Welcome to CPL50, a series where we’ll reveal the top 50 players from the 2021 Canadian Premier League regular season, as voted on by a panel of coaches from all eight teams and media from OneSoccer and CanPL.ca.

For more information on the voting process and method, click here. 

A critic’s darling in 2021, Tobias Warschewski cracks the top 30 in CPL50 following a brilliant first season with FC Edmonton.

Recruited through the 21st Club database, the towering German attacker arrived in Alberta’s capital to little fanfare but, from the first couple matches with the Eddies in Winnipeg’s Kickoff bubble, just about everyone saw the potential ability.

Warschewski repaid that early interest by posting a league-leading seven assists and adding four goals by the season’s end. The German played across the attacking three but thrived in wide roles where his wicked delivery, neat touch, and heightened game sense thrived in the space.

It was a sight to behold for coach Alan Koch and his teammates who saw his quality day in and day out at training.

“He’s silky smooth on the ball,” Koch said of Warschewski. “He’s very difficult to manage — you put one, two, three players around him and a lot of the time he’ll come out of it.”

Edmonton’s captain Shamit Shome has said as much, adding: “He’s deceivingly quick, and he’s a big guy, he can hold up the ball and for a guy that big and strong, he has very good feet, kind of like Easton (Ongaro) in a sense. His delivery is amazing, defenders don’t even know how tight they can move to him because if they go too tight he’ll go right past you. If you don’t go tight enough he’ll put in a good ball.”

Whether Warschewski, who was playing in the German fourth tier before joining FCE, moves on after this season is unknown. Regardless, he stands as a hot commodity and well worthy of no. 30 in this list of the CPL’s best players.

The rest of the CPL50 countdown is available here. Five more players will be revealed per day until December 22.