The Canadian Premier League announced on Friday that Carlos González of Atlético Ottawa has been named the 2022 Coach of the Year.

González excelled in his first year at the helm of Atlético Ottawa, having taken over in February 2022. He assumed control of a club that had finished last place in the CPL the year prior, and led them on a remarkable run to win the regular season championship.

“I feel really thankful, honoured and proud,” said González, “The journey has been exciting since the beginning, eight months, it feels like it has been two years now, a lot of busy months… There are some great coaches in this league, so getting this recognition is [big].”

Ottawa set a club record this year with 49 points and 13 wins, and they established themselves as one of the sturdiest defensive teams in the CPL with just 29 goals conceded — second-fewest in the league.

Under González’s tutelage, Atleti also went on to set a league record with 28 points earned on the road.

The 36-year-old native of Granada, Spain, joined Ottawa after spending a year managing the Kuwait national team. He was also previously part of the Atlético de Madrid academy system, coaching the organization’s U-19 team to the 2019 Copa del Rey Juvenil final.

This year, for the first time, the CPL’s Coach of the Year award was voted on by peers. Each head coach and one assistant coach per team was given a vote, and were not allowed to vote for themselves or a coach from their own team.

González beat out the other seven CPL head coaches to win this award, with Forge FC’s Bobby Smyrniotis and Pacific FC’s James Merriman also finishing in the top three in voting.

This is the fourth Coach of the Year award to be handed out, with previous winners including Cavalry’s Tommy Wheeldon Jr. (2019), HFX Wanderers’ Stephen Hart (2020), and Pacific’s Pa-Modou Kah (2021).

The Coach of the Year award, like each other CPL award, is represented by a unique piece of Inuit sculpture, in this case the Owl sculpture by Cape Dorset, Nunavut artist Palaya Qiatsuq. The Owl sculpture symbolizes wisdom, guidance, and knowledge, and its heightened vision gives the Owl the ability to see what others cannot, making it adeptly skilled and wise.