The 2020 Forge FC season was the second season in the history of Forge FC. Forge were the defending league champions, having defeated Cavalry FC in the 2019 Canadian Premier League Finals. In addition to the domestic league, the club competed in the CONCACAF League, advancing to the quarter-finals for the first time.
On September 19, Forge defeated HFX Wanderers FC 2–0 in the 2020 Canadian Premier League Final to win their second consecutive league title. As champions, they qualified for the 2020 Canadian Championship Final and the 2021 CONCACAF League.
Review On January 22, Forge FC announced they had transferred reigning CPL Golden Boot and Player of the Year winner Tristan Borges to Belgian First Division B side Oud-Heverlee Leuven for a fee reported to be close to $300,000. Before the start of the new season, the club supplemented their roster with several new signings including K.R.C. Genk academy product Paolo Sabak, former Montreal Impact and Canada men's national soccer team fullback Maxim Tissot, and former Toronto FC attacker Molham Babouli.
Canadian Premier League: The Island Games The Canadian Premier League originally announced its schedule on February 21. The season would have begun on April 11 and concluded on October 4 with a balanced, 28-match schedule. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CPL paused all pre-season training on March 13 before later postponing the start of the season on March 20.
On July 29, the CPL announced a revised, shortened season format to be played exclusively at the University of Prince Edward Island from August 13 to September 19 in a bio-secure bubble. Dubbed The Island Games, the season would begin with a round-robin preliminary round. The top four teams would qualify for a round-robin group stage; the top two teams from the group stage would qualify for a single match final.
Forge opened their season on August 13 with a 2–2 draw against rival club Cavalry FC in the opening match of The Island Games. Over the following weeks, Forge completed the CPL's preliminary round, ending with 2–2 draw against Valour FC to qualify for the second round group stage with a record of 3 wins, 3 draws, and 1 loss.
In the group stage, Forge opened with a 1–1 draw against HFX Wanderers FC before defeating Pacific FC 2–0 to put them on the verge of qualifying for the final. Needing just a draw in their final group stage match, Forge defeated Cavalry FC 1–0 to qualify for their second consecutive CPL final.
Forge faced HFX Wanderers FC in the 2020 Canadian Premier League final. This was the third match between the two clubs at The Island Games with both previous matches ending in 1–1 draws. Forge won the final 2–0 to repeat as CPL champions and qualify the club for the 2021 CONCACAF League and the 2020 Canadian Championship Final.
Following the season, captain Kyle Bekker was named the CPL's Player of the Year and goalkeeper Triston Henry was awarded the Golden Glove.
CONCACAF League Forge qualified for the 2020 CONCACAF League by winning the 2019 Canadian Premier League finals to become CPL champions. This was their second consecutive season in the CONCACAF League after making it to the round of 16 in 2019.
The competition was originally scheduled to begin on July 28, but this was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. On August 7, CONCACAF announced they had rescheduled the tournament to begin play on October 20 and conclude on January 28, 2021.
CONCACAF conducted the tournament draw on September 21. Due to travel restrictions introduced in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, all rounds of the tournament were played as single leg ties hosted by the higher seeded team. As the lowest seeded team, this guaranteed that Forge would not play any home games.
Forge opened its CONCACAF League run in the preliminary round away at Salvadoran club C.D. Municipal Limeño on October 22. David Choinière struck first for the Hammers, opening the scoring in the 21st minute before the Salvadorans tied the game later in the first half. Overcoming a 64th minute red card to Jonathan Grant, Forge won 2–1 to advance to the round of 16 thanks to an 83rd minute goal by Anthony Novak. After the match, Forge travelled directly to Panama City to prepare for their next match.
In the round of 16, Forge faced Panamanian side Tauro F.C. on November 3. Forge took an early lead once again, this time from a goal by Molham Babouli, before Tauro equalized in the 18th minute. Late in the second half, Novak drew a penalty for Forge which Daniël Krutzen converted in stoppage time to secure another 2–1 win for Forge. The win propelled Forge into the quarter-finals, a new best result for a CPL team.
Following a break when the team was able to return home, Forge returned to action on December 1 for a quarter-final matchup against Haitian club Arcahaie FC with a chance to qualify for the 2021 CONCACAF Champions League. The match was played in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic as Arcahaie did not have a suitable venue. David Choinière drew a penalty just before halftime which Daniel Krutzen scored to give Forge the lead, however Arcahaie capitalized on a Triston Henry error in the 57th minute to tie the game. Despite outplaying their opponents, the game ended tied 1–1 and headed straight to penalties. Arcahaie's goalkeeper made two saves while their penalty takers converted all of their kicks to defeat Forge 4–2, knocking the Hammers out of the CONCACAF League.
Despite their elimination, Forge then travelled to Tegucigalpa, Honduras to face C.D. Marathón in a play-in match to qualify for one of the CONCACAF League's final two spots in the CONCACAF Champions League. This was centre-back David Edgar's final professional match as he had announced that he would retire at the end of the year. Marathón took the lead in the 18th minute from a header off of a free kick which proved to be the only goal in a 1–0 final, qualifying the Hondurans for the Champions League at Forge's expense. The match was "ill-tempered" with four yellow cards shown to Forge, three to Marathón, and both Kyle Bekker and coach Bobby Smyrniotis sent off late in the match.
Squad
No. Name Nationality Position(s) Date of birth (age) Previous club Goalkeepers 1 Triston Henry GK Sigma FC 31 Baj Maan GK NKU Norse Defenders 2 Jonathan Grant DF Nyköpings BIS 4 Dominic Samuel DF Sigma FC 5 Daniel Krutzen DF Reading United 6 Kwame Awuah DF New York City FC 14 David Edgar DF Hartlepool United 15 Maxim Tissot DF Ottawa Fury 16 Klaidi Cela DF Sigma FC 21 Jordan Dunstan DF Chattanooga FC 22 Monti Mohsen DF Sigma FC Midfielders 8 Elimane Oumar Cissé MF Diambars FC 10 Kyle Bekker MF North Carolina FC 13 Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson MF IFK Värnamo Forwards 7 David Choinière FW Montreal Impact 9 Marcel Zajac FW Akron Zips 11 Chris Nanco FW Bethlehem Steel 17 Kadell Thomas FW Sigma FC 19 Molham Babouli FW FC Ukraine United 20 Gabriel Balbinotti FW UQTR Patriotes 23 Anthony Novak FW Oakville Blue Devils 24 Paolo Sabak FW NEC Nijmegen
Transfers
In No.Pos.PlayerTransferred fromFee/notesDateSource– Ottawa FuryFree transferMarch 2, 202024 NEC NijmegenFree transferApril 23, 202015 Ottawa FuryFree transferJuly 22, 202031 NKU NorseFree transferJuly 31, 202021 Chattanooga FCFree transferJuly 31, 202020 UQTR PatriotesSelected 7th overall in the 2019 CPL–U Sports DraftJuly 31, 202019UnattachedFree transferAugust 4, 2020
Draft picks Forge FC selected the following players in the 2019 CPL–U Sports Draft. Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. Only those who are signed to a contract will be listed as transfers in. RoundSelectionPos.PlayerNationalityUniversity17UQTR Patriotes28Guelph Gryphons
Out No.Pos.PlayerTransferred toFee/notesDateSource18Contract expired21Contract expired20Contract expired19 OH LeuvenUndisclosed8Contract terminated by mutual consent– Xelajú MCUndisclosedJuly 31, 2020
Club Kits Forge FC unveiled its 2020 primary kit on February 27 at an event hosted at Tim Hortons Field. The kit was inspired by Hamilton's six regional municipalities and featured a gold patch signifying Forge's status as defending champions.
The CPL unveiled all of its clubs' alternate kits on July 30. These "City Edition" kits incorporated unique symbolism for each club, with Forge's kit drawing from the image of Hamilton's Gore Park fountain. Like the home kit, the alternate kit featured a gold champion patch.
The kits continued to be produced by Macron and sponsored by Tim Hortons for a second consecutive season.
Competitions Matches are listed in Hamilton local time: Eastern Daylight Time (UTC−4) from April to October and Eastern Standard Time (UTC-5) otherwise.
Overview
Canadian Premier League
First stage Table
Results by match
Matches Forge FC's opening match against Cavalry FC was announced on July 29. The rest of the first stage schedule was announced on August 10.
Group stage Table
Results by round
Matches The group stage schedule was announced on September 6.
Final
CONCACAF League
CONCACAF conducted the CONCACAF League draw on September 21.
Preliminary round The preliminary round schedule was announced on September 29.
Round of 16 The round of 16 schedule was announced on October 27.
Quarterfinals The quarterfinals schedule was announced on November 5.
Play-in round The play-in round schedule was announced on December 4.
Canadian Championship
The 2020 Canadian Championship was played as a one-game final between Forge as the CPL Champions and Toronto FC as the winner of a head-to-head series between Canadian teams from Major League Soccer. It was delayed until June 2022 due to scheduling difficulties related to the COVID-19 pandemic. Forge ultimately lost the final in a penalty shoot-out following a 1–1 draw.
Statistics
Squad and statistics
Top scorers {| class="wikitable sortable alternance" style="font-size:85%; text-align:center; line-height:14px; width:85%;" |- !width=10|Rank !width=10|Nat. ! scope="col" style="width:275px;"|Player !width=10|Pos. !width=80|Canadian Premier League !width=80|CONCACAF League !width=80|TOTAL |- |1|||| Daniel Krutzen || DF || 2 || 2 || 4 |- |rowspan=3|2|||| Kyle Bekker || MF || 3 || 0 || 3 |- ||| Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson || MF || 3 || 0 || 3 |- ||| Anthony Novak || FW || 2 || 1 || 3 |- |rowspan=4|5|||| Chris Nanco || FW || 2 || 0 || 2 |- ||| Paolo Sabak || MF || 2 || 0 || 2 |- ||| David Choinière || FW || 1 || 1 || 2 |- ||| Molham Babouli || FW || 1 || 1 || 2 |- |rowspan=2|9|||| Kwame Awuah || DF || 1 || 0 || 1 |- ||| Maxim Tissot || MF || 1 || 0 || 1 |- |colspan="4"|Own goals || 1 || 0 || 1 |- |- class="sortbottom" | colspan="4"|Totals||19||5||24
Top assists {| class="wikitable sortable alternance" style="font-size:85%; text-align:center; line-height:14px; width:85%;" |- !width=10|Rank !width=10|Nat. !width=275|Player !width=10|Pos. !width=80|Canadian Premier League !width=80|CONCACAF League !width=80|TOTAL |- |1|||| Molham Babouli || FW || 2 || 1 || 3 |- |rowspan=2|2|||| Paolo Sabak || MF || 2 || 0 || 2 |- ||| Maxim Tissot || DF || 2 || 0 || 2 |- |rowspan=4|4|||| David Choinière || MF || 1 || 0 || 1 |- ||| Kadell Thomas || FW || 1 || 0 || 1 |- ||| Kyle Bekker || MF || 1 || 0 || 1 |- ||| Dominic Samuel || DF || 0 || 1 || 1 |- class="sortbottom" | colspan="4"|Totals||9||2||11
Clean sheets {| class="wikitable sortable alternance" style="font-size:85%; text-align:center; line-height:14px; width:85%;" |- !width=10|Rank !width=10|Nat. ! scope="col" style="width:275px;"|Player !width=80|Canadian Premier League !width=80|CONCACAF League !width=80|TOTAL |- |1|||| Triston Henry || 5 || 0 || 5 |- |- class="sortbottom" | colspan="3"|Totals||5||0||5
Disciplinary record {| class="wikitable sortable alternance" style="font-size:85%; text-align:center; line-height:14px; width:85%;" |- !rowspan="2" width=10|No. !rowspan="2" width=10|Pos. !rowspan="2" width=10|Nat. !rowspan="2" scope="col" style="width:275px;"|Player