Atlético Ottawa today has announced that midfielder Ollie Bassett will join Liga MX side Atlético San Luis on trial for the Clausura season starting in January 2023.

Named the best player in the Canadian Premier League in 2022, Bassett, 24, distinguished himself throughout the campaign as he led Ottawa in goals scored and was awarded Player of the Year and Player’s Player of the Year as Atleti went on to win the Regular Season and compete in the Playoff Final in what was his maiden campaign in the capital city.

“As a player, you always want to be playing at the highest level that your game and ability can take you, so I’m extremely excited to have been presented with such an opportunity,” said Bassett. “It’s probably ranked as the best league in North America, they have produced top players and some that have just returned from the latest World Cup. I can’t wait to head there and test myself against some of the best players and see how I fare. I’ve said it many times before but, I really do believe that if it wasn’t for Atlético Ottawa and Fernando [López] and Carlos [González] this opportunity probably wouldn’t have come about and I’m really grateful for the Atlético organization for sorting this out and giving me a chance to take my game to the highest level that I can.”

This opportunity has been made possible thanks to the collaboration between Atlético de Madrid and its affiliated clubs, Atlético Ottawa of the Canadian Premier League and Atlético San Luis of the Mexican league Liga MX, providing players access to this sort of exciting professional opportunity that aid not only in the growth of their careers but increase global recognition of Canadian soccer as well.