Rumour: Carlos Gonzalez Heading Out Of Ottawa?

It looks like Carlos Gonzalez is on his way out of the nation’s capital.

Sources tell Northern Tribune that Atletico Ottawa’s head coach will step away from the club after three seasons at the helm, having led them to a regular season championship and CPL Final appearance in 2022 – though things have been hot and cold ever since.

The former Kuwait national team head coach led the club through 95 matches in all, averaging 1.51 points per game. Despite an all-star lineup this season, the club went through a rough patch in form during which he was fined for claiming league officials had conspired against his club. In the end, his side still finished third overall and reached the playoff semi-finals.

Gonzalez had given a very open answer when asked earlier this month about whether he’d be returning, revealing that there was not only the question of if Atletico Ottawa wanted him to return, but if he himself wanted to.

“One side of me wants [to return], one side of me wants other things,” Gonzalez revealed to media at the club’s end of season press conference. “I will have to see with the club and see what they want from me… The first thing is that the club wants me to continue here.”

The club’s next hire would become Atletico Ottawa’s third head coach following Mista and the aforementioned Gonzalez. So far, the Atletico Madrid-backed side is the only club not to have ever hired a domestic head coach. That strategy has netted them two postseason berths in five years, both of which were delivered by Gonzalez, who was awarded league’s coach of the year award for his efforts in 2022.

As per Josh Healey of the Wanderers Notebook, the club has already filled its vacant CEO and general manager position with Juan Miguel Vega Francis, who succeeds Fernando Lopez in the position after he left in a midseason move to Real Zaragoza. That means that Francis may already be hard at work in securing a successor to Gonzalez.

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What the club’s roster will look like in 2025 remains to be seen: there are key athletes like Ruben del Campo and Amer Didic who aren’t locked in for 2025, while CPL MVP OIlie Bassett has already left ahead of a move to the USL Championship.

At press time, the departure of Carlos Gonzalez has not been officially confirmed by Atletico Ottawa.

Header Image Photo Credit: John Jacques