In a perfect world, Themi Antonoglou and his Valour FC teammates would still be playing and chasing a Canadian Premier League championship.
Yet, with Valour FC having missed the playoffs this latest news will have to suffice as somewhat of a consolation prize. Antonogolou — Valour’s talented fullback — was today named as one of the three finalists for the 2024 CPL Defender of the Year award along with Forge FC’s Alexander Achinioti-Jönsson, and Cavalry FC’s Daan Klomp.
The winner will be selected by technical leadership from all eight CPL clubs as well as by select media members and be revealed at an in-person ceremony in Calgary, Alta. on Thursday, Nov. 7 as part of the 2024 CPL Final festivities.
“It’s an honour to be nominated for this award and this shows all the hard work I put in during the offseason and then during the season,” said Antonoglou in an interview with valourfootball.club. “I’m grateful I got the opportunity to play at Valour and happy that Phil (Dos Santos, GM and head coach) gave me that confidence to play my game.
“Of course, the results didn’t go our way this year, but I think we found our rhythm in the second half of the season. The first half… we found it difficult, but we turned it around in the second half.”
Antonoglou, a 23-year-old Toronto product, made an instant impact for Valour FC in his first season and was the club’s most consistent player all year. The former Toronto FC product is a solid defender who was dangerous moving up the pitch on the wings with his deft delivery of crosses into attacking areas.
He finished first in the league with seven assists — the first defender in CPL history to do so — while adding one goal and also led the CPL with 60 interceptions while his 51 tackles ranked third and was tops among defenders.
Just as important in growing his game was this: he appeared in 27 regular season matches racking up 2,420 minutes played.
“That was the most-import thing for me, to play first-team minutes because I didn’t really get that at Toronto,” he said. “The main thing was to get my confidence back as a player by coming in every day, working hard and showing what I could do on the field.
“It’s the rhythm. Once you get that, that helps get you going and feeds your confidence. It comes from the team, too, because when you’re playing your best as a team that builds the confidence as well.”
What’s critical now for Antonogolou is what opportunities might open up for him because of his excellent 2024 campaign. The club does have his option for 2025 if nothing arises in the next few months.
“My ultimate goal is to be in Europe or maybe back in the MLS one day,” Antonoglou said. “But this league caught me by surprise. I didn’t know what to expect. While I was with TFC we played a couple Canadian Championship games against Forge and Halifax, but I didn’t really play in those games. This year I got to see the level and the level is high. There’s a lot of quality players in this league.
“We’ll see what is going to happen with me. I still have my option so I really can’t say much but the club knows my goal is to be in Europe or the MLS.”
Should he return, Antonoglou is hoping many of the faces that helped Valour make a push towards a playoff push return. The club struggled in the first half of the season with so much roster turnover and the first chunk of the season played on the road while the new turf was installed at Princess Auto Stadium, but in the second half posted four wins and six draws against four losses.
“What could Valour be next year?” he said. “Valour would be the club that started the second half of the season. We had 16 new players coming into a team and then a preseason where we only played three or four games together.
“It took us a bit to get going, which is normal, but if the majority of the group is back next season, I think you’ll see more of what you saw in the second half of this past year.”
The 2024 CPL Awards ceremony will be streamed on CBC Gem and cbcsports.ca and broadcast live on dedicated soccer channel OneSoccer, beginning at 7 p.m. CT.
The winner of the Defender of the Year award will receive a unique piece of Inuit soapstone art, conceived and carved by artist Ruben Komangapik. The Walrus statue was chosen to honour the CPL’s best defender because ‘the animal is one of the ocean’s toughest creatures, feared even by polar bears and killer whales, like a tenacious defender who is a true guardian of the gates for his squad.’