Forge FC Clinch 2025 Canadian Premier League Shield, Salter Wins Golden Boot Award
CPL Canadian Premier League

Forge FC Clinch 2025 Canadian Premier League Shield, Salter Wins Golden Boot Award

Published on October 18, 2025 under Canadian Premier League (CPL) News Release


Toronto, ON - Forge FC today clinched the Canadian Premier League Shield as the league's Regular Season Winners for 2025, also securing a berth in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup.

The milestone came on the final day of the 2025 CPL regular season - known as The Outcome - which saw all eight teams kick off simultaneously and delivered high drama and unforgettable moments with CPL Shield and playoff positioning on the line.

Forge started the day sitting in first place in the CPL standings, two points ahead of Atlético Ottawa. A 3-0 home win over local rival York United FC ensured the Hamilton, Ont.-based side ended the day exactly where it began - at the top of the standings - and captured the Shield along the way.

James Johnson, Group CEO of Canadian Soccer Business, and Costa Smyrniotis, Executive Vice President of Soccer at the Canadian Premier League, presented Forge with the Shield in front of the club's supporters at Hamilton Stadium immediately following Saturday's match, recognizing a season that embodied the drive and ambition at the heart of the CPL's ongoing Rise to the North campaign

The CPL Shield, introduced in 2022 to honour the league's Regular Season Winners, represents a major milestone in the Rise to the North, the journey down the stretch of the regular season toward the Shield, the CPL Final and the North Star Cup. Three clubs have now lifted the Shield since its introduction: Atlético Ottawa (2022), Cavalry FC (2023), and Forge FC (2024, 2025). It has quickly become a symbol of sustained excellence and a defining milestone within the Rise to the North campaign, recognizing the league's regular season best and embodying the intensity and endurance of The Chase, the season-long battle to claim top spot over 28 matches.

This is Forge's sixth major trophy since joining the CPL as an inaugural club in 2019. The side previously captured the North Star Shield as CPL Champions in 2019, 2020 and 2022, the North Star Cup as CPL Champions in 2023, and its first CPL Shield as Regular Season Winners in 2024.

In 2025, Forge delivered one of the most dominant regular season campaigns in league history, going 20 games unbeaten between April 5 and August 30. The club set a new record for the fewest losses in a 28-game CPL season, suffering just two defeats - a mark they now jointly hold with Atlético Ottawa, surpassing the previous four-loss record established by Cavalry in 2019 and matched in 2024.

With the Shield comes significant reward. Forge secured a berth in the 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup and has earned the right to host the Championship Semifinal against Atlético Ottawa on Saturday, Oct. 26 at 2 p.m. ET/11 a.m. PT. The winner of that match will host the 2025 CPL Final, the league's marquee postseason event.

Saturday also saw Atletico Ottawa striker Sam Salter make history by officially claiming the 2025 CPL Golden Boot Award after setting a new single-season record with 19 goals scored in regular season play.

Salter was a driving force behind Atleti's composed and consistent campaign. The 25-year-old forward surpassed João Morelli's previous record of 14 goals set in 2021 and established a new benchmark for the most matches with at least one goal (14), breaking the previous mark of 12 held by Easton Ongaro (2021), Rubén del Campo (2024) and Tristan Borges (2019).

One of the defining moments of Salter's season came on May 10, 2025, when he scored four goals in a 5-2 win over Valour FC at TD Place Stadium, setting another league record for the most goals scored by a single player in a match.

The native of Laval, Que. becomes the first Atlético Ottawa player to win the Golden Boot award outright. Former Atleti teammate Ollie Bassett shared the honour with Cavalry FC's Myer Bevan in 2023.

Salter's Golden Boot achievement will be recognized at the 2025 CPL Awards ceremony on Friday, Nov. 7, where he will be presented with the Nikisuittuq statue, a unique piece of Inuit soapstone art conceived by artist Pitseolak Qimirpik and awarded annually to the league's top scorer.

As the curtain falls on The Chase and The Outcome, the stage is now set for the next chapter in Rise to the North, the CPL Playoffs, where the battle for the North Star Cup truly begins.

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Canadian Premier League Stories from October 18, 2025


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