Borges, Carducci steals the show at 2019 CanPL Awards

TORONTO, Ont.—The winners of the inaugural Canadian Premier League Awards were announced on Tuesday afternoon in downtown Toronto.

There were five awards to be won: Golden Glove, Golden Boot, Player of the Year, Coach of the Year, and Under-21 Canadian Player of the year, as well as the Volkswagen Premier Performer.

We already knew that Forge FC’s Tristan Borges was the winner of the Golden Boot, having scored 13 goals, two more than Cavalry’s Dominique Malonga and Pacific’s Terran Campbell, but that wouldn’t be the only hardware that he would pick up on Tuesday.

Borges also picked up Player of the Year and Under-21 Player of the Year. By winning POTY, it only makes sense to give him U-21 Canadian Player of the Year, especially after the campaign he had. As mentioned, he won the Golden Boot with 13 goals, but he also picked up 5 assists, playing a major role in leading Forge FC to the North Star Shield (including a goal in the final).

Golden Glove — Marco Carducci

Marco Carducci was the gold standard for CPL goalkeepers in 2019, and has the honour of being the first Canadian Men's National Team call-up in the league's history. He was between the sticks for the team that allowed the fewest goals, and was tied for the clean sheets lead. He's more than deserving of the recognition.

Coach of the Year: Tommy Wheeldon Jr

Cavalry FC were dominant for large parts of the season, and that dominance was drawn up by Head Coach Tommy Wheeldon Jr. The Englishman led Cavalry to both the Spring and Fall Season titles, and just missed out of sweeping all of the silverware. His side also knocked out the Vancouver Whitecaps in the Canadian Championship in what was a huge moment for the CPL in year one.

U-21 Canadian of the Year — Tristan Borges

Tristan Borges scored 13 goals and added five assists, leading Forge FC to the inaugural North Star Shield. Borges also won the Player of the Year, so he pretty much had to win the U-21 Canadian award as well.

There were quite a few people who could've won this award, and CPL's goal of giving talented Canadian players is working, as players previously unknown to most are now starting to become household names.

Player of the Year — Tristan Borges

What else can we say about Tristan Borges at this point? The 21-year-old Forge midfielder was one of the best players all year long, and might need to start looking for a new trophy cabinet at this rate.

Volkswagen Premier Performer — Marco Carducci

Marco Carducci won the first Volkswagen Premier Performer award with an average of 79.64 points per game, ahead of Tristan Borges (75.92) and Ryan Telfer (75.91). He wins a 2019 Jetta GLI.

Players received a rating from 1-100 for each game they played, based on statistics, and the player with the highest average at the end of the season was crowned the winner.