2025 TELUS Canadian Championship -- Quarter-Final (Leg 1)
Atlético Ottawa vs. York United
June 11 at 7 p.m. ET
TD Place in Ottawa, Ontario
Watch Live: OneSoccer // Tickets available here
On Wednesday night at TD Place Stadium, Atlético Ottawa host York United in the first leg of their TELUS Canadian Championship quarter-final in a fixture that has delivered nothing but fireworks of late.
Their lone meeting so far this year in the league was an electrifying back-and-forth 3-2 contest, won at the death by Atlético Ottawa defender Noah Abatneh -- who had spent the two years prior with York United.
The intensity with which that match was played is clear in the fact that it set a single-match CPL record for most fouls, with 47 combined committed between the teams. Atlético Ottawa, meanwhile, tied the single-game record for most fouls for a club that day with 25.
Before that, the two sides met at TD Place in the 2024 CPL Playoff quarter-final, with Atleti prevailing on penalties after they had traded goals in both regulation and extra time.
TD Place has been a fortress for Atleti this season, as a 2-2 draw with Halifax on the CPL's opening day is the only time they've dropped points at home all season. They are undefeated in their past ten in Ottawa in all competitions, dating back to last season.
That run includes a 2-0 victory over Scrosoppi FC at TD Place in the preliminary round of the 2025 TELUS Canadian Championship.
Atleti have never gotten past this stage of the competition, bowing out last year on aggregate to Pacific FC, and on penalties to Forge FC the year prior in the quarter-finals.
York and Atlético Ottawa have met once before in the Canadian Championship, in the preliminary round of the 2022 edition. That match, also played at TD Place, ended 1-1 after regulation and required eight rounds of penalties to crown York as the victors.
The Nine Stripes would go on to reach the semi-finals that year for the first and only time in club history, where they lost 2-1 at BC Place to the Vancouver Whitecaps.
York are still searching for their first away victory in regulation in this competition in eight road matches. They did, however, twice advance on penalties, including that aforementioned match against Ottawa, in 2022. They kicked off this year's edition with an emphatic 5-0 victory over FC Laval at York Lions Stadium.
No side has held York goalless yet this season in 11 matches through all competitions. It is worth remembering, however, that there is no away goals rule in this year's edition of the Canadian Championship.
The second leg of this quarter-final series will be played on Tuesday, July 8 at York Lions Stadium, so Atlético in particular will be keen to use home turf to their advantage on Wednesday and take a lead in this series.
Both sides travel to Ottawa from CPL fixtures played on the West Coast this past weekend, and as a result, will need to manage their squads on Wednesday. Both York's Shola Jimoh and Atlético Ottawa's Sergei Kozlovskiy, however, are back from international duty with Canada's U-17 side, while Riley Ferrazzo returns from suspension for the Nine Stripes.
Canadian Championship History
Last meeting: April 19, 2025 -- Atlético Ottawa 3-2 York United
York United:
All-time record: 7W-2D-6L
Best finish: Semi-finals (2022) -- Lost 2-1 to Vancouver Whitecaps
Atlético Ottawa:
All-time record: 3W-1D-4L
Best finish: Quarter-finals (2023, 2024) - lost to Forge FC on penalties / lost to Pacific FC 2-1 on aggregate
Key Quotes
“I think we await a very similar match. They are a very tough team. They play really well. They have a really good model. We know that they play with a lot of aggressiveness. The past match was the record of fouls in the history of the CPL. So I wait for a similar match.” – Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
