The Canadian Premier League has officially announced that Atletico Madrid will join the competition as Ottawa, Ontario’s expansion team.
The name of the side has yet to be announced however, the team will join Canada’s top tier football competition in April.
Atlético de Madrid´s CEO Miguel Ángel Gil Marín emphasised: “We are delighted to be part of such an exciting project in an amazing country. We would like to bring our expertise to a very strong and structured league and will work together with the CPL and the rest of the clubs to contribute to the growth of Canadian soccer.
“We want Ottawa soccer fans to be able to feel proud of belonging to the Atlético de Madrid family so we can start sharing our values with them.”
This is the CPL’s first expansion since it was founded in 2017, as of April there will now be eight teams in the division.
Commissioner David Clanachan stated: “We are thrilled to welcome Ottawa as the Canadian Premier League’s 8th Club and Club Atlético de Madrid as our newest owners of the Ottawa club.
“We are very excited to launch the club with one of the world’s most iconic and successful soccer brands and look forward to them taking to the pitch for the 2020 CPL season.”
In order to smoothly transition into a new league, Atletico have hired Ottawa businessman, Jeff Hunt as its strategic partner. Hurt is the owner of the Ottawa Redblacks football club and Ontario Hockey League’s Ottawa 67’s.
Atletico’s new team will play at the 24,000 capacity TD Place Stadium with an official unveiling of the new franchise to be announced on 12th February.
Insider Insight: Atletico continues its expansion into the America’s as the side also purchased a majority stake in Mexico’s San Luis Football Club in 2017. Clearly the experiment worked in Mexico and so the club will be hoping to find similar success in Canada.
