Dick Howard presents CSL 2012 Rookie of the Year to Jonathan Osorio of SC Toronto.
The CSL Second Division of eight teams will get the 2018 campaign underway on Friday, May 25 for a four-month schedule through to the second half of September. The regular season will be followed by post-season Second Division Championship quarter-final playoff games on September 28, the semifinals will be played on October 5 and the Second Division Championship Final the week of October 12.
Six of the Second Division teams (Brantford Galaxy B, CSC Mississauga B, Real Mississauga B, Scarborough B, Serbian White Eagles B and Vorkuta B) are all part of larger clubs with teams in the top CSL First Division. Burlington B and Milton B make up the eight.
The CSL Second Division provides an opportunity for local players to take a first step into a professional environment with and a further step into the nearby tough CSL First Division, a path which, for many players, been a prelude to higher level soccer at home and abroad.
Many young players have taken the CSL route to a highly successful professional career, the most visible example today being Toronto FC’s Jonathan Osorio, 25, a goal scoring midfielder who was named CSL Rookie of the Year in 2012 while playing for CSL First Division side SC Toronto. Osorio was invited to join the Toronto FC Academy, signed by Toronto FC in 2013 and has been a regular since. He has appeared 30 times for the Canadian national men’s team.
In earlier times, the most successful former CSL player has been Brampton-born Atiba Hutchinson who made a brief appearance for York Region Shooters. Hutchinson has played at a high level in Sweden, Denmark, and the Netherlands and is presently with Besiktas of Turkey. While playing for Besiktas in a UEFA Champions League game against English Premier League side Arsenal, won 1-0 by the English team, Arsenal manager Arsena Wenger described Hutchinson as the most impressive Besiktas player.
The three seasons prior to 2012 were particularly productive for the CSL when no less than 40 players throughout the league played for various national teams, mostly youth U-21 and U-23, in different parts of the world.