Max Ferrari has seen a lot of ups and downs in his five years at York United FC.

As he enters 2025, his sixth year at the club, he does so as the Nine Stripes’ longest-serving player, about to play under his fourth full-time head coach as Mauro Eustáquio takes over the reins.

No longer is Ferrari the rookie upstart he was when he first joined the club ahead of the COVID-shortened 2020 CPL season in Prince Edward Island. Now, he’s a face of the club both on the pitch and in the community, and will be one of the key leaders of York United as they embark on this new campaign.

“I’ve been in the league for six years, and it’s definitely different,” Ferrari told CanPL.ca. “I feel like every year I’ve taken a step toward a leadership role, whether that’s off the field or on the field, and now I have to; we have a lot of young guys, and even a lot that are my age. It’s something that I’m still learning.”

Thankfully for Ferrari, he has a number of other returning veterans around him on this year’s team — he mentioned the likes of Elijah Adekugbe, Oswaldo León and Frank Sturing — but there’s a lot of new blood in the group this year.

York’s off-season roster construction mostly fit into two key themes: adding experienced CPL talent, and bringing Toronto natives back to represent their hometown.

A handful of new additions — Massimo Ferrin, Riley Ferrazzo, Luke Singh, Adonijah Reid and Steffen Yeates — fit both categories. In total, nine of the 11 players they brought in this winter hail from the Greater Toronto Area, while six have already enjoyed successful seasons in the CPL.

To Ferrari, who has been playing for his hometown club his entire pro career, there’s something extra special about entering this year with such a locally-drawn team.

“The best thing about playing football as my job is I get to do it in front of my friends and family every week, and it’s something that you dream of as a kid,” he said. “Now these guys, I’m sure they dreamed about playing pro in Canada, but now they get to play for their hometown. I’m sure we’re going to fill the stands with friends and family; I know these guys are really excited. A lot of us, we all live really close to each other, and some of us are living at home still. It’s that special feeling, getting to play for your own town and representing that.”

Despite the large contingent of newcomers, it’s not completely starting from scratch at York. Ferrari pointed out that he and most of the other GTA natives are familiar with one another, often from youth football; he played with Riley Ferrazzo at League1 Ontario’s Aurora FC, for instance. Julian Altobelli, meanwhile, was Ferrari’s roommate in the PEI bubble during Altobelli’s brief prior tenure with York in 2020.

Plus, York’s returning players will be familiar with many of the new faces from having battled against them in the CPL. Ferrari and Ferrin had plenty of one-on-one battles while the latter was a Halifax Wanderer, and both Yeates and Reid started for Pacific FC in the playoff clash against York back in October.

That bit of familiarity has York aiming high in 2025, after a club-record finish in 2024 and their first ever playoff win. Losing the quarter-final on penalties to Atlético Ottawa sent them into the off-season on a sour note, but the club has plenty of belief that they can continue raising the bar from where they set it last season.

“To be honest, I have some nightmares about that playoff game in Ottawa,” Ferrari admitted. “It’s a crazy game of football, probably the craziest game I’ve ever been a part of, and you lose on penalties, and at the end of the day sometimes there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s a cruel game when it goes to penalties like that. Now, it’s how can we bounce back, and how can we show the league that we want to take that step forward.”

With the rest of the league also arming up, it’s much easier said than done for York to finish in the top four again, but under Eustáquio’s leadership they’re confident they can be in the fight with anybody.

After a small taste of success in 2024, Ferrari is hungry for more of it.

“There was a certain time last year, I think with 10 games left, we were first place after we beat Valour away,” he recalled. “That’s something we really want to bring back to this club, is that winning identity. I know Mauro and the coaching staff he’s brought in are hammering that into us every day, that we are the club to do that.”

York’s off-season has been deliberate and thoughtful, as they look to grow their identity on and off the pitch. With leadership like Ferrari’s, the Nine Stripes have all the potential to be a true contender in the CPL — and to do it with hometown players.