Barely more than a year ago, Anthony Aromatario had returned to Canada from the United Arab Emirates, after his TFA Dubai club team had folded, leaving him without a contract and the rug apparently pulled out from under his promising soccer career.
Since then, he’s played critical roles in helping two teams—York University and Woodbridge Strikers—win significant championships, been a league all-star for both clubs, was named the Most Valuable Player in League1 Ontario (now the Ontario Premier League) and inked a short-term deal that put him into two Concacaf Champions Cup series games. That led to Friday’s announcement that he’s signed a full CPL-U SPORTS contract with Forge FC.
“It’s been a crazy ride over the last few months,” the 22-year-old midfielder understates. “But to be honest, this feels normal for me. I know I’m ready for this level, it was just about getting the opportunity.”
He took full advantage of that opportunity, finding his spot with the CPL’s most successful team, which was the ultimate goal in early 2025 when he had frank career-path planning discussions with his parents Cesare and Zorica in their Woodbridge home.
Aromatario had been overseas since early 2022: playing for Viterbese against some of the world’s best youth academy sides in Italy’s demanding U-19 circuit; moving to Tre Fiori, the historical powerhouse in San Marino; then heading from the landlocked mountains to the Middle East and TFA Dubai.
He and his parents decided it was best to re-settle in Ontario and rebuild his local soccer profile, which had been prominent when he was a key player for North Toronto of the Ontario Provincial League, and before that in Woodbridge and Kleinberg.
For club ball he chose his hometown Woodbridge Strikers—whom Forge will play in a closed-door friendly match Saturday at Hamilton Stadium—because they were committed to winning immediately. And he enrolled at York on a soccer scholarship, playing for veteran head coach Carmine Isacco.
His two teams combined to go 26-6-6 and both won the biggest titles available to them, with defensive play among their main attributes. He was a number 6—the holding midfielder who often initiates attacks from a deep position—for York, which is more akin to what he’ll mostly play for Forge; and with Woodbridge he was a No. 8, the box-to-box midfielder with both attacking and defending assignments.
Woodbridge was the best defensive team in League1 and won the title by two points over Milton’s strong Scrosoppi FC. There are no playoffs in the competitive semi-pro loop, a main CPL feeder league which uses the European demotion/relegation system. The Strikers, one of League1’s founding 10 men’s teams, captured the loop’s 2025 goalkeeper of the year award, coach of the year, defender of the year, and Golden Boot.
And Aromatario was named league MVP, midfielder of the year and an all-star at midfield.
He was also a second team OUA all-star in his first season for York, which finished second in provincial play and lost the league final 2-0 to first-place U of T. But because the national championships were hosted in Ontario they received the second regional berth, and were seeded sixth for the U SPORTS tourney at Varsity Stadium. They defeated Dalhousie 5-1 and University of Montréal 2-0 on the way to the final, where they beat Mount Royal 1-0 on a penalty kick by MVP Christian Zeppieri in the second overtime period.
“It was a crazy game,” Aromatario says. “It was the first snowfall of the year, and it was the same day as the CPL final, only a few hours earlier. The snow was so deep only the sidelines and goal lines were plowed. With all the emotions, that was a day I’ll never forget.”
Aromatario wasn’t selected in the CPL’s U SPORTS draft, which has only two rounds, but Isacco soon informed him that Forge—who’d been following him through scouts—was very interested in bringing him to pre-season camp. He showed enough there that he was signed to play against Los Tigres.
Got into the first game for the final half hour and used his soccer intuition to initiate late-game opportunities for Hoce Massunda and Rezart Rama, either of which could have broken the eventual 0-0 draw.
Then Bobby Smyrniotis started him in the second game in front of more than 25,000 rabid fans in Monterrey, capping a year like no other in Aromatario’s soccer career.
Aromatario actually started out in hockey before he and his twin brother Michael switched over to soccer at eight or nine years old. They have two older brothers who were hockey players and despite their Italian heritage, soccer wasn’t part of the family’s blood. His parents didn’t play any sports but the four boys did, and it soon became clear to Aromatario that footy was his game, “although my brother and I weren’t really thinking in the long run, I didn’t have the dream of playing professional.”
But then he began playing in North Toronto at age 14 for coach Marko Milanović, now head coach of AFC Toronto, the women’s pro team. Milanović was a mentor to Aromatario, who played at North Toronto until he was 18 and a scout with contacts in Italy set him up with a trial with Viterbese. He did well with their U-19s and was called up to the first squad for training. The next season he obtained his Italian passport and he played a big role in the U-19s winning their league. But the first squad had plummeted to the sixth level of Italian soccer and he didn’t feel that staying with that program was going to enhance his career.
His agent got him to San Marino and Tre Fiori, historically one of the league’s better teams, but the club didn’t have a good season and he came back to Canada to consider his next step, which turned out to be Dubai.
“That was another experience!” he said, “I went there thinking the level might not be as high, but I was honestly surprised. It was the third division but the level was good, with a lot of foreigners, Africans and Europeans playing.”
He received free accommodation and transportation and a salary, but “halfway through the year the team folded and I was forced to come home to Woodbridge.”
And two championships with the Strikers and Lions later, he’s worked his way onto the Hammers.
“Bobby has shown a lot of trust in me,” Aromatario says. “I knew what kind of team Forge is and how prestigious it is. You come to Forge and you’re expected to win trophies and I think this year is going to be similar that way…we’re going to win.”
Saturday he’ll suit up against the semi-pro Woodbridge Strikers whom he helped propel into the Canadian Championship’s opening round against a full professional team, CPL expansion side FC Supra du Québec.
“It’s going to be nice to play against my old teammates,” Aromatario says. “We shared a lot of special moments together.
“To get here, it’s been step by step. But I always believed I could do this. It feels normal. I just have to work hard and keep going.”