Forge FC think big after Canadian Championship win

Hamilton’s CPL side make history and underline the country’s growing football ambitions, writes JAMES NALTON

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It was a night of cup finals and penalty shootouts in North America as St. Louis City completed their own historic triumph in the United States domestic cup, the US Open Cup, winning on penalties against Columbus Crew.

But it was this first national cup win for a team from the CPL that marked an important moment in the growth of the game in the region, and for Canadian soccer in particular.

Canada (and Mexico) had felt like an afterthought in the US-dominated World Cup that took place in North America this summer and was supposed to help grow the game there. 

But beneath all of that big tournament razzmatazz and American/Fifa showiness, the Canadian Premier League has been quietly growing its league and growing the game in a real sense.

Its formation in 2019 also provided a boost to the Canadian Championship, which had previously been limited to just a handful of professional teams, and dominated by the MLS trio of Montreal, Vancouver Whitecaps, and Toronto FC.

Just a 45-minute drive (if you’re very lucky with traffic) along the edge of Lake Ontario from the BMO Field stadium that hosted World Cup matches in Toronto, sits Forge FC’s home, Hamilton Stadium.

It is located just a few blocks away from one of Canada’s heaviest industrial areas, as the banks of Lake Ontario host Hamilton’s jutting industrial sectors. 

When viewing the city from the nearby Queen Elizabeth Way that runs around the lake’s western edge from Toronto to the Niagara Peninsula, this industrial landscape is Hamilton’s most notable feature.

It was from this industrial power that the city’s CPL team, Forge FC, took their name and their inspiration. 

The Hammers, as they are also known, join numerous other steel industry-inspired teams across the world of sport, including The Blades of Sheffield United and the Steelers of Pittsburgh in the NFL.

It’s a nod to the region’s history from a distinctly new team in a new league. 

Founded less than 10 years ago in 2017, Forge went on to win the inaugural Canadian Premier League championship in 2019, and have grown into one of the most successful and familiar names in Canadian domestic football. 

Their Canadian Championship win on Wednesday gave them something beyond CPL success to back up this progress in a competition that features Canada’s historic professional teams.

The dynamic of Canadian soccer, tied as it has been for so long to the United States top division, MLS, is unique.

The biggest names in the game in Canada are Vancouver Whitecaps, who retain the name of the NASL team from the 1970s and ’80s (despite being a separate entity), and Montreal Impact (rebranded in 2021 to the unimaginative CF Montreal). 

Both these teams play in MLS, along with Toronto FC, who, despite being the newest name of the trio, were the first Canadian team to join MLS in 2007, with Vancouver added in 2011 and Montreal in 2012, and is the most successful of the three.

Toronto versus Montreal has become one of the biggest rivalries in MLS, thanks in part to its origin in the Canadian Championship. 

When Concacaf gave Canada a slot in its revamped Champions League competition for the 2008/09 season, the Canadian Championship was created to facilitate qualification for it, and also coincided with Toronto FC’s first season in MLS.

Toronto FC (MLS), Montreal Impact (then in the second tier USL) and Vancouver Whitecaps (also then USL) entered the inaugural Canadian Championship in 2008, and despite being in the “lower division,” Montreal triumphed in what was then a round-robin tournament rather than a knockout.

Toronto went on to win the next four editions with the tournament switching to a knockout format in 2011, and though extra teams were gradually added to the mix, it wasn’t until the birth of the Canadian Premier League in 2019 that the tournament began to really expand and look like a more complete domestic cup competition.

By winning the title this year, Forge became the first non-MLS team to do so since Montreal Impact won the inaugural edition in 2008.

Some might say it highlights the struggles of Canada’s MLS teams, with Montreal and Toronto regularly seen down at the bottom of the overall table of late, and Vancouver experiencing off-field troubles that have threatened their very existence as a club, despite good performances on the pitch.

It has led to suggestions that Canada’s teams should abandon MLS altogether and join the CPL, but there is also a case to say these Canadian teams have contributed to the growth of MLS and should not give up any of the benefits they might get on the back of that.

On the other hand, Forge FC are showing that the CPL can stand on its own without the introduction of those big-name MLS teams.

They took Toronto to penalties in the 2020 Canadian Championship final that, due to Covid-19, was a single match between the CPL champion and the team with the best record between MLS’s Canadian sides.

Forge reached the semi-finals of the Concacaf League, a short-lived Europa League-style secondary tournament in the region, in 2019, and this year managed a draw at home to Mexican giants Tigres in the Champions Cup (Champions League equivalent).

Domestically, they are the most successful team in the short history of the CPL, having won the playoffs four times between 2019 and 2023, and having topped the regular season table in the previous two years.

“When this club was established, our ambition was to help raise the standard of professional soccer in Canada,” said Bobby Smyrniotis, who has been head coach at Forge since the team’s inaugural season.

“To reach this moment, competing against an established MLS club and winning a national championship, speaks to the work that has gone into building this team and the progress of our league. 

“It’s an incredible achievement for our players and everyone associated with Forge FC.”

There is one game left to play in the 2026 regular season, and Forge are currently level on points at the top of the table with Cavalry FC, but behind on goal difference.

They might not top the table for a third year in a row, but they’ll fancy themselves in the playoffs once again, especially after having already triumphed in one knockout competition this year.

They’ll also qualify for next season’s Champions Cup, and winning a game in that tournament is the next step for a Canadian club that thinks big.

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