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The 2008 Canadian Soccer League season was the 11th since its establishment where a total of 16 teams from Ontario and Quebec took part in the league. The season began on May 16, 2008, and ended on October 26 with the Serbian White Eagles claiming their first championship by defeating Trois-Rivières Attak 2-1 in a penalty shootout. This was the third consecutive year the White Eagles had reached the CSL finals losing respectively to Italia Shooters in 2006, and to rivals Toronto Croatia in 2007. While during the regular season Italia won their second division title with Trois-Rivières becoming the first Quebec team to claim the National Division title.

The CSL added another team to the Peel Region after the relocation of the Canadian Lions to Brampton, Ontario to play as the Brampton Lions in the National Division. Toronto FC of the Major League Soccer established a relationship with the league by entering TFC Academy to the National Division, and TFC Academy II to the Reserve Division. Further significant changes introduced by the league was the creation of the 5 team reserve division in the Toronto region to provide a developmental platform for young players in order to make the transition to the professional ranks. The Ontario Soccer Association reached an agreement with the CSL to receive Operational Independence from the provincial governing body. The league received more coverage from Rogers TV which would broadcast a CSL match on Friday nights.

Changes from 2007 season

• The Canadian Lions of the International Division move to the National Division as the Brampton Lions.
• Portuguese Supra change their name to Portugal FC.
• TFC Academy, the U-18 Academy team of Major League Soccer's Toronto FC, and owned by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment, enter the National Division.
• Playoff format adjusted to seed division winners as #1 and #2, and the next top six teams seeded #3-#8 irrespective of division.
• The CSL added a 5 team reserve division involving teams in the Toronto region.
• The Ontario Soccer Association grants the CSL 'Operational Independence' from the provincial governing body.
• Rogers TV agreed to broadcast a CSL game of the week Friday night, reaching 800,000 Toronto homes. The final was broadcast across Ontario to 1.5 million households.

Teams

VaughanLondonMississaugaWindsorSt. CatharinesTORONTOBramptonclass=notpageimage| Location of CSL teams outside of Toronto for the 2008 CSL season. National Division International Division

Portugal FCNorth York Astros Serbian White Eagles TFC Academy Italia Shootersclass=notpageimage| Location of CSL teams in Toronto for the 2008 CSL season. National Division International Division

Final standings

International Division

National Division

2008 scoring leaders

Full article: CSL Golden Boot

Rank	Player	Nationality	Club	Goals
1	Daniel Nascimento	Canada	Brampton Lions	18
2	Andrew Loague	Canada	London City	14
	Selvin Lammie	Canada	North York Astros	14
4	Dragan Radović	Montenegro	Serbian White Eagles	12
5	Hayden Fitzwilliams	Trinidad and Tobago	Toronto Croatia	11
6	Saša Viciknez	Serbia	Serbian White Eagles	10
	Danny Amaral	Canada	Portugal FC	10
	Jonathan Hurtis	France	North York Astros	10
9	Tihomir Maletić	Croatia	Toronto Croatia	9

CSL 2008 Playoffs

Quarterfinals

October 10, 2008	Italia Shooters	1–0 (a.e.t.)	Brampton Lions	Toronto, Ontario
8:00 ET	Marco Terminesi 114'	(Report)		Stadium: Esther Shiner Stadium Attendance: 100 Referee: Manuel Orellana (Ontario)

October 10, 2008	Toronto Croatia	1–2	Portugal FC	Mississauga, Ontario
8:00 ET	Tihomir Maletić 16'	(Report)	Mike DiLuca 60' Danny Amaral 70'	Stadium: Hershey Centre Referee: Joe Fletcher (Ontario)

October 11, 2008	Trois-Rivières Attak	2–0	St. Catharines Wolves	Trois-Rivières, Quebec
3:00 ET	Jean-Louis Bessé 28' Nicolas Lesage 65'	(Report)		Stadium: Stade de l'UQTR Attendance: 1500

October 11, 2008	Serbian White Eagles	2–1 (a.e.t.)	North York Astros	Toronto, Ontario
8:00 ET	Miloš Šćepanović 10' Alex Braletić 116'	(Report)	Franco Lalli 74'	Stadium: Esther Shiner Stadium Attendance: 120 Referee: Vito Curalli (Ontario)

Semifinals

October 17, 2008	Italia Shooters	0–3	Serbian White Eagles	Toronto, Ontario
8:00 ET		(Report)	Nikola Budalić 40' Alex Braletić 62' Miloš Šćepanović 82'	Stadium: Esther Shiner Stadium Attendance: 180 Referee: Yusir Rudolf (Ontario)

October 18, 2008	Trois-Rivieres Attak	7–0	Portugal FC	Trois-Rivières, Quebec
3:00 ET	Mohamed Sylla 26' Pierre-Rudolph Mayard 41' Pierre-Rudolph Mayard 43' Mohamed Sylla 58' Nicolas Lesage 75' Francois Boivin 77' Hector Contreras 87'	(Report)		Stadium: Stade de l'UQTR Attendance: 1500

CSL Championship

Trois-Rivieres Attak	2–2	Serbian White Eagles
Nicolas Lesage 70' Jean-Phillipe Étienne 103'	Report	Alex Braletic 61' Saša Viciknez 95'
Penalties
Massimo Di Ioia Alex Surprenant Andrew Olivieri Jean-Phillipe Étienne Davy Uwimana	1 – 2	Miloš Šćepanović Mirko Medić Saša Viciknez Nenad Stojčić Dragorad Milićević

GK 1 Andrew Olivieri (c) RB 25 Alex Surprenant CB 21 Davy Uwimana CB 16 Olivier Brett LB 23 Elkana Mayard RM 10 Hector Contreras  63' CM 7 Ibrahim Baldeh CM 6 Jean Philippe Etienne LM 17 Pierre-Rudolph Mayard  82' ST 9 Mohamed Sylla  107' ST 8 Jean-Louis Bessé  73' Substitutes: GK 13 Gildas Toufilana DF 3 Serge Dinkota DF 4 Michel Vitulano  107' DF 5 Francois Boivin MF 20 Massimo Di Ioia  82' FW 12 Nicolas Lesage  63' FW 18 Guillaume Heroux  73' Manager: Marc Dos Santos

GK 25 Dan Pelc RB 14 Uroš Stamatović CB 4 Mark Jankovic CB 6 Mirko Medić LB 3 Dragorad Milićević RM 19 Darryl Gomez  71' CM 8 Nenad Stojčić CM 7 Miloš Vučinić  117' LM 5 Nikola Budalic (c) FW 10 Alex Braletic  101' FW 15 Miloš Šćepanović Substitutes: GK 28 Marko Petrović MF 20 Milan Janošević  101' MF 21 Aleksandar Radovanović MF 16 Caswain Mason FW 11 Dragan Radović FW 9 Saša Viciknez  71' FW 2 Said Ali  117' Manager: Milan Čančarević

CSL Executive Committee and Staff

A list of the 2008 CSL Executive Committee.

Position	Name	Nationality
Commissioner:	Cary Kaplan	Canadian
Executive Director:	Stan Adamson	English
Director of Discipline:	Clifford Dell	Canadian
Director of Officials:	Tony Camacho	Portuguese
League Coordinator:	Brock Robinson	Canadian
Office Manager:	Janet Leonard	Canadian

Individual awards

The annual CSL awards were presented before the CSL Championship final on October 26, 2008. All the awards were taken by the National Division teams with the Brampton Lions, North York Astros, and Trois-Rivières Attak receiving the most awards with 2 wins each. Daniel Nascimento of Brampton was chosen by the league as the MVP, and received the Golden Boot. After recording the best defensive record with Trois-Rivières, former Montreal Impact player Andrew Olivieri was named the Goalkeeper of the Year. Trois-Rivières were also recognized with the Fair Play award for being the most disciplined team throughout the season.

The Defender of the Year was given to Carlos Zeballos of North York. After improving his craft in Europe, Rafael Carbajal returned to the North York Astros to achieve the club's highest finish in their club's history. TFC Academy produced the Rookie of the Year with Adrian Pena. While Isaac Raymond was given the Referee of the Year, and down the road in 2015 was appointed the Manager of Canada's Referee Department for the Canadian Soccer Association.

Reserve Division

In 2008, the league formed the Reserve Division to build a developmental structure within the CSL. The previous time a reserve division was in operation was in the 1990 season in the predecessor league. The intentions of the division was to provide clubs with a supply chain of players with additional playing time, and establish a developmental platform for players in order to make the transition to the professional ranks. The original 5 members of the division were from the Greater Toronto Area with a schedule running from June 2, 2008 to October 6, 2008.

Teams

Final standings

References

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External links

• CSL official home page

• Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) seasons
• 2008 domestic association football leagues
• 2008 in Canadian soccer