The 2023 Men's League1 Ontario season was the ninth of League1 Ontario, a Division 3 men's soccer league in the Canadian soccer pyramid and the highest level of soccer based in the Canadian province of Ontario. Following the 2023 season, the league will split into three divisions with promotion and relegation between them.
Simcoe County Rovers FC were the league champions, having defeated Scrosoppi FC in the final to capture their first title.
Clubs With the exception of Pickering FC, 21 of the 22 clubs that took part in the 2022 season participated in 2023. https://twitter.com/PickeringFC/status/1632945757534781440 Because of the format changes planned for the following year, the league imposed a one-year moratorium on any new teams joining the league.
Team City Principal stadium Head coach Alliance United FC Toronto/Markham Varsity Stadium / Birchmount Stadium Ilya Orlov Blue Devils FC Oakville Sheridan College Trafalgar Duncan Wilde Burlington SC Burlington Corpus Christi CSS Darren Tilley BVB IA Waterloo Waterloo RIM Park John O'Brien Darby FC Whitby Whitby Soccer Centre Hermann Kingue Electric City FC Peterborough Fleming College Sports Complex Randy Ribeiro Guelph United F.C. Guelph Alumni Stadium/Centennial Bowl Justin Springer Hamilton United Hamilton Ron Joyce Stadium, McMaster University Kamran Derayeh FC London London Tricar Field Yiannis Tsalatsidis Master's Futbol Scarborough (Toronto) L'Amoreaux Park Giuseppe Mattace-Raso North Mississauga SC Mississauga Churchill Meadows (Mattamy Sports Park) Amir Riazi North Toronto Nitros Toronto Downsview Park Marko Milanović ProStars FC Brampton Victoria Park Stadium Sam Medeiros Scrosoppi FC Milton Ontario Soccer Centre John Yacou Sigma FC Mississauga Paramount Fine Foods Centre / Tim Hortons Field John Zervos Simcoe County Rovers FC Barrie J.C Massie Field, Georgian College Jason Beckford St. Catharines Roma Wolves St. Catharines Roma Park – Under Armour Field Federico Turriziani Unionville Milliken SC Unionville (Markham) Ontario Soccer CentreFilipe Bento Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan North Maple Regional Park Carmine Isacco / Sergio De Luca Windsor City FC Amherstburg St. Clair College Valtar Cosenza Woodbridge Strikers Woodbridge (Vaughan) Vaughan Grove Peter Pinizzotto
Premier Division On March 7, 2023, League1 Ontario announced that the Men's Premier Division season would begin on April 13 (later revised to April 12). Each team played 20 matches this season, one match against each opponent.
Playoffs The top two seeds earned a bye directly to the second round. After the first round, the teams are re-seeded with the top seed playing the lowest ranked remaining seed.
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
Statistics
Top goalscorers (regular season only) RankPlayerClubGoals 1 Tomasz Skublak Scrosoppi FC 23 2 Christopher Campoli Vaughan Azzurri 17 3 Adam Czerkawski Blue Devils FC 15 Orlendis Benítez Simcoe County Rovers 5 Kashiff Collins Darby FC 14 6 Owen Antoniuk Windsor City 13 Augustus Oku Burlington SC 8 Jared Agyemang Guelph United 12 9 Jevontae Layne Simcoe County Rovers 11 Nikola Stakic Alliance United Michael Soloman St. Catharines Roma Wolves Source: League1 Ontario
Top goalkeepers (regular season only) RankPlayerClubMinutesGAA 1 Svyatik Artemenko Electric City FC 1600 0.90 2 Praveen Ahilan Alliance United 878 0.92 3 Andreas Vaikla Scrosoppi FC 1519 0.95 4 Carter Robart Guelph United 1800 1.10 5 Alessio Carbone Vaughan Azzurri 810 1.11 6 Baj Maan Simcoe County Rovers 1665 1.14 Minimum: 810 minutes playedSource: League1 Ontario
League honours Awards Award Player Team RefMost Valuable Player Tomasz Skublak Scrosoppi FC Young Player of the Year (U20) Marcus Caldeira Sigma FCCoach of the Year Jason Beckford Simcoe County Rovers FCGoalkeeper of the Year Baj Maan Simcoe County Rovers FCDefender of the Year Gianfranco Facchineri Windsor City FCMidfielder of the Year Orlendis Benítez Hernández Simcoe County Rovers FCForward of the Year Tomasz Skublak Scrosoppi FCGolden Boot (top scorer) Tomasz Skublak Scrosoppi FC
League All-Stars The following players were named League1 Ontario Premier Division All-Stars for the 2023 season:
First Team All-Stars Player PositionBaj Maan (Simcoe County Rovers) GoalkeeperAmardo Oakley (Guelph United) DefenderGianfranco Facchineri (Windsor City) DefenderJustin Earle (Simcoe County Rovers) DefenderCarlo DiFeo (Scrosoppi) DefenderOrlendis Benítez Hernández (Simcoe County Rovers) MidfielderNikola Stakic (Alliance United) MidfielderChristian Zeppieri (Vaughan Azzurri) MidfielderAlexander Zis (Scrosoppi) MidfielderTomasz Skublak (Scrosoppi) ForwardAdam Czerkawski (Blue Devils) Forward
Second Team All-Stars Player PositionAndreas Vaikla (Scrosoppi) GoalkeeperAndra Neptune (Blue Devils) DefenderNyal Higgins (Vaughan Azzurri) DefenderBradley Heath (Electric City) DefenderNirun Sivananthan (Alliance United) DefenderMarcus Caldeira (Sigma) MidfielderGray Yates (Guelph United) MidfielderIdeal Shefqeti (Hamilton United) MidfielderBrandon Duarte (Blue Devils) MidfielderJevontae Layne (Simcoe County Rovers) ForwardAugustus Oku (Burlington) Forward
Future format and changes
Starting in 2024, the league will split into a multi-division format with promotion and relegation between them. Twelve teams will take part in the first-tier League1 Premier, ten teams in the second-tier League1 Championship, and all new expansion teams as well as reserve sides in a third-tier League2 Ontario.
The initial assignment of teams in the 2024 season is done by using the points obtained in the previous two years. The points from the 2022 season (weighted at 75%) will be added to the points teams obtain in the 2023 season (weighted at 100%) to determine the placements.
U21 Reserve Division The Reserve Division will return with each Premier Division club fielding one or more teams, as well as some other OPDL clubs that do not operate a League1 Ontario team.
North East Division
North West Division
Central Division
South West Division
Playoffs
U19 Reserve Division Summer Division Each team will play every team in their division once, as well as two games against teams from the opposite division. East Division
West Division
Playoffs
Fall Division East Division
West Division
Playoffs
References
External links