Koné, Rose, Charron and Mlah named 2023 winners
Canada Soccer have honoured four players as the best in their categories as part of the 2023 Canada Soccer Player Awards. Ismaël Koné and Jade Rose have been named the Canada Soccer Young Players of the Year, Samuel Charron has been named the Canada Soccer Para Soccer Player of the Year, and Safwane Mlah has been named the Canada Soccer Futsal Player of the Year.
All four winners were selected by the coaches of Canada Soccer’s National Team Programs.
Later this week, the co-winners for the Canada Soccer Players of the Year Award will be announced with one player from the Men’s National Team and one player from the Women’s National Team. Voting for the Canada Soccer Players of the Year award, conducted by Canadian coaches and media, closed on Tuesday 12 December after which the top-three finalists for each program will be unveiled and then the 2023 winners announced on a separate date.
From 8 to 15 December, Canadian soccer fans will vote on the annual Allstate Canadian National Teams Good Hands Award, recognizing the top save by Canada’s National Team goalkeepers during international play. New this year, fans will also vote on both a Men’s National Team Moment of the Year and a Women’s National Team Moment of the Year, with voting to launch later this month and the Top Moments to be announced at the end of the year.
CANADA SOCCER YOUNG PLAYERS OF THE YEAR
Ismaël Koné – Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team and Watford FC
Ismaël Koné featured in six Canada matches including a second-place finish at the 2022-23 Concacaf Nations League Finals. He scored his first home goal in November against Jamaica. At the club level from January through November 2023 with Watford FC, he made 33 appearances, played 1,984 minutes, scored one goal and got two assists. He was also named the Soccer Québec’s 2023 Canadian International Player of the Year.
This marks the second year in a row that Koné has won Canada Soccer Young Player of the Year honours.
Jade Rose – Canada Soccer’s Women’s National Team and Harvard University
Jade Rose featured in nine Canada matches and helped her nation qualify for yet another Olympic Games, but she missed her first FIFA World Cup through injury. She made her home debut in Toronto during Olympic Qualifiers. During the college season from August to November 2023 with Harvard University, Rose made 16 appearances, played 1,181 minutes, scored one goal and got four assists. Harvard reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second year in a row.
This marks the third time in four years that Rose has won Canada Soccer Young Player of the Year honours.
CANADA SOCCER PARA SOCCER PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Samuel Charron – Canada Soccer’s Para Soccer National Team
Samuel Charron scored his milestone 50th international goal for Canada in 2023 and he led the nation in goalscoring for the seventh time in his career. He was limited to just four matches at the Parapanamerican Games in Santiago, Chile, but he still scored three goals and one assist. Canada’s captain now has 51 career goals in 60 seven-a-side international matches. In club football, Charron moved overseas and played eleven-a-side football with Westside Strikers FC in the Australian State League.
This marks the fourth time that Charron has been named the Para Soccer Player of the Year.
CANADA SOCCER FUTSAL PLAYER OF THE YEAR
Safwane Mlah – Canada Soccer’s Men’s Futsal National Team and Sporting Montréal FC
Safwane Mlah is a key young player in the Canadian program who is preparing for his second Concacaf Futsal Championship in 2024. He was the youngest player in the squad in 2021 and he just turned 22 years old during Canada’s December camp in Montréal. With his club Sporting Montréal FC, he won the 2022-23 Futsal Québec Cup and reached the Final of the 2023 Futsal Canadian Championship.
Mlah is the seventh different winner of the Canada Soccer Futsal Player of the Year award since 2017.
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