One versus two. A spot in the CPL Final up for grabs in a summit showdown.
It doesn't get much better than this in the Canadian Premier League Playoffs. CPL Shield winners Forge FC host Atlético Ottawa at Hamilton Stadium on Sunday in the 2025 Championship Semifinal, where one of the league's top two sides will book the first ticket to this year's CPL Final.
The winner of Sunday's contest will earn the right to host the CPL Final on Nov. 9, and will get next weekend off to prepare. The losing side, however, must drop to the Contender Semifinal on Nov. 1 or 2, where they'll host either Cavalry FC or York United in a battle for the other remaining spot in the Final.
Hosts Forge, fresh off lifting silverware as regular season winners (for a second straight year), have their sights set on the North Star Cup, and becoming the first CPL team ever to win a double. They're aiming to qualify for a jaw-dropping seventh consecutive Final, having played in every single championship match so far in the league's history. Three Finals to date have been played at Hamilton Stadium, and a win on Sunday means Forge would host a fourth.
“You play to win," Forge coach Bobby Smyrniotis told the media on Friday. "Winning is fun, players love it. So why would you want to do it any other way? It’s something we’ve built here over seven years. The guys understand what that feeling is like, and they push themselves."
He added: "There’s a direct correlation to having a very good environment within your team, to being successful in the league and winning championships.”
Winning on Sunday is much easier said than done, though, against an Atlético Ottawa side desperate to slay the dragon and bring a CPL Final back to the capital for the first time since 2022. They've been neck-and-neck with Forge all year, but fell just short at the end, finishing two points behind the Hammers in the league table.
There wasn't much to separate these teams this year, but in the end Forge effectively won the trophy because they managed to beat Ottawa at home in mid-August. That was the only one of four matchups between the sides that didn't finish in a draw, so Atleti still have yet to beat the Hamilton club in 2025.
It's impossible for Ottawa to win the North Star Cup this year without beating Forge at least once, so that's goal number one right now.
These two clubs, truly the cream of the crop in the CPL in 2025, will deliver a proper heavyweight bout on Sunday. Forge's side is replete with experienced postseason veterans, from Kyle Bekker and Tristan Borges to Alessandro Hojabrpour and David Choinière. Ten players in the squad have won multiple championships with the Hammers, and Bekker, Choinière and Alex Achinioti-Jönsson have been present for every trophy in club history.
In total, Forge FC's roster features 109 games of CPL Playoff experience — 101 of them with Forge, plus Alessandro Hojabrpour's five at Pacific and Mo Babouli's three with York.
However, what Ottawa's squad lacks in postseason experience, they make up for in sheer talent. Their group boasts several bona fide CPL superstars, who set the league on fire in 2025. Sam Salter smashed the league's single-season goals record en route to the Golden Boot, scoring 19 times (23 in all competitions). Meanwhile, Mexican winger David Rodríguez has been electrifying in the Atleti attack, contributing nine goals and nine assists in the regular season.
Ballou Tabla (12 goals, three assists) rounds out an Atleti front three that has been lethal all season, while the midfield includes another longtime CPL star in Manny Aparicio.
Last season, Forge lost this championship semifinal match to Cavalry FC at home, which meant the Cavs hosted (and then won) the Final. They're undoubtedly eager to avoid that path this time around.
Meanwhile, Atleti's postseason run ended in Hamilton last year. They finished third and knocked out York United on penalties, but fell to Forge in the Contender Semifinal; Ottawa played very well in that game and game so close to scoring several times, but ultimately Forge won it 1-0.
Ottawa have been bullish about their club's talent and ambition all year, but have yet to beat Forge. They've been extremely close on three occasions in clashes that ended in draws, but also got thoroughly outplayed in Hamilton last time they were there.
"We play each other so much, we know everything about them," Ottawa goalkeeper Nathan Ingham told the media on Friday.
"We know their threats: Keep Borges off his left foot, don't give Babouli space, manage Brian [Wright]'s runs over the top. Don't let Bekker get his head up. Get the ball over the top, make [Dan] Nimick and Achinioti-Jönsson face their own goal. Put them in difficult situations, let Sam [Salter] bully them and hold it up. We know each other so well, so it's going to come down to the players, to compete level, and just being focused. A lot of these games could've gone both ways."
As far as availability goes, both clubs have almost entirely healthy squads. Ottawa's biggest absence will be 17-year-old defender Sergei Kozlovskiy, who has joined Canada at the FIFA U-17 World Cup in Qatar. Forge, meanwhile, have no major concerns with everybody in full training this week; the biggest question will be Nana Ampomah, who missed the last four games of the season.
A spot in the CPL Final is on the line, and one of these supremely talented teams will grab it.
Is the North Star Cup going to be won in Hamilton again? Or could it be bound for the capital?
3 THINGS TO WATCH
- Big test for Ottawa's young defence: Atlético Ottawa have been one of the most remarkable stories in the CPL this year, conceding the second-fewest goals in the league with an exceptionally young defensive group. They'll be missing 17-year-old Sergei Kozlovskiy in the playoffs due to his involvement in the FIFA U-17 World Cup, but nonetheless the back three will still include 21-year-olds Noah Abatneh and Loïc Cloutier, as well as 20-year-old Spaniard Rony Mbomio. The group has been helped this year by the experience of keeper Nathan Ingham, but it's been impressive to see them shut down opposing attacks all season. However, this is their most difficult challenge yet: keeping Forge quiet at Hamilton Stadium, in a playoff game. The Hammers have only been held scoreless once all season, and never at home. However, Atleti head coach Diego Mejía says that this is exactly the sort of test he wants for his young team. "I think that feeling some pressure is a privilege for us, and that is part of the growth of the players," Mejía said Friday. "I feel happy for this match, and for the young players to play in these kind of matches."
- Forge entering playoffs hungrier than last year: A year ago, Forge found themselves in the same position: Shield winners, with a chance to win the Championship Semifinal in Hamilton and secure a CPL Final at home. However, they lost that game to Cavalry, and thus had to take the long route to the Final, which they ultimately lost in Calgary. Forge clinched the 2024 Shield on Oct. 6, which meant the last two matches of the regular season were essentially meaningless to them — and they lost both, which sent them into the playoffs with little momentum. This time around, they've been playing high-stakes football every week for the last few months to hold off Ottawa in the Shield race and they clinched it the final week of the season. Head coach Bobby Smyrniotis admitted this week that last year, they "exhaled a bit" at the end of the campaign which meant they weren't as sharp as they needed to be come the postseason. Likewise, winger David Choinière agrees that the club comes into these playoffs in better form: "I would say last year, after winning the season, we weren’t satisfied but I think we stopped being hungry," he said. "This year, we know what we want to do, so I don’t think it’s going to be a problem."
- Familiarity leading to innovation? These two sides have seen each other four times already this year, which means there are very few secrets between them. Smyrniotis confirmed as much in his press conference on Friday, suggesting that Ottawa have looked very similar every time he's played them in 2025. "They’re a good team, they’ve had a good season," he said. "They play a brand of football both on the ball and off the ball, and really haven’t changed much throughout the season, so we’ll see if they change anything up for this game." Diego Mejía is extremely unlikely to change much in his starting XI on Sunday, but he might look for a tactical curveball he can throw at Forge. Meanwhile, the Hammers have been more fluid this season in how they set up; they trialled a back three against Ottawa once this year to mirror their opponent. Plus, they've rotated the attacking group quite frequently so it's hard to pinpoint who exactly will take the pitch up front. Smyrniotis explained that he's demonstrated different versions of Forge in 2025, but will choose the one that gives them the best chance to win on Sunday.
PROJECTED STARTING XIs
Forge FC: Koleilat; Rama, Nimick, Achinioti-Jönsson, Jevremović; Bekker, Hojabrpour, Borges; Choinière, Wright, Massunda
Atlético Ottawa: Ingham; Mbomio, Abatneh, Cloutier; Dos Santos, Aparicio, Castro, Antinoro; Rodríguez, Salter, Tabla
ALL-TIME SERIES
Forge FC wins: 14 | Atlético Ottawa wins: 5 | Draws: 6
LAST METTING
Sept. 21, 2025 — Atlético Ottawa 1-1 Forge FC
KEY QUOTES
“[Ottawa] are a good team, they’ve had a good season. They play a brand of football both on the ball and off the ball, and really haven’t changed much throughout the season, so we’ll see if they change anything up for this game. … These are games where nobody really remembers what actually happened in them, but they remember the result. That’s the kind of mentality we have. That’s why, in the past, you’ve seen different versions of us, and the version that we’ll use on Sunday is the version that gives us the best ability to win.” — Forge FC head coach Bobby Smyrniotis
"I always try to teach the players to think big. I want my players to be a small fish in a big pond, and not a shark in a glass of water. It’s the mentality we have, and we are playing these kinds of matches because they deserve to play these kinds of matches. But it’s not the end of the movie, it’s the beginning of some of my players." — Atlético Ottawa head coach Diego Mejía
