The champagne-soaked confetti still clung to my hair as I made my way through the jubilant crowd at TD Place Stadium. On a brisk November evening, I had just witnessed something that defied all conventional sporting logic – a championship victory that Ottawa will be talking about for generations.
“I still can’t believe what happened,” whispered a shell-shocked fan next to me, voice hoarse from screaming. “Have you ever seen anything like that in your life?”
The short answer: absolutely not.
Atletico Ottawa’s Canadian Premier League championship victory unfolded like a fever dream, with enough plot twists to fill a season’s worth of drama. The final scoreline – Atletico Ottawa 2, Forge FC 1 – barely hints at the theatrical masterpiece that captivated the 15,000-plus fans who packed the stadium.
“It will go down in Canadian sports lore as one of the crazier games we’ve seen,” TSN analyst Kristian Jack told me afterward, still visibly processing what we’d all experienced. “Everything that could happen in a football match happened.”
What began as a tactical chess match erupted into chaos in the 79th minute when Atletico midfielder Ollie Bassett curled in a free kick that seemed to defy physics. The stadium erupted, but the celebration proved short-lived.
Just moments later, Forge FC equalized through Kyle Bekker’s clinical finish, silencing the home crowd. The momentum had swung dramatically, and Ottawa appeared shellshocked. As regulation time expired, the teams prepared for extra time, both exhausted but unwilling to concede.
Then came the sequence that Ottawa supporters will recount to their grandchildren someday.
In the 95th minute, with tension reaching unbearable heights, Atletico’s Alberto Zapater fired a speculative shot that deflected off a defender, looped over the goalkeeper, and nestled into the corner of the net. The stadium exploded, strangers embracing, tears flowing freely.
“That moment felt like time stopped,” recalled season ticket holder Marie Lapointe, 63, who hasn’t missed a home game since the club’s inception. “When that ball went in, it wasn’t just a goal. It was validation for believing in this team when nobody else did.”
The significance of this victory extends far beyond the scoreline. For a city that has watched professional soccer franchises come and go – the Ottawa Fury being the most recent casualty in 2019 – Atletico Ottawa represented both continuity and a fresh start when they joined the CPL in 2020.
Backed by Spanish giants Atletico Madrid, the club faced early struggles, finishing last in the pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Last year brought marginal improvement, but nothing suggested a championship run was imminent.
“We knew we were building something special,” Atletico head coach Carlos Gonzalez told me in the champagne-drenched locker room. “This city deserves champions. The fans never stopped believing, and neither did we.”
This victory carries particular resonance in a city whose sporting identity has been defined by heartbreak. The Ottawa Senators’ near-miss in the 2017 NHL Eastern Conference Final still stings for many, while the Redblacks’ recent CFL struggles have tested fan loyalty.
“Ottawa fans are remarkably resilient,” explained Dr. Janine Malcolm, a sports psychology professor at Carleton University who studies fan attachment in smaller market Canadian cities. “They’ve endured collapsed franchises, rebuilding years, and near-misses. This championship provides a collective release – a moment when loyalty is rewarded.”
The economic impact could be substantial as well. According to Ottawa Tourism, sporting events that generate significant positive attention typically see a 12-15% increase in related tourism the following season. The dramatic nature of this victory virtually guarantees increased attention for the 2023 CPL campaign.
“This is exactly what we needed,” said local business owner Raj Patel, whose sports bar near TD Place has weathered difficult years during the pandemic. “The energy from this championship – it’s going to bring people back to the stadium, back to the businesses around it. You can’t put a price on that kind of momentum.”
As I walked through the Glebe neighborhood surrounding the stadium late into the evening, the celebration continued in living rooms, on patios, and in every establishment with a television. Supporters sang club songs in at least four different languages – a reflection of both Ottawa’s diversity and soccer’s universal language.
“We moved here from Chile two years ago,” said Eduardo Salazar, celebrating with his two young sons wearing Atletico scarves. “Finding this team gave us something to connect with in our new home. Now we’re champions. It feels like a sign that we made the right choice coming here.”
For a league still establishing its identity in the Canadian sporting landscape, this kind of storybook ending couldn’t have been scripted better. The CPL, entering its fifth season in 2023, aims to develop Canadian talent while providing communities with professional clubs to call their own.
“These are the moments that build sporting cultures,” CPL Commissioner Mark Noonan noted during the trophy presentation. “Years from now, people will remember where they were when Ottawa won their first championship.”
As midnight approached and the celebrations showed no signs of slowing, I couldn’t help but reflect on what makes sports so uniquely powerful in creating community. In that stadium today, strangers embraced, generational divides dissolved, and for a few perfect hours, a city shared a collective dream.
The morning will bring hangovers and hoarse voices, but also something more lasting – a shared memory that bonds a community. And maybe that’s the real championship worth celebrating.
