2023 CPL–U Sports Draft

Players could be selected if they had one to four years of U Sports eligibility remaining, were in good academic standing, were planning to return to school the following year, and completed the CPL's draft declaration form by December 9, 2022.[1][2] On December 12, the CPL released the list of 199 athletes who declared for the draft.[3] Players who were selected can sign a full professional contract or a developmental contract, which allows them to return to university for the following season, without losing their eligibility.[4]

Teams were able to retain the rights to previously drafted players who had signed developmental contracts. Players who had their rights retained and did not enter the draft were: Kareem Sow (HFX Wanderers FC), Jacob Carlos (Valour FC), Markus Kaiser (Cavalry FC), and Luca Ricci (Pacific FC).[3]

Each CPL team made two selections in the draft with selections made in the reverse order of the previous season's standings, including playoffs and final standings. Expansion club Vancouver FC made the first and second picks of the draft but did not make a selection in the second round.[5]

The following players were selected:[6]

Round 1

Pick #	CPL team	Player	Position	Nationality	University	Last team/academy
1	Vancouver FC	Anthony White	DF	Canada	Toronto	TSS Rovers FC (L1BC)
2	Vancouver FC	Ameer Kinani	FW	Iraq	TMU	ProStars FC (L1O)
3	HFX Wanderers FC	Anthony Stolar	DF	Canada	Cape Breton	Scrosoppi FC (L1O)
4	York United FC	Christopher Campoli	MF	Canada	Ontario Tech	ProStars FC (L1O)
5	Valour FC	Guillaume Pianelli	DF	France	UQTR	Celtix du Haut-Richelieu (PLSQ)
6	Pacific FC	Eric Lajeunesse	DF	Canada	UBC	Whitecaps FC Academy (L1BC)
7	Cavalry FC	William Omoreniye	DF	Canada	Calgary	Cavlary FC U20 (AMSL)
8	Atlético Ottawa	Junior Agyekum	MF	Canada	Thompson Rivers	Rivers FC (L1BC)
9	Forge FC	Miles Green	MF	Canada	McMaster	Hamilton United (L1O)

Round 2

Pick #	CPL team	Player	Position	Nationality	University	Last team/academy
10	HFX Wanderers FC	Aiden Rushenas	GK	Canada	Dalhousie
11	York United FC	Trivine Esprit	MF	Canada	Ontario Tech	Simcoe County Rovers FC (L1O)
12	Valour FC	Samuel LaPlante	DF	Canada	UQTR	CS Saint-Hubert (PLSQ)
13	Pacific FC	Brandon Torresan	MF	Canada	Trinity Western	Rivers FC (L1BC)
14	Cavalry FC	Eryk Kobza	DF	Canada	Calgary	Podlasie Biala Podlaska
15	Atlético Ottawa	Mohamed Bouzidi	FW	Canada	Carleton	West Ottawa SC (OPDL)
16	Forge FC	Milo Djuricic	DF	Canada	York	Vaughan Azzurri (L1O)

• "U Sports Draft FAQ". Canadian Premier League. Archived from the original on December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 9, 2022.