George Gross Memorial Trophy

The George Gross Memorial Trophy is awarded to the most valuable player of the Canadian Championship. It is named after George Gross, a highly respected sports journalist who covered soccer for the Toronto Telegram and Toronto Sun.^[1]

George Gross Memorial Trophy
MVP award of the Canadian Championship
Country	Canada
Presented by	Canada Soccer
First award	2008; 17 years ago (2008)
Current holder	Isaac Boehmer (1st award)
Most awards	Dwayne De Rosario Justin Mapp (2 awards each)

The inaugural recipient of the Trophy was Matt Jordan of the Montreal Impact, who was named MVP of the 2008 Canadian Soccer Championship after posting two clean sheets and only allowing two goals in four games, en route to Montreal's tournament victory.^[2]

Dwayne De Rosario became the first Canadian winner of the Trophy in 2009 after scoring three goals in a 6–1 Toronto FC victory over Montreal in the final game of that year's tournament.^[2] De Rosario became the first repeat winner in 2010.^[3]

Joao Plata, an Ecuadorian Forward/Winger succeeded his former short-lived teammate and captain the following year after scoring the series-tying goal and then assisting on the championship winner in the second leg of the final, becoming the first South American trophy winner in 2011.^[1][4]

Toronto FC's Ryan Johnson claimed the 2012 title scoring two of the club's four goals over the four matches.^[5]

Montreal Impact's Justin Mapp was awarded the trophy in 2013 becoming the first non Toronto FC player since 2008, and the first winner of the MLS-version of Montreal.^[6] Mapp became the second repeat winner during the 2014 tournament.^[7]

Russell Teibert became the first Vancouver Whitecaps player to win the award in 2015.^[8]

In 2024, Isaac Boehmer of the Vancouver Whitecaps became the first player to win both the Best Young Canadian Player award and the George Gross Memorial Trophy in the same season.^[9]

Since the award's creation, it has never been won by a player whose team did not end up winning the championship that season.

Winners

Year	Player	Position	Nationality	Team
2008	Matt Jordan	Goalkeeper	United States	Montreal Impact
2009	Dwayne De Rosario	Attacking midfielder	Canada	Toronto FC
2010	Dwayne De Rosario	Midfielder	Canada	Toronto FC
2011	Joao Plata	Forward	Ecuador	Toronto FC
2012	Ryan Johnson	Forward	Jamaica	Toronto FC
2013	Justin Mapp	Left winger	United States	Montreal Impact
2014	Justin Mapp	Left winger	United States	Montreal Impact
2015	Russell Teibert	Midfielder	Canada	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
2016	Benoît Cheyrou	Midfielder	France	Toronto FC
2017	Sebastian Giovinco	Forward	Italy	Toronto FC
2018	Jonathan Osorio	Midfielder	Canada	Toronto FC
2019	Ignacio Piatti	Winger	Argentina	Montreal Impact
2020	Not awarded[a]
2021	Sebastian Breza	Goalkeeper	Canada	CF Montréal
2022	Ryan Gauld	Attacking midfielder	Scotland	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
2023	Julian Gressel	Full-back	United States[b]	Vancouver Whitecaps FC
2024	Isaac Boehmer	Goalkeeper	Canada	Vancouver Whitecaps FC

1. Although the trophy wasn't awarded at the conclusion of the 2020 Canadian Championship, Canada Soccer named Forge FC's Tristan Borges the performer of the match of the final, the only match played in that year's tournament.^[10]
2. Julian Gressel was born in Germany but represents the United States in international soccer.

Winners by club

Team	# of titles
Toronto FC	7
CF Montréal	5[a]
Vancouver Whitecaps FC	4

1. Includes the award won by Matt Jordan while playing for the previous incarnation of the Montreal Impact.