North Toronto Nitros is a Canadian semi-professional soccer club based in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. The club was founded in 1980 as a youth soccer club and added its men's semi-professional club in

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional men's association football, soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league began play in 2014 and is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league ...

in 2016 and it's women's team in the

League1 Ontario women's division League1 Ontario (L1O) is a semi-professional women's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association as a pro-am league in the Canadian soccer league system. Th ...

in 2021.

History

The club was founded in 1980 as a youth soccer club. They updated the club logo in 2019, combining the club logo and Nitros team logo. Originally a youth soccer club, the team added a men's semi-professional team in

in 2016, playing their home games at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 ...

Varsity Stadium Varsity Stadium is an outdoor collegiate football stadium located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is home to the Toronto Varsity Blues, the athletic teams of the University of Toronto. Athletic events have been hosted on the site since 1898; the ...

. They played their inaugural match on April 30, 2016, on the road against

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

, which they lost by a score of 2–1. They defeated Aurora United by a score of 5–0 in their home debut. In 2018, the club departed the league, going on hiatus. Two years later, they were set to return to the league for the 2020 season and also added a women's team to the

for the first time, providing a full senior high-performance pathway for players based in downtown Toronto, however, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

, the season was cancelled, delaying their return (and the women's team's debut) to 2021. They moved their home field to the

Downsview Park Downsview Park is a large urban park located in the Downsview neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The park's name is officially bilingual due to it being federally owned and managed, and was first home to de Havilland Canada, an aircraf ...

turf fields.

Seasons

Men

Women

Notable former players

The following players have either played at the professional or international level, either before or after playing for the League1 Ontario team: Men Women * Olivia Smith

References

{{Toronto Sports League1 Ontario teams Sport in Toronto Soccer clubs in Toronto