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.

The first goalkeeper to appear in CPL50 is Pacific FC’s Callum Irving, who expertly backstopped the eventual champions throughout the tumultuous 2021 season.

The 28-year-old Irving, one of the most experienced players at Pacific this year, started all but three of their regular season games and both of their CPL playoff matches (plus all three Canadian Championship ties). He recorded eight clean sheets in the regular season — second only to Valour’s Jonathan Sirois — and made 71 saves in total, landing himself in the Gatorade Team of the Week twice.

Irving was solid with the ball at his feet this year too, with the third-best pass accuracy among goalkeepers (71.4%), and he proved to be one of the most confident shot-stoppers in the league, content to come off his line and challenge for the ball.

Though CPL50 is an accolade earned in the regular season, Irving had a major role to play in the CPL Final, when he made two saves (including one incredible stop on Kyle Bekker) and several important catches to preserve a clean sheet against Forge at Tim Hortons Field.

The Vancouver native first signed for Pacific before the Island Games in 2020, having played three prior seasons with the Ottawa Fury as well as a stint with the University of Kentucky and the Vancouver Whitecaps academy program.

It's half-time, and @PacificFCCPL are up 1-0 over @ValourFootball

Why?

Because of Callum Irving, that's why! ?#CanPL | ? https://t.co/hishXepRT3 pic.twitter.com/n1YdDatIiQ

— OneSoccer (@onesoccer) August 17, 2021

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