# 2008 Canadian Soccer League season

The 2008 Canadian Soccer League season was the 11th since its establishment where a total of 16 teams from Ontario and Quebec took part in the league. The season began on May 16, 2008, and ended on October 26 with the Serbian White Eagles claiming their first championship by defeating Trois-Rivières Attak 2-1 in a penalty shootout. This was the third consecutive year the White Eagles had reached the CSL finals losing respectively to Italia Shooters in 2006, and to rivals Toronto Croatia in 2007. While during the regular season Italia won their second division title with Trois-Rivières becoming the first Quebec team to claim the National Division title.
The CSL added another team to the Peel Region after the relocation of the Canadian Lions to Brampton, Ontario to play as the Brampton Lions in the National Division. Toronto FC of the Major League Soccer established a relationship with the league by entering TFC Academy to the National Division, and TFC Academy II to the Reserve Division. Further significant changes introduced by the league was the creation of the 5 team reserve division in the Toronto region to provide a developmental platform for young players in order to make the transition to the professional ranks. The Ontario Soccer Association reached an agreement with the CSL to receive Operational Independence from the provincial governing body. The league received more coverage from Rogers TV which would broadcast a CSL match on Friday nights.

## Changes from 2007 season

* The Canadian Lions of the International Division move to the National Division as the Brampton Lions.
* Portuguese Supra change their name to Portugal FC.
* TFC Academy, the U-18 Academy team of Major League Soccer's Toronto FC, and owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, enter the National Division.
* Playoff format adjusted to seed division winners as #1 and #2, and the next top six teams seeded #3-#8 irrespective of division.
* The CSL added a 5 team reserve division involving teams in the Toronto region.
* The Ontario Soccer Association grants the CSL 'Operational Independence' from the provincial governing body.
* Rogers TV agreed to broadcast a CSL game of the week Friday night, reaching 800,000 Toronto homes. The final was broadcast across Ontario to 1.5 million households.

## Teams

| Team | City | Stadium | Manager |
| Brampton Lions | Brampton, Ontario (Bramalea) | Victoria Park Stadium | Armando Costa |
| Italia Shooters | Vaughan, Ontario (Maple) | St. Joan Of Arc Turf Field | Carmine Isacco |
| London City | London, Ontario (Westmount) | Cove Road Stadium | Eddie Edgar |
| North York Astros | Toronto, Ontario (North York) | Esther Shiner Stadium | Rafael Carbajal |
| Portugal FC | Toronto, Ontario (Liberty Village) | Lamport Stadium | Jose Testas |
| Serbian White Eagles | Toronto, Ontario (Etobicoke) | Centennial Park Stadium | Milan Cancarevic |
| St. Catharines Wolves | St. Catharines, Ontario (Vansickle) | Club Roma Stadium | James McGillivray |
| TFC Academy | Toronto, Ontario (Liberty Village) | Lamport Stadium | Jason Bent |
| Toronto Croatia | Mississauga, Ontario | Hershey Centre | Miroslav Buljan |
| Trois-Rivières Attak | Trois-Rivières, Quebec | Stade de l'UQTR | Marc Dos Santos |
| 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 | Italia Shooters (A, C) | 22 | 13 | 3 | 6 | 50 | 32 | +18 | 42 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 2 | Serbian White Eagles (A, O) | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 43 | 23 | +20 | 41 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 3 | Toronto Croatia (A) | 22 | 11 | 5 | 6 | 40 | 35 | +5 | 38 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 4 | Portugal FC (A) | 22 | 9 | 7 | 6 | 44 | 31 | +13 | 34 | Qualification for Playoffs |

### National Division

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Trois-Rivieres Attak (A, C) | 22 | 14 | 5 | 3 | 47 | 12 | +35 | 47 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 2 | North York Astros (A) | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 41 | 41 | 0 | 33 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 3 | Brampton Lions (A) | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 47 | 37 | +10 | 29 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 4 | St. Catharines Wolves (A) | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 28 | 38 | −10 | 26 | Qualification for Playoffs |
| 5 | Windsor Border Stars | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 31 | 45 | −14 | 26 | |
| 6 | TFC Academy | 22 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 26 | 44 | −18 | 20 | |
| 7 | London City | 22 | 0 | 3 | 19 | 22 | 81 | −59 | 3 | |

## 2008 scoring leaders

    Full article: CSL Golden Boot
| Rank | Player | Nationality | Club | Goals |
| 1 | Daniel Nascimento | Canada | Brampton Lions | 18 |
| 2 | Andrew Loague | Canada | London City | 14 |
| 2 | Selvin Lammie | Canada | North York Astros | 14 |
| 4 | Dragan Radović | Montenegro | Serbian White Eagles | 12 |
| 5 | Hayden Fitzwilliams | Trinidad and Tobago | Toronto Croatia | 11 |
| 6 | Saša Viciknez | Serbia | Serbian White Eagles | 10 |
| 6 | Danny Amaral | Canada | Portugal FC | 10 |
| 6 | Jonathan Hurtis | France | North York Astros | 10 |
| 9 | Tihomir Maletić | Croatia | Toronto Croatia | 9 |

## CSL 2008 Playoffs

| QuarterFinals 10 & 11 October 2008 | QuarterFinals 10 & 11 October 2008 | QuarterFinals 10 & 11 October 2008 | SemiFinals 17 & 18 October 2008 | SemiFinals 17 & 18 October 2008 | SemiFinals 17 & 18 October 2008 | CSL Final 26 October 2008 @ 5:45pm Esther Shiner Stadium, Toronto, Ontario | CSL Final 26 October 2008 @ 5:45pm Esther Shiner Stadium, Toronto, Ontario | CSL Final 26 October 2008 @ 5:45pm Esther Shiner Stadium, Toronto, Ontario |
| 1 | Trois-Rivières Attak | 2 | | | | | | |
| 8 | St. Catharines Wolves | 0 | | | | | | |
| 8 | St. Catharines Wolves | 0 | 1 | Trois-Rivières Attak | 7 | | | |
| | | | 5 | Portugal FC | 0 | | | |
| 4 | Toronto Croatia | 1 | 5 | Portugal FC | 0 | | | |
| 5 | Portugal FC | 2 | | | | | | |
| 5 | Portugal FC | 2 | | | | 1 | Trois-Rivières Attak | 2 (1) |
| | | | | | | 3 | Serbian White Eagles (a.e.t./PSO) | 2 (2) |
| 2 | Italia Shooters | 1 | | | | | | | 3 | Serbian White Eagles (a.e.t./PSO) | 2 (2) |
| 7 | Brampton Lions | 0 | | | | | | |
| 7 | Brampton Lions | 0 | 2 | Italia Shooters | 0 | | | |
| | | | 3 | Serbian White Eagles | 3 | | | |
| 3 | Serbian White Eagles | 2 | 3 | Serbian White Eagles | 3 | | | |
| 6 | North York Astros | 1 | | | | | | |

### CSL Championship

| GK | 1 | Andrew Olivieri (c) | |
| RB | 25 | Alex Surprenant | |
| CB | 21 | Davy Uwimana | |
| CB | 16 | Olivier Brett | |
| LB | 23 | Elkana Mayard | |
| RM | 10 | Hector Contreras | 63' |
| CM | 7 | Ibrahim Baldeh | |
| CM | 6 | Jean Philippe Etienne | |
| LM | 17 | Pierre-Rudolph Mayard | 82' |
| ST | 9 | Mohamed Sylla | 107' |
| ST | 8 | Jean-Louis Bessé | 73' |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 13 | Gildas Toufilana | |
| DF | 3 | Serge Dinkota | |
| DF | 4 | Michel Vitulano | 107' |
| DF | 5 | Francois Boivin | |
| MF | 20 | Massimo Di Ioia | 82' |
| FW | 12 | Nicolas Lesage | 63' |
| FW | 18 | Guillaume Heroux | 73' |
| Manager: ||
| Marc Dos Santos ||
| GK | 25 | Dan Pelc | |
| RB | 14 | Uroš Stamatović | |
| CB | 4 | Mark Jankovic | |
| CB | 6 | Mirko Medić |
| LB | 3 | Dragorad Milićević | |
| RM | 19 | Darryl Gomez | 71' |
| CM | 8 | Nenad Stojčić | |
| CM | 7 | Miloš Vučinić | 117' |
| LM | 5 | Nikola Budalic (c) | |
| FW | 10 | Alex Braletic | 101' |
| FW | 15 | Miloš Šćepanović | |
| Substitutes: ||
| GK | 28 | Marko Petrović | |
| MF | 20 | Milan Janošević | 101' |
| MF | 21 | Aleksandar Radovanović | |
| MF | 16 | Caswain Mason | |
| FW | 11 | Dragan Radović | |
| FW | 9 | Saša Viciknez | 71' |
| FW | 2 | Said Ali | 117' |
| Manager: ||
| Milan Čančarević ||
* Assistant referees:
* David Barrie
* Gianni Facchini
* Fourth official:
* Domenic Scali

## CSL Executive Committee and Staff

A list of the 2008 CSL Executive Committee.

## Individual awards

The annual CSL awards were presented before the CSL Championship final on October 26, 2008. All the awards were taken by the National Division teams with the Brampton Lions, North York Astros, and Trois-Rivières Attak receiving the most awards with 2 wins each. Daniel Nascimento of Brampton was chosen by the league as the MVP, and received the Golden Boot. After recording the best defensive record with Trois-Rivières, former Montreal Impact player Andrew Olivieri was named the Goalkeeper of the Year. Trois-Rivières were also recognized with the Fair Play award for being the most disciplined team throughout the season.
The Defender of the Year was given to Carlos Zeballos of North York. After improving his craft in Europe, Rafael Carbajal returned to the North York Astros to achieve the club's highest finish in their club's history. TFC Academy produced the Rookie of the Year with Adrian Pena. While Isaac Raymond was given the Referee of the Year, and down the road in 2015 was appointed the Manager of Canada's Referee Department for the Canadian Soccer Association.
| Award | Player (Club) |
| CSL Most Valuable Player | Daniel Nascimento (Brampton Lions) |
| CSL Golden Boot | Daniel Nascimento (Brampton Lions) |
| CSL Goalkeeper of the Year Award | Andrew Olivieri (Trois-Rivières Attak) |
| CSL Defender of the Year Award | Carlos Zeballos (North York Astros) |
| CSL Rookie of the Year Award | Adrian Pena (TFC Academy) |
| CSL Coach of the Year Award | Rafael Carbajal (North York Astros) |
| CSL Referee of the Year Award | Isaac Raymond |
| CSL Fair Play Award | Trois-Rivières Attak |

## Reserve Division

In 2008, the league formed the Reserve Division to build a developmental structure within the CSL. The previous time a reserve division was in operation was in the 1990 season in the predecessor league. The intentions of the division was to provide clubs with a supply chain of players with additional playing time, and establish a developmental platform for players in order to make the transition to the professional ranks. The original 5 members of the division were from the Greater Toronto Area with a schedule running from June 2, 2008 to October 6, 2008.

### Teams

| Team | City | Stadium |
| Italia Shooters Reserves | Maple, Ontario | St. Joan Of Arc Turf Field |
| North York Astros Reserves | Toronto, Ontario | Esther Shiner Stadium |
| Portugal FC Reserves | Toronto, Ontario | Esther Shiner Stadium |
| TFC Academy II | Vaughan, Ontario | Ontario Soccer Centre |
| Toronto Croatia Reserves | Mississauga, Ontario | Hershey Centre |

### Final standings

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts |
| 1 | Italia Shooters Reserves (C) | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 55 | 15 | +40 | 37 |
| 2 | TFC Academy II | 16 | 12 | 1 | 3 | 47 | 13 | +34 | 37 |
| 3 | Toronto Croatia Reserves | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 19 | 36 | −17 | 16 |
| 4 | North York Astros Reserves | 16 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 18 | 38 | −20 | 14 |
| 5 | Portugal FC Reserves | 16 | 3 | 2 | 11 | 16 | 53 | −37 | 11 |