The 2023 CPL–U Sports Draft was the fifth annual CPL–U Sports Draft. Canadian Premier League (CPL) teams selected 16 eligible U Sports soccer players to be invited to their respective preseason camps with the opportunity to earn developmental contracts for the 2023 Canadian Premier League season.
Format Players could be selected if they had one to four years of U Sports eligibility remaining, were in good academic standing, were planning to return to school the following year, and completed the CPL's draft declaration form by December 9, 2022. On December 12, the CPL released the list of 199 athletes who declared for the draft. Players who were selected can sign a full professional contract or a developmental contract, which allows them to return to university for the following season, without losing their eligibility.
Teams were able to retain the rights to previously drafted players who had signed developmental contracts. Players who had their rights retained and did not enter the draft were: Kareem Sow (HFX Wanderers FC), Jacob Carlos (Valour FC), Markus Kaiser (Cavalry FC), and Luca Ricci (Pacific FC).
Each CPL team made two selections in the draft with selections made in the reverse order of the previous season's standings, including playoffs and final standings. Expansion club Vancouver FC made the first and second picks of the draft but did not make a selection in the second round.
Player selection * Denotes player who has signed a professional contract for the 2023 season ^ Denotes player who has signed a developmental contract for the 2023 season
The following players were selected:
Round 1 Pick # CPL team Player Position Nationality University Last team/academy 1 Vancouver FC Anthony White DF Toronto TSS Rovers FC (L1BC) 2 Vancouver FC Ameer Kinani FW TMU ProStars FC (L1O) 3 HFX Wanderers FC Anthony Stolar DF Cape Breton Scrosoppi FC (L1O) 4 York United FC Christopher Campoli MF Ontario Tech ProStars FC (L1O) 5 Valour FC Guillaume Pianelli DF UQTR Celtix du Haut-Richelieu (PLSQ) 6 Pacific FC Eric Lajeunesse DF British Columbia Whitecaps FC Academy (L1BC) 7 Cavalry FC William Omoreniye DF Calgary Cavalry FC U20 (AMSL) 8 Atlético Ottawa Junior Agyekum MF Thompson Rivers Rivers FC (L1BC) 9 Forge FC Miles Green MF McMaster Hamilton United (L1O)
Round 2 Pick # CPL team Player Position Nationality University Last team/academy 10 HFX Wanderers FC Aiden Rushenas GK Dalhousie 11 York United FC Trivine Esprit MF Ontario Tech Simcoe County Rovers FC (L1O) 12 Valour FC Samuel LaPlante DF UQTR CS Saint-Hubert (PLSQ) 13 Pacific FC Brandon Torresan MF Trinity Western Rivers FC (L1BC) 14 Cavalry FC Eryk Kobza DF Calgary Podlasie Biała Podlaska 15 Atlético Ottawa Mohamed Bouzidi FW Carleton West Ottawa SC (OPDL) 16 Forge FC Milo Djuricic DF York Vaughan Azzurri (L1O)
Selection statistics
Draftees by nationality RankCountrySelections1142131
Draftees by university Rank University Selections 1Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières 2Ontario Tech University 2University of Calgary 2 4 10 universities 1
References
Further reading