Forge FC's Bobby Smyrniotis has been nominated for Canadian Premier League Coach of the Year for the seventh consecutive season.
Smyrniotis finally won the award last year after missing out on his first five nominations. Apparently, perfection is expected given Forge's winning record.
This year he will face York United's Mauro Eustaquio and Atlético Ottawa's Diego Mejia.
The winner, determined by a vote of CPL team technical management and select members of the media, will be announced on November 7 in Ottawa during the CPL Championship Celebration Games.
Last year, Smyrniotis beat Cavalry player Tommy Wheeldon Jr, who won the award in 2019 and 2023, as well as then-York United manager Benjamin More.
Forge is unbeaten in 20 games (13-0-7) to start the season this year and finished atop the regular season standings with a 16-2-10 record. The club scored 51 goals while conceding just 22, the second-best offensive and defensive record in league history. The goal difference of 29 was also the second highest in league history.
Eustaquio led York to a record-breaking campaign in 2025, his first year as coach after three seasons as an assistant coach. York, who finished fifth in the table with a record of 10-10-8, scored a club-record 43 goals and finished the year with a club-record goal difference of five.
Under Mejia, Ottawa finished second to Forge in the standings with a 15-2-11 record, improving their point total by 12 from the previous season. The club also set the league's single-season scoring record with 54 goals, and its goal differential of 26 was a franchise record and the third-best in league history.
This is the first nomination for both Eustaquio and Mejia.
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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 31, 2025.
