Sam Salter claims Golden Boot, MVP & Players' Player of the Year as CPL Awards reveal winners

The Canadian Premier League honoured its biggest stars on Friday night at the 2025 CPL Awards, held at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que.

A total of eight prizes were handed out, with one more (the CPL Final MVP) to be awarded on Sunday.

Here's who took home this year's hardware.

Golden Glove: Jassem Koleilat (Forge FC)

The Forge keeper set a CPL record for clean sheets in 2025 with 13, backstopping the Hamilton club all year en route to conceding the fewest goals in club history over a 28-game season (22).

Koleilat won ahead of fellow nominees Marco Carducci of Cavalry FC and Nathan Ingham of Atlético Ottawa.

Best Canadian U-21 Player: Tiago Coimbra (Halifax Wanderers)

The Fortaleza-born Canadian youth international was the Wanderers' best weapon up front in 2025, scoring 12 regular season goals to lead his team and finish second in the Golden Boot race.

Coimbra beat fellow nominees Noah Abatneh and Gabriel Antinoro of Atlético Ottawa, Thierno Bah from Vancouver FC and Hoce Massunda of Forge FC.

Golden Boot: Sam Salter (Atlético Ottawa)

The Atleti striker set a new CPL record in 2025 by scoring 19 regular season goals — seven more than his closest competition this year. He set the league alight in his third season in the capital.

Defender of the Year: Dan Nimick (Forge FC)

In his first season with Forge FC, Nimick was a revelation in the backline. He started every single game for the Hammers in 2025, helping them to concede the fewest goals in the CPL. This was his second nomination for the Defender of the Year honour, but his first time winning it.

The other nominees for this award were Atlético Ottawa's Noah Abatneh and Nimick's Forge FC teammate Rezart Rama.

Players' Player of the Year: Sam Salter (Atlético Ottawa)

Salter was voted the best player in the CPL this year by his peers, 88 of whom put him top of their ballot. In fact, he set a new CPL record with 77 per cent of players including him on their ballot, combining for a total of 542 points.

The Atleti striker finished ahead of a stacked top 10, which featured (in order): David Rodríguez, Nana Ampomah, Dan Nimick, Ali Musse, Julian Altobelli, Kyle Bekker, Ballou Tabla, Manny Aparicio and Tiago Coimbra.

Builder: Victor Montagliani

The president of Concacaf and vice president of FIFA was honoured at the awards evening for his part in growing the game in Canada and across North America.

Montagliani is the first recipient of this new CPL Award, which will be presented annually to someone who has played a foundational role in building the sport in Canada.

Coach of the Year: Bobby Smyrniotis (Forge FC)

Smyrniotis won this award for a second straight year, after leading Forge to a second consecutive CPL Shield as regular season winners. The Hammers were remarkably consistent all year, going unbeaten at home and setting a new league record by going undefeated through the first 20 games of the season.

The Forge gaffer won this year's award over nominees Mauro Eustáquio of York United FC and Diego Mejía of Atlético Ottawa.

Player of the Year: Sam Salter (Atlético Ottawa)

Salter completed the sweep with his third award of the evening, becoming the second Ottawa player to win the league's top honour (following Ollie Bassett in 2022).

It was a stacked field of candidates this year, but Salter was voted top ahead of Forge's Kyle Bekker and Dan Nimick, Cavalry's Sergio Camargo, and his Atleti teammate David Rodríguez.