham (), informally referred to as Durham Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada. Located east of Toronto and the Regional Municipality of York, Durham forms the east-end of the Greater Toron ...

, and received sponsorship from Danone. Toronto Croatia transferred their home venue from Centennial Park Stadium to Memorial Park in Streetsville, Mississauga. Changes to the CPSL executive management committee saw former Director of Media Relations for the Toronto Lynx Stan Adamson appointed to the position of CPSL Director of Media and Public Relations.

Teams

Final standings

Rogers CPSL Championship playoffs

Wildcard

Semifinals

Consolation final

Rogers CPSL Championship

Rogers Rogers may refer to: Places Canada *Rogers Pass (British Columbia) *Rogers Island (Nunavut) United States * Rogers, Arkansas, a city * Rogers, alternate name of Muroc, California, a former settlement * Rogers, Indiana, an unincorporated community ...

CPSL Championship MVP: :

Garrett Caldwell Garrett Evan James Caldwell (born 6 November 1973) is an American-born Canadian former soccer player who played as a goalkeeper in the Football League for Colchester United. He represented Canada at under-20 and under-23 levels. Club career Bo ...

(Toronto Supra) :Danny Gallagher (St. Catharines Roma Wolves)

All-Star game

For the 2001 season the CPSL administration arranged two all-star matches for the league. In order to prepare for the

2001 Jeux de la Francophonie The 2001 Jeux de la Francophonie, also known as ''IVes Jeux de la Francophonie'', (French language, French for ''Francophone Games'') were held in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec, Canada from July 14–24, 2001. Events Sports Cultural Me ...

the

Morocco national under-23 football team The Morocco Olympic football team represents Morocco in international football competitions in Olympic Games. The selection is limited to players under the age of 23, except three overage players. The team is controlled by the Fédération Royale ...

expressed a desire to play a solid Canadian team. Subsequently, the

requested the CPSL to arrange a select team for the match. The second match consisted of a CPSL All-Star team against

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M, commonly known as Marítimo ( locally ), is a Portuguese sports club founded in Funchal, Madeira, in 1910. Marítimo is best known for its football team playing in Portugal's top-flight competition, the Primeira Liga. ...

of the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

2001 scoring leaders

:''Full article:

CSL Golden Boot The Canadian Soccer League Golden Boot is an annual Canadian soccer award given to the top goalscorer for each season in the Canadian Soccer League. The Golden Boot has been awarded since 1998 when the league debuted as the Canadian Professional S ...

CPSL Executive Committee

The 2001 CPSL Executive Committee.

Individual awards

The annual CPSL awards ceremony was held on October 14, 2001 at Club Roma in

St. Catharines, Ontario St. Catharines is the largest city in Canada's Niagara Region and the sixth largest urban area in the province of Ontario. As of 2016, it has an area of , 136,803 residents, and a metropolitan population of 406,074. It lies in Southern Ontari ...

. Expansion franchise Ottawa Wizards received the most awards with 3 wins. Trinidadian journeyman Kevin Nelson went home with both the Golden Boot, and the Rookie of the Year. While his teammate Abraham Osman was given the MVP. George Azcurra shared his second Goalkeeper of the Year award with Luciano Miranda. Kurt Ramsey of the North York Astros won the Defender of the Year, and former Montreal Impact manager Zoran Jankovic went home with the Coach of the Year. Amato De Luca who later refereed matches at the international level and

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

was named the Referee of the Year. Durham Flames received the Fair Play award.

References

External links

Rocket Robin's Home Page of the 2001 CPSL Season
{{Canadian Soccer League

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2001 domestic association football leagues Canadian Professional Soccer League