CF Montreal announced Thursday that it awarded a contract to Canadian centre-back Joel Waterman for the 2023 and 2024 seasons, with an option year in 2025.
Waterman, 27, has played the past four seasons in Montreal and has accumulated a total of 5,255 minutes since joining in 2020.
The central defender reached several individual highs last season, including minutes played (2,673), starts (30), games played (30), passes completed (1,934) and steals (36).
He also made some contributions on offence, with three goals and four assists.
Waterman was a starter in both games during CF Montreal's 2022 MLS Cup playoff run, playing a total of 161 minutes against Orlando City SC and New York City FC.
He completed the playoffs with an 87 per cent pass completion rate and finished first on the team with five interceptions.
In his second year in MLS in 2021, Waterman helped CF Montreal win their fifth Canadian Championship title, playing all 90 minutes in a 1-0 win over Toronto FC.
He also played in three of the club's four games in the 2020 Concacaf Champions League run against Deportivo Saprissa and CD Olimpia, and in 2022, played in both legs of the round of 16 series against Santos Laguna, as well as the first leg of the quarterfinals against Cruz Azul.
Internationally, the Langley, B.C. native got his first minutes with the Canadian senior national men's team last November, playing a total of 109 minutes in two warm-up games against Bahrain and Japan in preparation for the World Cup in Qatar.
He was also selected in John Herdman's final squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on March 23, 2023.
