Atlético Ottawa’s Sam Salter named 2025 CPL Player of the Year

After a remarkable campaign in the capital, Atlético Ottawa striker Samuel Salter has won the Canadian Premier League’s Player of the Year Award for 2025. He was named the seventh winner of the award at a ceremony in Gatineau, Que. on Friday.

The 25-year-old native of Laval, Que. was the centrepiece of Atleti’s high-powered attack this year, scoring a league-record 19 goals in the regular season. He finished well ahead of the pack in the Golden Boot race, with seven more than any other player.

Salter started every single regular season match for Ottawa this year, also contributing four assists as Atleti scored the most goals ever by a CPL team in a season (54).

This was Salter’s third season in red and white, having joined the club in 2023 after they acquired him from the Halifax Wanderers in the CPL’s first ever intra-league transfer.

It was a competitive field of candidates for the top honour at this year’s CPL Awards, as Salter earned the prize from a field of five worthy nominees. He beat Atlético Ottawa teammate David Rodríguez, as well as Forge FC’s Kyle Bekker and Dan Nimick and Cavalry FC’s Sergio Camargo.

As the Player of the Year, Salter was presented with the Nikisuittuq statue, a unique piece of Inuit soapstone art conceived of by artist Pitseolak Qimirpik and carved by Ruben Komangapik. The Nikisuittuq statue is a type of inukshuk, a stone landmark built to lead a traveller home. Its top stone points toward the North Star, making it an important landmark in navigation.

Salter was selected as the league’s top player in 2025 through voting by technical leadership from all eight CPL clubs, as well as by select media members representing both local and national outlets across the country. Voting was based exclusively on regular season performances, not counting play in the CPL Playoffs, TELUS Canadian Championship or Concacaf Champions Cup.

This is the second time an Atlético Ottawa player has been named Player of the Year in the CPL, after Ollie Bassett won it in 2022.

Other winners include Forge FC’s Tristan Borges (2019, 2024) and Kyle Bekker (2020), former Halifax Wanderer João Morelli (2021) and Cavalry FC’s Daan Klomp (2023).