| Competition: | League1 Ontario Men's Division |
| Dates: | April 21 – August 21 (regular season) August 24 – September 3 (playoffs) |
| Season: | 2022 |
| Winners: | Vaughan Azzurri |
| Shield: | Vaughan Azzurri |
| Shieldtitle: | Regular season champions |
| Matches: | 231 |
| Total Goals: | 830 |
| League Topscorer: | Massimo Ferrin Miles Green (23 goals each) |
| Prevseason: | 2021 |
| Nextseason: | 2023 |
The 2022 Men's League1 Ontario season was the eighth season of play for League1 Ontario, a Division 3 men's soccer league in the Canadian soccer pyramid and the highest level of soccer based in the Canadian province of Ontario.
Vaughan Azzurri defeated Blue Devils FC in the final to win the league championship and qualified for the 2023 Canadian Championship. Guelph United F.C. represented the league in the 2022 Canadian Championship, as they were the 2021 league champions.
The league returned to a single table format for the 2022 season with each team playing 21 games,[1] following the 2021 season which was shortened due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[2] The regular season ran for 18 weeks between April 21 and August 21 (one postponed match was later played on August 27). The top six teams qualified for the playoffs with the top two getting first round byes. The quarterfinals were held on August 24–25, the semifinals on August 27–28, and the championship final on September 3, which is Labour Day weekend.
With the league set to split into a multi-division format with promotion and relegation beginning in 2024, the points obtained in this season contribute to the assignment of clubs in 2024. The points from the 2022 season (weighted at 75%) will be added to the points teams obtain in the 2023 season (weighted at 100%) to determine the placements.[3]
The men's division grew to 22 teams through expansion. Burlington SC,[4] Electric City FC and Simcoe County Rovers joined the league as expansion teams,[5] [6] Pickering FC returned from hiatus and played their first season under their new name, having re-branded after the 2019 season,[7] while Toronto Skillz FC has left the league.[8] Hamilton United, St. Catharines Roma Wolves, and BVB IA Waterloo (formerly Waterloo United) made their official Premier Division debuts, after having opted out of the main division last season, having fielded teams in either the short-season Summer Championship or Reserve divisions instead.[2] 1812 FC Barrie departed the league after playing in the Premier Division last year, as well as Toronto Skillz FC who played in the 2021 L1O Summer Championship and Aurora FC who were on hiatus and joined the Simcoe County Rovers group, also officially departed.[5]
The following clubs participated in the league.
| Team | width-150 | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Incoming manager | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Electric City FC | Jamie Sherwood | Mutual termination | May 20, 2022 | Randy Ribeiro (interim) | [9] | |
| Master's FA | Rick Titus | Resigned | June 1, 2022 | Junior Groves | [10] |
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Final
| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Massimo Ferrin | Vaughan Azzurri | 23 |
| Miles Green | Hamilton United | ||
| 3 | Taha Ilyass | Blue Devils FC | 19 |
| 4 | Ameer Kinani | ProStars FC | 17 |
| 5 | Kosi Nwafornso | Vaughan Azzurri | 16 |
| 6 | Ethan Beckford | Simcoe County Rovers | 15 |
| 7 | Burlington SC | 14 | |
| 8 | Scrosoppi FC | 11 | |
| Jordan Brown | Electric City | ||
| Amir Shirazi | Hamilton United | ||
| Alliance United |
| Rank | Player | Club | Minutes | GAA | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Praveen Ahilan | Alliance United | 1710 | 0.74 | |
| 2 | Lucas Birnstingl | Blue Devils FC | 1620 | 0.83 | |
| 3 | Ali Ghazanfari-Moghaddan | North Toronto Nitros | 1485 | 0.85 | |
| 4 | Ricky Gomes | Simcoe County Rovers | 1305 | 0.97 | |
| 5 | Quillan Roberts | Electric City FC | 1530 | 1.12 |
| Award | Player | Team | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| Most Valuable Player | [11] | ||
| Young Player of the Year (U20) | ProStars FC | ||
| Coach of the Year | Vaughan Azzurri | ||
| Goalkeeper of the Year | Alliance United | ||
| Defender of the Year | Amardo Oakley | Guelph United F.C. | |
| Midfielder of the Year | Nikola Stakic | Alliance United | |
| Forward of the Year | Hamilton United | ||
| Golden Boot | Vaughan Azzurri | ||
The following players were named League1 Ontario Premier Division All-Stars for the 2022 season:[12] First Team All-Stars
| Player | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Praveen Ahilan (Alliance United) | Goalkeeper | |
| Amardo Oakley (Guelph United) | Defender | |
| Kenny Lioutas (Alliance United) | Defender | |
| Justyn Thomas (Vaughan Azzurri) | Defender | |
| Nirun Sivananthan (Alliance United) | Defender | |
| Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy (ProStars) | Midfielder | |
| Nikola Stakic (Alliance United) | Midfielder | |
| Andron Kagramanyan (Vaughan Azzurri) | Midfielder | |
| Taha Ilyass (Blue Devils) | Forward | |
| Miles Green (Hamilton United) | Forward | |
| Massimo Ferrin (Vaughan Azzurri) | Forward |
| Player | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Ali Ghazanfari-Moghaddan (North Toronto) | Goalkeeper | |
| Riley Ferrazzo (Vaughan Azzurri) | Defender | |
| Oluwaseun Oyegunle (Sigma) | Defender | |
| Matthew Chandler (Blue Devils) | Defender | |
| Terrell Spencer (Masters FA) | Defender | |
| Alexander Zis (ProStars/Guelph) | Midfielder | |
| Liam Salmon (Pickering) | Midfielder | |
| Brandon Duarte (Blue Devils) | Midfielder | |
| Raheem Rose (Vaughan Azzurri) | Forward | |
| Ethan Beckford (Simcoe County) | Forward | |
| Farris Ammari (ProStars) | Forward |
| Player | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Quillan Roberts (Electric City) | Goalkeeper | |
| Anthony Stolar (Scrosoppi) | Defender | |
| Christian Westlaken (North Toronto) | Defender | |
| Conrad Czarnecki (St. Catharines) | Defender | |
| Zachary Ellis-Hayden (Electric City) | Defender | |
| Jack Sears (Guelph United) | Midfielder | |
| Tim Mahabir (Unionville Milliken) | Midfielder | |
| Santiago Fonseca (London) | Midfielder | |
| Wesley Cain (BVB Waterloo) | Forward | |
| Augustus Oku (Burlington) | Forward | |
| Abdou Raouf Mohamed (Woodbridge) | Forward |
The following players were named League1 Ontario Premier Division U20 All-Stars for the 2022 season:[13]
U20 All-Star Team
| Player | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| Christian Calabro (Vaughan Azzurri) | Goalkeeper | |
| Anthony Stolar (Scrosoppi) | Defender | |
| Oluwaseun Oyegunle (Sigma) | Defender | |
| Nikolas Antolcic (BVB Waterloo) | Defender | |
| Mateo Goldsztein-Herrera (London) | Midfielder | |
| Juan Delgadillo (North Toronto) | Midfielder | |
| Santino De Bartolo (Woodbridge) | Midfielder | |
| Markiyan Voytsekhovskyy (ProStars) | Midfielder | |
| Mohamed Alshakman (Sigma) | Midfielder | |
| Ryley Wishart (Simcoe County) | Forward | |
| Kai Garvey (Sigma) | Forward |
The Reserve Division will return with each Premier Division club fielding one or more teams, as well as some other OPDL clubs that do not operate a League1 Ontario team.
The team in the U19 reserve division played each team in their own division twice, plus some teams from the opposing division once for a 20-game schedule.