The 2003 Canadian Professional Soccer League season was the sixth season for the Canadian Professional Soccer League. The season began on May 24, 2003 and concluded on October 5, 2003 with the

Brampton Hitmen Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it th ...

defeating Vaughan Sun Devils 1-0 to capture the CPSL Championship (known as the Rogers CPSL Cup for sponsorship reasons). The victory marked Brampton's first championship title, and the final was played at

Cove Road Stadium German Canadian Club of London Field is a multi-purpose stadium in London, Ontario, Canada. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. ...

London, Ontario London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximat ...

. During the regular season the

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 c ...

and the Hamilton Thunder won their respective conferences. Ottawa became the second CPSL franchise to go undefeated throughout the regular season. Unfortunately the season was plagued with controversy as the Wizards withdrew from the playoff competition, due to a dispute with the CPSL Executive Committee. Another controversy stemmed from a quarterfinal match between Brampton and

Toronto Croatia 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 ...

, where Toronto won the match on penalties, but was reversed by the league due to Toronto using an ineligible coach and general manager. On a positive note the league's television program the CPSL Soccer Show recorded the highest ratings of any other Sunday program shown on

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 ...

Changes from 2002 season

The 2003 season saw the league decrease by one team due to the fact that the York Region Shooters merged with the Vaughan Sun Devils to unite the

York Region The Regional Municipality of York, also called York Region, is a regional municipality in Southern Ontario, Canada, between Lake Simcoe and Toronto. The region was established after the passing of then Bill 102, An Act to Establish The Regional M ...

territory. The Montreal Dynamites moved to the Montreal suburb of Laval and changed their team name accordingly.

Teams

Coaching changes

Final standings

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

Rogers CPSL Championship playoffs

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Rogers CPSL Championship

2003 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 ...

CPSL Executive Committee

A list of the 2003 CPSL Executive Committee.

Individual awards

The annual CPSL awards ceremony was held at German-Canadian Club on October 5, 2003 in

. The Ottawa Wizards finished on top with the most wins with two awards. The undefeated Eastern Conference champions produced the Rookie of the Year with McDonald Yobe, a former Malawian international. After conceding the lowest number of goals the league voted New Zealand journeyman Simon Eaddy with the Goalkeeper of the Year award. Phil Ionadi a former CNSL and

USL A-League The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

veteran captained the Brampton Hitmen to a CPSL Championship, and in returned was named the MVP. Carlo Arghittu of St. Catharines Wolves another former CNSL and USL A-League veteran was given the Golden Boot for finishing as the league's top goalscorer. Domagoj Sain was given his second consecutive Defender of the Year award. After a disastrous 2002 season Toronto Supra brought in Jose Testas a former

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 ...

, and

Segunda Divisão The Segunda Divisão Portuguesa (English: ''Portuguese Second Division'') was a football league situated at the third level of the Portuguese football league system. The division had previously been the second level of the Portuguese pyramid but, w ...

player to manage the club. Testas immediately changed the club into a championship contender by finishing second in their division, and for his achievement was granted the Coach of the Year award. The Durham Flames received their second Fair Play award for being the most disciplined team. While Michael Lambert who officiated the championship final was given his second Referee of the Year award.

References

External links

Rocket Robin's Home Page of the 2003 CPSL Season
{{Canadian Soccer League

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, disintegrated during reentry into Atmosphere of Earth, Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an 2002– ...

2003 domestic association football leagues Canadian Professional Soccer League