Forge FC, Hamilton’s professional soccer club of the Canadian Premier League (CPL), will be kicking off their 2024 campaign on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 8 PM at Tim Hortons Field. Photo Credit: Forge FC.
Forge FC, Hamilton’s professional soccer club of the Canadian Premier League (CPL), will be kicking off their 2024 campaign on Wednesday, Feb. 7 at 8 PM at Tim Hortons Field.
The February match will not mark the beginning of the CPL season, but rather the kickoff of round one of the CONCACAF Champions Cup (formerly known as the CONCACAF Champions League).
CONCACAF is one of FIFA’s six governing bodies and includes North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.
A total of 27 teams participate in the competition.
Forge FC will be facing a strong side in Mexican giants C.D. Guadalajara (known as Chivas) of Liga MX.
The match on Feb. 7 will be the first leg of the first round of the competition with the second leg taking place on Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 10 PM at Estadio Akron in Zapopan, Mexico.
Tickets at Tim Hortons Field for Feb. 7 start at about $30.
The combined score of the two matches determines which team will advance to the Round of 16.
Other clubs in the tournament include a large number of sides from Major League Soccer (MLS), Liga MX (Mexico) and other leagues across the region.
Notably, Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami are in the competition.
Forge are already preparing for the big matches as players completed preseason training at Redeemer University and are now in Queretaro, Mexico for a two-week training camp before returning to Hamilton on Jan. 31.
Back leading the club is head coach Bobby Smyrniotis, who signed a four-year contract extension with Forge FC in May 2023.
Smyrniotis joined OneSoccer’s Adam Jenkins for a one-on-one interview about the upcoming matches.
Smyrniotis said that the squad is in “a very good spot.”
He also added that when it comes to the outside temperature for the February match, “the colder the better” to hopefully throw off the Mexican side.
Season Play
It was also announced that Forge will kick off its sixth CPL regular season at Tim Hortons Field against Cavalry FC (Calgary) on Saturday, April 13 at 4 PM.
The game is a rematch of the sensational 2023 CPL Final in which Forge were crowned champions in extra time.
The season once again features 28 matches across the country with 14 home matches and 14 away matches.
The league features seven teams with the top five once again advancing to the 2024 CPL Playoffs.
New to this year’s schedule is an official Forge FC School Day Match presented by Stelco.
Held on Tuesday, May 7 at 11 AM, Forge FC will be collaborating with local school boards to fill the stadium with youth for a unique morning match against the Halifax Wanderers.
Forge FC currently has 17 players under contract for the 2024 season as well as the club’s two U-Sports Draft selections.
Notable players on the roster for the 2024 season include goalkeeper Triston Henry, midfielders Kyle Bekker, Alessandro Hojabrpour, and Noah Jensen, and forwards Beni Badibanga, Triston Borges, Terran Campbell, and David Choiniere.
Notably absent are forward Woobens Pacius who left the team after two and a half seasons and defender Alexander Achinioti-Jonsson.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
