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Weeks of speculation concluded with Wednesday’s official announcement that Atlético Madrid will own and operate a new Canadian Premier League side.
It's Official
— CanPL (@CPLsoccer) January 29, 2020
We are proud to announce that the city of Ottawa will be joining the Canadian Premier League in 2020 and will be owned by Club Atlético de Madrid.#CanPL l Full Press Release: https://t.co/YikI41IuJ9 pic.twitter.com/FPQ3NexbhK
Set to begin play in April 2020, the CPL's newest club will play at the renowned TD Place in Ottawa#CanPL pic.twitter.com/7tBNIjf5oT
— CanPL (@CPLsoccer) January 29, 2020
Officially official.
— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) January 29, 2020
“We are delighted to be part of such an exciting project in an amazing country. We would like to bring our expertise to a very strong and structured league (...) to contribute to the growth of Canadian soccer"
- @Atleti CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín pic.twitter.com/mzTKtW0blx
Live footage of the CPL community over the past 24 hours#CanPL l : cplnews on IG pic.twitter.com/2dLiZpjFcC
— CanPL (@CPLsoccer) January 30, 2020
Atlético Ottawa will be the eighth team to join the two-and-a-half year-old Canadian league, and it represents another foray into the overseas market for its parent club. In March 2017, Atlético took 50 percent ownership of San Luís Fútbol Club and rebranded it as Atlético San Luís. The rebooted club gained promotion to Liga MX last summer and finished 15th in this season’s Apertura tournament.
“We are thrilled to welcome Ottawa as the Canadian Premier League’s eighth club and Club Atlético de Madrid as our newest owners of the Ottawa club,” CPL commissioner David Clanachan said. “We are very excited to launch the club with one of the world’s most iconic and successful soccer brands and look forward to them taking to the pitch for the 2020 CPL season.”
The CPL began play in April 2019, and its first season saw another Ontario side — Forge FC — win the North Star Shield after overcoming Calgary’s Cavalry FC in a two-legged final. Each team plays a 28-game schedule in a season which runs from April through October. The league is heavily committed to developing homegrown talent — not only must teams start at least six Canadian-born players per game, but at least three under-21 Canadians have to combine for 1,000 minutes in a season.
Though given comparatively little coverage in Spain, the Canadian press began to report earlier this month on Atlético’s involvement in forming an Ottawa-based club. The league refused to comment on any of the negotiations, but businessman Jeff Hunt — who also owns the city’s football team, the Redblacks — traveled to Madrid last week to help seal the deal. He will work as a “strategic partner” as the club gets off the ground.
Hunt’s Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group owned United Soccer League side Ottawa Fury FC up until last November. But that club did not receive clearance to continue playing into 2020 and was forced to dissolve. Ottawa Fury has since been absorbed by Miami FC.
Now, though, Atlético have stepped in quickly to ensure the Canadian capital gets a new team — one that will be formed primarily through Atleti’s international scouting reports.
“We want Ottawa soccer fans to be able to feel proud of belonging to the Atlético de Madrid family so we can start sharing our values with them,” Atleti CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín said.