# 2006 Canadian Soccer League season

The 2006 Canadian Soccer League season was the 9th season for the Canadian Soccer League. The season began on May 19, 2006, and concluded on October 15, 2006, with Italia Shooters defeating Serbian White Eagles, 1–0, at Esther Shiner Stadium to win their first CSL Championship. In the regular season Serbia clinched the International Division, and Oakville Blue Devils secured their first National Division title. The league was re-branded as the Canadian Soccer League, and renamed their two existing conferences into the International and National division. The changes brought about an increase in sponsorship, media coverage, and a 50% increase in attendance. The CSL also received greater autonomy from the Ontario Soccer Association. The league struck an agreement with the Toronto Community News which provided coverage for the league and its member clubs through their nine community newspapers.

## Changes from 2005 season

The Canadian Professional Soccer League changed their name to the Canadian Soccer League. Two new conferences were created International, and National, replacing the Eastern, and Western conferences. The Vaughan Shooters changed their name to Italia Shooters and Toronto Supra changed their name to Toronto Supra Portuguese. Both joined the newly created international division, re-kindling the spirit of the National Soccer League. The Serbian White Eagles, and the Caribbean Selects began play as an expansion franchise in the International Conference. The White Eagles played under the same name in the CSL's predecessor league the National Soccer League in 1974. The Hamilton Thunder, and the Durham Storm had their franchises revoked. Most of the matches were scheduled for the weekend in order to save travel expenses for the clubs, and the league eliminated the playoff wildcard match for the host club.

## Teams

| Team | City | Stadium | Manager |
| Brampton Stallions | Brampton, Ontario (Bramalea) | Victoria Park Stadium | Paul Dhillon |
| Caribbean Selects | Toronto, Ontario (Liberty Village) | Lamport Stadium | Corcel Blair Jr. |
| Italia Shooters | Vaughan, Ontario (Woodbridge) | Ontario Soccer Centre | Carmine Isacco |
| London City | London, Ontario (Westmount) | Cove Road Stadium | Harry Gauss |
| Laval Dynamites | Laval, Quebec | Centre Sportif Bois-de-Boulogne | Jawad El Andaloussi |
| North York Astros | Toronto, Ontario (North York) | Esther Shiner Stadium | Pavel Zaslavski |
| Oakville Blue Devils | Oakville, Ontario (Bronte) | Bronte Stadium | Phil Ionadi |
| Serbian White Eagles | Toronto, Ontario (Etobicoke) | Centennial Park Stadium | Dragoslav Šekularac |
| St. Catharines Wolves | St. Catharines, Ontario (Vansickle) | Club Roma Stadium | Miro Marjanovic |
| Toronto Croatia | Mississauga, Ontario (Streetsville) | Memorial Park | Mladen Pralija |
| Toronto Supra Portuguese | Toronto, Ontario (Brockton) | Brockton Stadium | Jose Testas |
| Windsor Border Stars | Windsor, Ontario | Windsor Stadium | Pat Hilton |

## Final standings
### International Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Serbian White Eagles (A, C) | 22 | 17 | 4 | 1 | 66 | 13 | +53 | 55 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 2 | Toronto Croatia (A) | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 58 | 23 | +35 | 47 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 3 | Italia Shooters (A, O) | 22 | 8 | 9 | 5 | 30 | 26 | +4 | 33 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 4 | Toronto Supra Portuguese (A) | 22 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 43 | 34 | +9 | 28 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 5 | Caribbean Selects | 22 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 15 | 87 | −72 | 6 | |

### National Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Oakville Blue Devils (A, C) | 22 | 10 | 6 | 6 | 42 | 26 | +16 | 36 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 2 | Brampton Stallions (A) | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 38 | 42 | −4 | 35 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 3 | Laval Dynamites (A) | 22 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 37 | 29 | +8 | 31 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 4 | Windsor Border Stars (A) | 22 | 8 | 6 | 8 | 30 | 30 | 0 | 30 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 5 | St. Catharines Wolves | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 29 | 40 | −11 | 27 | |
| 6 | North York Astros | 22 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 28 | 45 | −17 | 17 | |
| 7 | London City | 22 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 27 | 58 | −31 | 15 | |

## CSL Championship playoffs

| QuarterFinals | QuarterFinals | QuarterFinals | SemiFinals | SemiFinals | SemiFinals | Rogers Cup final | Rogers Cup final | Rogers Cup final |
| 3 | Toronto Croatia | 1 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Laval Dynamites | 0 | | | | | | |
| 6 | Laval Dynamites | 0 | 3 | Toronto Croatia | 0 | | | |
| | | | 5 | Italia Shooters | 1 | | | |
| 2 | Oakville Blue Devils | 1 | 5 | Italia Shooters | 1 | | | |
| 7 | Windsor Border Stars | 2 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Windsor Border Stars | 2 | | | | 5 | Italia Shooters | 1 |
| | | | | | | 1 | Serbian White Eagles | 0 |
| 4 | Brampton Stallions | 0 | | | | | | | 1 | Serbian White Eagles | 0 |
| 5 | Italia Shooters | 2 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Italia Shooters | 2 | 1 | Serbian White Eagles | 6 | | | |
| | | | 7 | Windsor Border Stars | 1 | | | |
| 1 | Serbian White Eagles | 3 | 7 | Windsor Border Stars | 1 | | | |
| 8 | Toronto Supra Portuguese | 0 | | | | | | |

### Quarterfinals

* ↑ Italia Shooters were given the semi-final spot as a result of a 2-0 forfeit

### CSL Championship

| GK | 23 | Dušan Belić | |
| RB | 2 | Siniša Ninković | |
| CB | 8 | Nenad Stojčić | |
| LB | 6 | Mirko Medić | |
| RM | 16 | Joshua Gordon | |
| CM | 10 | Božo Milić | 82' |
| CM | 13 | Nikola Budalic | 76' |
| LM | 21 | Alex Braletic | |
| ST | 11 | Gabriel Pop | |
| ST | 9 | Saša Viciknez (c) | |
| ST | 15 | Miloš Šćepanović | 45' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 1 | Miodrag Bogdanović | |
| DF | 4 | Marc Jankovic | |
| DF | 5 | Nikola Lukić | |
| DF | 7 | Mario Ostojić | |
| MF | 12 | Uroš Predić | 82' |
| MF | 20 | Milan Janošević | 76' |
| FW | 22 | Dragan Radović | 45' |
| Manager: ||
| Dragoslav Šekularac ||
| GK | 0 | Camilo Benzi | |
| RB | 22 | Angelo Pollastrone (c) | |
| CB | 12 | Alvaro Yaques | |
| LB | 11 | Fitzroy Christey |
| RM | 15 | Luke Stedmond | 57' |
| CM | 24 | Anthony Adur | |
| CM | 13 | Frank Bruno | 82' |
| CM | 18 | Bill Androutsos | 65' |
| LM | 25 | Sean Myers | |
| FW | 21 | Luca Forno | |
| FW | 9 | Jason De Thomasis | 84' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 1 | Pablo Alvarado | |
| DF | 6 | Franco Ruscetta | 65' |
| DF | 3 | Diego Cardona | |
| MF | 10 | Josue Jaramillo | 57' |
| FW | 14 | Remone Metyas | |
| FW | 20 | Rob Black | 84' |
| FW | 23 | Aundrae Rollins | 82' |
| Manager: ||
| Tony De Thomasis ||
* Assistant referees:
* Amato DeLuca
* Vito Curalli
* Fourth official:
* Yusri Rudolf

## All-Star Game

Clyde F.C. of the Scottish First Division conducted a Canadian tour, where they played two matches the first match against Windsor Border Stars and the second against a CSL All-Star team assembled by Velemir Crljen. The match was played at Esther Shiner Stadium at North York, Toronto.
| GK | 23 | George Azcurra | 52' |
| RB | 22 | Antonijo Župan (c) |
| CB | 25 | Orlin Chalmers | 66' |
| LB | 4 | Domagoj Šain | |
| RM | 12 | Danny Draganic | 31' |
| CM | 17 | Desmond Humphrey | 79' |
| CM | 16 | Caswain Mason | 86' |
| CM | 13 | Hayden Fitzwilliams | 80' |
| LM | 19 | Fitzroy Christey | 75' |
| ST | 10 | Peter Curic | 70' |
| ST | 18 | Saša Viciknez | 66' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 1 | Dušan Belić | 79' |
| GK | 21 | Haidar Al-Shaïbani | 52' 79' |
| DF | 15 | Deny Velastegui | 75' |
| DF | 2 | Mirko Medić | 66' |
| DF | 7 | Mario Ostojić | 90' |
| DF | 3 | Zeljko Dukic | 79' |
| MF | 6 | Selmir Sehic | 31' 90' |
| MF | 8 | Gentjan Dervishi | |
| MF | 11 | Eris Tafaj | 86' |
| MF | 24 | Geoffrey Attard | 80' |
| FW | 17 | Judah Hernandez | 70' |
| FW | 5 | Alex Braletic | 87' |
| FW | 14 | Jean Tshimpaka | 66' 87' |
| Manager: ||
| Velimir Crljen ||
| GK | 1 | Peter Cherrie | |
| RB | 5 | Craig McKeown | |
| CB | 2 | Neil McGregor |
| CB | 4 | Chris Higgins | 74' |
| LB | 3 | Dougie Imrie | |
| RM | 11 | Michael McGowan | |
| CM | 6 | Kevin McDonald | |
| CM | 7 | Steven Masterton | 45' |
| LM | 8 | Stephen O'Donnell | |
| FW | 10 | Tom Brighton | 10' |
| FW | 9 | Alex Williams | |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 17 | Paul Jarvie | |
| DF | 12 | Bob Harris | |
| MF | 15 | Kevin Bradley | 10' |
| MF | 16 | Paul McHale | 45' |
| MF | 19 | Ian Sinclair | 74' |
| FW | 14 | Gary Arbuckle | |
| Manager: ||
| Graham Roberts ||
* Assistant referees:
* Amato DeLuca
* Mike Roecken
* Fourth official:
* Vito Curalli

## Top goal scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Gabriel Pop | Serbian White Eagles | 27 |
| 2 | Saša Viciknez | Serbian White Eagles | 23 |
| 3 | Castro Uarlem | Toronto Supra Portuguese | 20 |
| 4 | Hayden Fitzwilliams | Toronto Croatia | 12 |
| 5 | Tomislav Ples | Toronto Croatia | 11 |
| 6 | Sam Hassam | Oakville Blue Devils | 10 |
| 7 | Rachid Madkour | Laval Dynamites | 9 |
| 8 | Hugo Herrera | Brampton Stallions | 8 |
| 9 | Petro Czoli | Oakville Blue Devils | 8 |
| 10 | Micheal DiLuca | Toronto Supra Portuguese | 8 |
Updated: September 30, 2006 Source: https://web.archive.org/web/20070203180901/http://cpsl.org/stats.asp

## CSL Executive Committee and Staff

The 2006 CSL Executive Committee.

## Awards

The annual CSL awards ceremony was held at the La Contessa Banquet Hall on October 22, 2006 in North York, Toronto. The majority of the awards were taken by the International Division teams. The league chose Sasa Viciknez as its MVP, a former Serbian football veteran who played in the 1998–99 UEFA Champions League. Romanian import Gabriel Pop took the Golden Boot for the White Eagles. The Goalkeeper of the Year went to George Azcurra of Toronto Croatia, which marked his fifth award a record amount.
Due to his longstanding dedication to the league Toronto Supra Portuguese owner Isac Cambas was given the President of the Year award. Supra's Uarlem Castro was named the Rookie of the Year after finishing as the third highest goalscorer in the league. After defying the odds in the championship final by defeating a team stacked with European football experience, Tony De Thomasis was presented with the Coach of the Year award. Expansion franchise Caribbean Selects were given the Fair Pay award, and Mercy Watfa was named the Referee of the Year.
| Award | Player (Club) |
| CSL Most Valuable Player | Saša Viciknez (Serbian White Eagles) |
| CSL Golden Boot | Gabriel Pop (Serbian White Eagles) |
| CSL Goalkeeper of the Year Award | George Azcurra (Toronto Croatia) |
| CSL Defender of the Year Award | Fil Rocca (Windsor Border Stars) |
| CSL Rookie of the Year Award | Uarlem Castro (Toronto Supra Portuguese) |
| CSL Coach of the Year Award | Tony De Thomasis (Italia Shooters) |
| CSL President of the Year Award | Isac Cambas (Toronto Supra Portuguese) |
| CSL Referee of the Year Award | Mercy Watfa |
| CSL Fair Play Award | Caribbean Selects |