The George Gross Memorial Trophy is awarded to the most valuable player of the Canadian Championship. It is named after George Gross, a highly respected sports journalist who covered soccer for the Toronto Telegram and Toronto Sun.
The inaugural recipient of the Trophy was Matt Jordan of the Montreal Impact, who was named MVP of the 2008 Canadian Soccer Championship after posting two clean sheets and only allowing two goals in four games, en route to Montreal's tournament victory.
Dwayne De Rosario became the first Canadian winner of the Trophy in 2009 after scoring three goals in a 6–1 Toronto FC victory over Montreal in the final game of that year's tournament. De Rosario became the first repeat winner in 2010.
Joao Plata, an Ecuadorian forward/winger, succeeded his former short-lived teammate and captain the following year after scoring the series-tying goal and then assisting on the championship winner in the second leg of the final, becoming the first South American trophy winner in 2011.
Toronto FC's Ryan Johnson claimed the 2012 title scoring two of the club's four goals over the four matches.
Montreal Impact's Justin Mapp was awarded the trophy in 2013 becoming the first non Toronto FC player since 2008, and the first winner of the MLS-version of Montreal. Mapp became the second repeat winner during the 2014 tournament.
Russell Teibert became the first Vancouver Whitecaps player to win the award in 2015.
In 2024, Isaac Boehmer of the Vancouver Whitecaps became the first player to win both the Best Young Canadian Player award and the George Gross Memorial Trophy in the same season.
Since the award's creation, it has never been won by a player whose team did not end up winning the championship that season.
Winners YearPlayerPositionNationalityTeam 2008 Goalkeeper Montreal Impact 2009 Attacking midfielder Toronto FC 2010 Midfielder Toronto FC 2011 Forward Toronto FC 2012 Ryan Johnson Forward Toronto FC 2013 Left winger Montreal Impact 2014 Left winger Montreal Impact 2015 Midfielder Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2016 Midfielder Toronto FC 2017 Forward Toronto FC 2018 Midfielder Toronto FC 2019 Winger Montreal Impact 2020Not awarded 2021 Goalkeeper 2022 Attacking midfielder Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2023 Full-back Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2024 Goalkeeper Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2025 Midfielder Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Winners by club Team No. of wins Toronto FC 7 CF Montréal 5 Vancouver Whitecaps FC 5
Winners by nationality Team No. of wins 7 4 1 1 1 1 1 1 Non-Canadian total 10
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