Thirteen individuals and organizations were recognized for their life-long commitment to the sport in Ontario

Vaughan, ON – Soccer leaders from all over the province were recognized at the 2020 Centre Circle Awards @ Home virtual event on Sunday.  

This year’s Centre Circle Awards, presented by Nothers – The Award Store, was conducted as an online virtual event in accordance with Public Health Orders and was a special evening to honour those who have made outstanding contributions to the game in our province and country.

Clubs, Academies, Leagues, Coaches, Match Officials, Administrators and those who have dedicated a lifetime to the game, all had a moment to shine in the spotlight of the Centre Circle. 

“This has been a particularly challenging year for us as a sport and province, but it was important that we continued to recognize the work of those who give back to soccer in Ontario and this evening did just that,” said Peter Augurso, President and Chair of the Ontario Soccer Board of Directors. “It was also special as we unveiled a fifteenth Life Member in our almost 120 year history as an organization.”

The Centre Circle Awards are Ontario Soccer’s highest level of recognition and are presented annually to deserving soccer leaders and organizations nominated on the basis of their outstanding contributions to the development of soccer in Ontario and Canada.

In total, 13 individuals and organizations were recognized in 2020 for their life-long commitment to sport in Ontario. 

The 2020 recipients are:

Recipient

Category

Nominated by

Thunder Bay Chill	Club Recognition Award	Soccer Northwest Ontario
Doug Blair	Meritorious Award	North Toronto SC
Corrado Roccasalva	Meritorious Award	Pickering FC
Patty Forbes	Meritorious Award	Durham Region SA
John Dutot	Meritorious Award	Nor’West Optimist SC
Abbi Lezizidis	Match Officials – Mike Bremer Award	Match Officials Development Committee
Paula Francisci	Match Officials – Carol Anne Chénard Award	Match Officials Development Committee
Scott Bowman	Match Officials – High Performance Award	Match Officials Development Committee
Diarmuid Salvadori	Coaches – Development Award	Richmond Hill SC
Saverio Lento	Coaches – Soccer 4 Life Award	Soccer Northwest Ontario
All Ontario Soccer  and Ontario Soccer Centre Staff	Brian Avey Award

SAAC	President’s Award	President and CEO
Bill Spiers	Life Membership Award	Toronto SA

Visit OntarioSoccer.net to learn more about the Centre Circle Awards.

About Ontario Soccer

Founded in 1901, Ontario Soccer is comprised of more than 650 Clubs and Private Academies servicing over 24,000 teams with 380,000 registered players, 70,000 coaches and managers, and 10,000 match officials, as well as countless volunteers, parents and supporters comprising a direct, multi-cultural community of over 1,000,000 Ontarians.

Ontario Soccer develops and delivers exceptional and sustainable programs and services throughout Ontario with the mission of providing leadership and support for the advancement of soccer in collaboration and cooperation with our membership, partners and other stakeholders. Ontario Soccer also operates the Ontario Player Development League (OPDL) – the province’s premier standards based youth development program and proudly supports Canada Soccer’s National Teams, the Canadian Premier League and Toronto FC.

An overall goal of Ontario Soccer is to assist with the development of soccer as a healthy lifestyle choice, provide a talented pathway for players to excel and encourage community involvement at all levels.

Media Contact 

Ben Rycroft | Senior Manager, Digital Strategy and Communications 
Ontario Soccer | brycroft@ontariosoccer.net | 905-264-9390 x 255