Forge FC Re-Signs 12 Players

Hamilton-based Canadian Premier League side Forge FC made a big statement today: the majority of its core group will be returning next year, including League MVP Tristan Borges and Team Captain Kyle Bekker.

Today, the club has announced the re-signing of twelve players which include goalkeeper Triston Henry, defenders Dominic Samuel, Daniel Krutzen, and Monti Mohsen, midfielders Elimane Cisse, Kwame Awuah, David Choiniere, Chris Nanco, Alexander Achinioti-Jonsson, Kyle Bekker, and Tristan Borges, and striker Marcel Zajac.

That’s a big bulk of the core squad which led Forge FC to become the first-ever league champions this past November, though regular Forge FC players like David Edgar, Jonathan Grant, Giuliano Frano, and Anthony Novak (among others) still need to be confirmed. To that end, the club has confirmed that additional roster announcements regarding key players with options for 2020 will come at a later date.

I think it’s important, every time you build something you want to build something with a little bit of longevity […] These are guys that we knew from the beginning before this year that we wanted to build around, to have a good core.

Bobby Smyrniotis

Head coach and general manager Bobby Smyrniotis stated that he was looking to bolster his club’s attacking options next season, believing that the squad should have converted more of the chances it created. Despite becoming the first-ever league champions, Smyrniotis was back to work a day after winning the finals.

The club fared well in the recent CPL-U SPORTS Draft, picking up UQTR forward Gabriel Balbinotti and highly-touted midfielder Alex Zis. If the duo sign with the club, they’ll be good young options to help bolster an attack that scored 45 goals in 28 games.

It’s unclear if former draft pick Jace Kotsopoulos, who scored two goals in five appearances for the hammer, will be returning.

While the second half of the Forge FC roster still needs to be sorted out, fans of the Hamilton-based club are sure to be happy to see the return of so many key players – especially league star Tristan Borges, who finished the season as the golden boot leader before taking home the CPL’s Player Of The Year and Best U-21 Canadian Player awards, too.

If anyone was likely to make the jump back overseas, Borges would have been a fair guess. He’s likely to be touted as the biggest re-signing of the league so far.

The 21-year-old midfielder had previously stated it was good to be home for a while, though there’s no telling how long his stay will ultimately be: with a new contract locked in, Forge FC has positioned itself to potentially make a profit from the youngster if another club approaches the CPL side to pick him up in the next transfer window.

The length of the twelve new Forge FC player contracts and their respective financial details were not disclosed by the club.

Source: Canadian Premier League