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 York United player to appear in CPL50 is hard-working fullback Chrisnovic N'sa. In his first year at York Lions Stadium, N'sa showed the dynamism and quality that were the reason York wanted him so badly for the 2021 season. N'sa appeared in 26 CPL games (all but one of them starts) for York this year, including their semi-final against Forge FC, and he played the second-most minutes on the team (2,273). His 39 tackles won was seventh in the entire CPL, and his 161 duels won was fifth. Filling the right-back position consistently throughout the 2021 season, N'sa was always formidable on both sides of the ball. His defensive vision is sound, making him a very difficult fullback for wingers to beat, and his athleticism allows him to cut off passes and advance the ball forward. He's also a force to be reckoned with in the air, as he demonstrated with his one goal in 2021: York signed N'sa in late 2020 after two seasons in the CPL with HFX Wanderers FC, where he was a very important part of their run to the 2020 CPL Final at the Island Games and a finalist for that year's U-21 Canadian Player of the Year award. N'sa is 22 years old and hails from Montreal, where he and his brother Felix (also a York United player) got their start in youth football.
The rest of the CPL50 countdown is available here. Five more players will be revealed per day until December 22.
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