Best of the best: Our experts list the top 50 players in the CPL

By CanPL.ca

Media members who covered the league closer than anyone else and one coach from each team each sat down and compiled their best 20 players of the 2021 regular season.

Coaches were not allowed to pick any players from his own club. Seven head coaches of the clubs involved participated, while Valour FC assistant coach Damian Rocke joined the process to represent their club as Rob Gale, and his replacement Phil Dos Santos, did not work the entire season.

Coaches:

Mista (Atlético Ottawa)
Tommy Wheeldon Jr (Cavalry FC)
Alan Koch (FC Edmonton)
Bobby Smyrniotis (Forge FC)
Stephen Hart (HFX Wanderers)
Pa-Modou Kah (Pacific FC)
Damian Rocke (Valour FC)
Jimmy Brennan (York United)

Media members:

Alf De Blasis (OneSoccer)
Charlie O’Connor-Clarke (CanPL.ca)
Matt Cullen (OneSoccer)
Kristian Jack (CanPL.ca)
Adam Jenkins (OneSoccer)
Benedict Rhodes (CanPL.ca)
Oliver Platt (OneSoccer)
Marty Thompson (CanPL.ca)
Emily Wilson (CanPL.ca)
Gareth Wheeler (OneSoccer)

Judges were asked to fill out their ballot with one question in mind: Who was the best player in the Canadian Premier League in 2021?

All votes were counted and completed before the playoffs started. This is based on the regular season, with each team playing 28 games in total. No coach was allowed to vote for any of his own players, and with each team featured once in the ballot it meant that all players at any position were eligible to appear on 17 of the 18 ballots. Once all 18 ballots were received they were placed into a spreadsheet through a points system (20 points for 1st down to 1 point for 20th) to produce the best 50 players of the campaign. In the event of a tie, the player featured on more ballots was given the higher ranking.

CPL50 Players Revealed:

50. — Dominic Samuel (Forge FC)
49. — Alessandro Hojabrpour (Pacific FC)
48. — Austin Ricci (Valour FC)
47. — Abdou Samake (Pacific FC)
46. — Jérémy Gagnon-Laparé (HFX Wanderers FC)
45. — Chrisnovic N’sa (York United)
44. — Miguel Acosta (Atlético Ottawa)
43. — William Akio (Valour FC)
42. — Woobens Pacius (Forge FC)
41. — Callum Irving (Pacific FC)
40. — Nathan Ingham (York United)
39. — Marco Carducci (Cavalry FC)
38. — Andre Rampersad (HFX Wanderers FC)
37. — Amer Didic (FC Edmonton)
36. — Fraser Aird (FC Edmonton)
35. — Michael Petrasso (York United)
34. — Raph Ohin (Valour FC)
33. — Jamar Dixon (Pacific FC)
32. — Josh Heard (Pacific FC)
31. — Dominick Zator (York United)
30. — Triston Henry (Forge FC)
29. — Tobias Warschewski (FC Edmonton)
28. — Sergio Camargo (Cavalry FC)
27. — Isaiah Johnston (York United)
26. — Alberto Soto (Atlético Ottawa)
25. — Peter Schaale (HFX Wanderers FC)
24. — Tristan Borges (Forge FC)
23. — Moses Dyer (Valour FC)
22. — Kadin Chung (Pacific FC)
21. — Malcolm Shaw (Atlético Ottawa)
20. — Max Ferrari (York United)
19. — Jonathan Sirois (Valour FC)
18. — Alejandro Díaz (Pacific FC)
17. — Joe Mason (Cavalry FC)
16. — Karifa Yao (Cavalry FC)
15. — Alexander Achinioti-Jonsson (Forge FC)
14. — Manny Aparicio (Pacific FC)
13. — Kwame Awuah (Forge FC)
12. — Mo Farsi (Cavalry FC)
11. — Mo Babouli (Forge FC)
10. — Lukas MacNaughton (Pacific FC)
9. — Terran Campbell (Pacific FC)
8. — Easton Ongaro (FC Edmonton)
7. — Daan Klomp (Cavalry FC)
6. — Elimane Cissé (Forge FC)
5. — Daniel Krutzen (Forge FC)
4. — Diyaeddine Abzi (York United)
3. — Marco Bustos (Pacific FC)
2. — Joao Morelli (HFX Wanderers FC)
1. — Kyle Bekker (Forge FC)