After 116 Canadian Premier League matches in 2025, it has all come down to just one.
The CPL Final in the nation's capital on Sunday will crown a North Star Cup champion, and one of Atlético Ottawa or Cavalry FC will be the last team standing in the league's seventh season.
This year's Final might have a particularly Canadian twist, but a robust crowd is expected to brave potentially snowy conditions to pack TD Place, as Atlético vie to bring the city of Ottawa its first pro sports championship since 2016.
Indeed, the capital has not tasted sporting glory since the Redblacks won the Grey Cup nine years ago. That game was played in Toronto, of course; in fact, it seems none of Ottawa's pro teams have won a title on home turf since the Ottawa Lynx AAA baseball side won the Governor's Cup in 1995.
The capital is therefore elated at the prospect of their young soccer team winning it all at TD Place.
Standing in their way, however, is an equally starving Cavalry FC. Defending champions, perennial CPL heavyweights, and — in the words of their head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. — "dragon slayers."
Cavalry are exceptionally familiar with the CPL Final, this being their third in a row and fourth ever. In 2024, they beat Forge FC on the home soil of ATCO Field to lift their North Star Cup, which has served only to make them more eager to win it again.
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The Calgary, Alta.-based side has been one of the best in the CPL every single year, and this year they've proven to be battle-hardened by postseason experience. They finished third in the regular season table, which meant they had a slightly longer route to the Final: a home match against York United, which they won 4-1, followed by a Contender Semifinal clash in Hamilton with Forge FC.
They passed that test with flying colours, though; the Cavs topped Forge 1-0 thanks to perpetual playoff hero Tobias Warschewski. The German striker has now scored a league-record five goals in four CPL Playoff appearances with Cavalry; he has never lost in the postseason, nor has he ever failed to score.
Atleti, meanwhile, are looking to get over the final hurdle. During a tremendous CPL season, where they set a league record for goals with 54, they were one of the most entertaining sides to watch. Head coach Diego Mejía, in his first year with the club, transformed the team into an attack-minded side, and he has been incredibly bullish on just how special his group is. He was a little more reserved than usual on Media Day ahead of the Final, but he did confirm that playing in this game was a goal for his team at the start of the year.
"We’ve worked a lot of months to achieve this goal that we had," he said. "We are enjoying it a lot. This week was an incredible week, the players are enjoying a lot. It was one of our goals in the beginning, so finally we need to enjoy it."
Mejía's side were up near the top of the table the entire season, but they ultimately finished two points back of Forge FC for the CPL Shield this year. They're desperate to have something to show for their success in 2025.
Their confidence grew two weeks ago when they opened their playoff journey by defeating Forge in Hamilton to earn hosting rights for the Final. They hadn't defeated the Hammers yet this season, but doing it on the biggest stage yet sets them up well to enter this championship bout.
As with any final, the first goal looms large — but particularly between these two sides this season. Neither has lost a match this year in which they led in 2025.
Still, the capital club is more comfortable when trailing, as Ottawa collected a league-high 17 points from losing positions this season, the second most in CPL history. They came from behind again in the Championship Semifinal in a 2-1 win over Forge in Hamilton. Cavalry, meanwhile, are 0-2-8 when they fail to score first, but have done so in each of their past five matches.
The winner of this match, as well, will get a spot in the Concacaf Champions Cup. Cavalry will be desperate to get back to the continental competition for a third time after making history last year by become the first CPL team to win a game in the Champions Cup after beating Pumas UNAM in the first leg of round one — before falling on aggregate. Atleti, meanwhile, are looking to book their first spot in a continental tournament.
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So much thus rides on this 90 minutes — or 120, or penalty kicks if necessary.
Both managers will therefore be happy they can call on mostly full-strength sides. Ottawa's only major absence is 17-year-old defender Sergei Kozlovskiy, who's away with the Canadian U-17 national team at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar.
Cavalry, meanwhile, offered up a surprise in their Media Day press conference. Player of the Year nominee Sergio Camargo, who has not featured at all in either previous playoff match, revealed that he is training this week, and is in contention to play some part of Sunday's Final. As one of the most dangerous attacking midfielders in the CPL — in fact, Ottawa captain Nathan Ingham called him the best player in the league on Sunday — Camargo would be a huge boost to the Cavs in midfield.
However it shakes out, both sides are firm in their belief that they have each had an incredible season, and these are two remarkably talented, well-coached teams.
It's Ingham versus Carducci. Salter versus Warschewski. Rodríguez versus Musse. Both sides are stacked.
Only one can lift the Cup, though. Will it be Ottawa, in front of their fans? Or can Cavalry win a second straight, and become the first third-place team to win it in this playoff format?
Tune in on Sunday, on OneSoccer and TSN3 across Canada.
3 THINGS TO WATCH
- Atlético Ottawa's home field advantage: August 3, 2024. That was the last time Atlético Ottawa lost a match in the nation's capital, a 2-1 defeat to none other than Cavalry FC courtesy of two late goals from Ali Musse. Since then, Atleti have gone 22 straight matches in all competitions without a loss at TD Place, becoming the first team in CPL history to go unbeaten in a season at home this past campaign — albeit a mark Forge would quickly match. That will give them a tremendous amount of confidence heading into the final, especially in front of their biggest crowd of the season. A crucial factor in that home success? Second halves, where they have outscored opponents 21-4 at TD Place this stadium. If they can get the crowd into the game early and be in good shape by half-time, history says they have great odds of finishing the job.
- Few selection surprises expected: For once, don't expect much debate about either team's starting eleven heading into the 2025 CPL Final. Ottawa's team has essentially picked itself all season. Ten players started 23 or more of their 29 CPL regular-season and playoff matches this year. The only position where there was any real rotation came on the right side of the back three, with Sergei Kozlovskiy missing a decent chunk of the season on international duty. They have lined up in the same 3-4-3 the whole year. Cavalry, meanwhile, have had a little less luck with injuries and absences this season. But they have still rolled out the same starting lineup in both of their playoff matches so far, and are unlikely to change much for the final. With neither team expected to spring any major selection or tactical surprises, this match might come down to individual duals on the day.
- A battle of the league's best attackers: Finals, stereotypically, tend to be cagey affairs. With their seasons on the line, two sides meet, desperate not to make the kind of errors that could cost their team. That may well be the case when Atlético Ottawa meet Cavalry on Sunday, but it would be against both teams' nature. Atleti set the league alight this year with a CPL record 54 goals during the regular season, while Cavalry were not too far behind, scoring 47 — their most since the league's inaugural season in 2019. Sunday's match will also feature some of the league's most lethal attackers with a history of scoring in this fixture. Golden Boot winner Sam Salter of Atlético Ottawa has goals in each of his past three matches against Cavalry. Ballou Tabla also has three goals against the Calgary club this season, and David Rodríguez has a goal and two assists. For Cavalry, Ali Musse has seven goal contributions (five goals, two assists) in his past six against Atleti. Tobias Warschewski, meanwhile, has scored in each of his four CPL Playoffs games. But he has never scored at TD Place in a Cavalry shirt. While both teams will likely display some caution going forward, both are full of players who can break a game wide open in an instant — which makes for a thrilling final.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Mbomio, Abatneh, Cloutier; Dos Santos, Castro, Aparicio, Antinoro; Rodríguez, Salter, Tabla
Cavalry FC: Carducci; Aird, Klomp, Field, Gherasimencov; Shome, Kobza; Musse, Warschewski, Ntignee; Elva
ALL-TIME SERIES
Atlético Ottawa wins: 11 | Cavalry FC wins: 4 | Draws: 5
LAST MEETING
Sept. 27, 2025 — Atlético Ottawa 0-3 Cavalry FC
KEY QUOTES
“You need to smell all the small details. You need to try to quit the pressure on the players; just enjoy. Finally, to play a final is a gift. Nothing happens if you lose. Nothing happens, it’s just a game. These players that I have in this team, for me the most important thing is the future of all of them. The opportunity we have to play a final, it’s incredible. We play to win, but nothing happens if we can’t get that final.” — Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
“One team gets to lift the Shield, and we weren’t able to do it. We responded to that by beating the team that did in their home. When it comes to pressure, I feel like the pressure I put on myself to perform outweighs anything that could come from the outside. We’ve far exceeded expectations. If you look at anyone outside of Diego and myself, I think when everyone showed up this year we would’ve said, if they can make it to the playoffs, make it to the final, host the final, they’re playing with borrowed money. I really believe that. As recency bias, since we’ve had such a good season and knocked off Forge, outside pressure tries to make it seem like it’s on us.” — Atlético Ottawa captain Nathan Ingham
“No two Ottawa teams have been the same, they’ve had three different coaches we’ve played against. They’ve gone from being the protagonists to the antagonists. I don’t think it’s necessarily the style or the club, it’s just literally, they’ve had our number in the regular season. But what we’ve learned is it means absolutely nothing if we win the Final on Sunday.” — Cavalry FC head coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr.
“Experience is the key word. We’ve been here before. We’ve been here in multiple situations, too; hosting it last year, in a position where externally a lot of people probably looked at us as a favourite. Being on the road, not being a favourite, whatever the noise, the media, what’s going on on the outside, the experience is key. Looking back to last season, it’s a huge boon for us that we’ve been in these games before.” — Cavalry FC captain Marco Carducci
