2019 HFX Wanderers FC season

The first ever player signed by the team was Canadian defender Zachary Sukunda on 29 November 2018, followed by a quartet of Trinidad & Tobago players in the new year. A contingent of Canadians followed before Hart turned his attention to signing three players from the CPL Open Trials:^[1] Kouamé Ouattara, Kodai Iida, and Mohamed Kourouma. Hart also signed all three U-Sports draft picks, and added some veteran attacking options in Luis Alberto Perea and Juan Diego Gutierrez. As the season approached and during the season, Hart raided League 1 Ontario club Vaughan Azzurri three times to round out his squad, signing Tomasz Skublak, Matthew Arnone and eventually, Duran Lee.

A short pre-season in April in the Dominican Republic saw HFX play only two matches, before playing its first ever competitive fixture on 28 April 2019, away at Pacific FC and losing 1–0. Following the defeat, HFX returned home to a raucous Wanderers Grounds on 4 May 2019, picking up its first win in history, defeating eventual champions Forge FC 2–1 with forward Akeem Garcia, scoring the team's first ever goal in the 30th minute. HFX would finish the Spring Season a respectable fourth place. In the Canadian Championship, HFX dispatched Vaughan Azzurri and Valour FC.

The Fall Season began optimistically on 6 July 2019 with the team recording a 1–0 win over York 9 FC and preparing to face Ottawa Fury FC of the United Soccer League Championship in the third preliminary round of the Canadian Championship. However, a congested fixture schedule would take its toll on the team, playing seven matches in eighteen days in July. HFX would lose all of them, bar one draw away to the afore-mentioned Ottawa Fury FC, which was insufficient to progress in the Canadian Championship. Throughout the year, HFX had had difficulty mustering much offense, which contributed to the slump. Improved defensive performances in September resulted in an uptick of form, but without much goalscoring, HFX could only muster six consecutive draws (a league record), surrendering the lead late on a number of occasions along the way. Combined with suggestions of locker room discord^[2] and Hart commenting on his players learning what it meant to be a professional,^[3] the Fall Season was difficult for HFX, finishing last which also “earned” the team the proverbial wooden spoon for 2019 as a whole. However, the year would end on a positive note, with Hart and company earning their first and only away win, 2–0 against York 9 FC. The Privateers 1882's supporter's group player of the year award went to centre-back, Matthew Arnone.

Off the pitch, the club was a tremendous success, the supporters regularly packing Wanderers Grounds to its limits and making it a difficult place to play for visiting teams. Indeed, in league play Cavalry FC was the only team to ever win at Wanderers Grounds all year. The boisterous atmosphere was the envy of the league and even attracted the notice of Toronto FC captain Michael Bradley who hoped his team would play there in the Canadian Championship.^[4]

A last place finish, however, was always going to mean high player turnover. Instead of announcing a list of players released at the end of the season, the club instead would announce returning players only over the course of the off-season.^[5]

As of October 19, 2019^[6]

No.	Name	Nationality	Position(s)	Date of birth (age)	Previous club
Goalkeepers
21	Jan-Michael Williams		GK	(1984-10-26)October 26, 1984 (aged 35)	Sacachispas
50	Christian Oxner		GK	(1996-07-29)July 29, 1996 (aged 23)	Saint Mary's Huskies
Defenders
3	André Bona		RB / CB	(1990-01-19)January 19, 1990 (aged 29)	UQAM Citadins
4	Chakib Hocine		CB	(1991-08-08)August 8, 1991 (aged 28)	Ekenäs
6	Chrisnovic N'sa		CB / CM	(1999-01-28)January 28, 1999 (aged 20)	Montreal Impact Academy
16	Duran Lee		CB	(1995-05-09)May 9, 1995 (aged 24)	Vaughan Azzurri
20	Ndzemdzela Langwa		LB	(1998-03-05)March 5, 1998 (aged 21)	Socuéllamos
23	Matthew Arnone		CB	(1994-02-28)February 28, 1994 (aged 25)	Vaughan Azzurri
24	Alex De Carolis		LB / CB	(1992-09-24)September 24, 1992 (aged 27)	Umeå FC
25	Zachary Sukunda		RB	(1995-06-24)June 24, 1995 (aged 24)	Northcote City
Midfielders
5	Elton John		CM / CB	(1987-04-08)April 8, 1987 (aged 32)	San Juan Jabloteh
7	Juan Gutiérrez		LW / RW / AM	(1992-04-28)April 28, 1992 (aged 27)	Sport Rosario
8	Elliot Simmons		CM	(1998-02-05)February 5, 1998 (aged 21)	Dalkurd
9	Kodai Iida		AM	(1994-12-06)December 6, 1994 (aged 25)	Washington Premier FC
12	Mohamed Kourouma		LW	(1990-08-04)August 4, 1990 (aged 29)	Miami City
13	Kouamé Ouattara		CM	(1991-08-06)August 6, 1991 (aged 28)	CS Dieppe
15	Scott Firth		CM	(2001-03-02)March 2, 2001 (aged 18)	Suburban FC
18	Andre Rampersad		CM	(1995-02-02)February 2, 1995 (aged 24)	Santa Rosa
22	Abd-El-Aziz Yousef		RW / AM	(1999-10-05)October 5, 1999 (aged 20)	Cambuur
Forwards
10	Luis Perea		ST	(1986-09-03)September 3, 1986 (aged 33)	La Equidad
11	Akeem Garcia		CF / RW	(1996-09-11)September 11, 1996 (aged 23)	Santa Rosa
14	Vincent Lamy		CF	(1999-07-10)July 10, 1999 (aged 20)	Montreal Impact Academy
17	Tomasz Skublak		ST	(1997-12-08)December 8, 1997 (aged 22)	Vaughan Azzurri

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred from	Fee/notes	Date	Source
25	DF	Zachary Sukunda	Northcote City	Free Transfer	November 29, 2018	[7]
21	GK	Jan-Michael Williams	Sacachispas	Free Transfer	January 10, 2019	[8]
5	DF	Elton John	Queen's Park CC	Free Transfer	January 10, 2019	[8]
18	MF	Andre Rampersad	FC Santa Rosa	Free Transfer	January 10, 2019	[8]
11	FW	Akeem Garcia	FC Santa Rosa	Free Transfer	January 10, 2019	[8]
4	DF	Chakib Hocine	Ekenäs	Free Transfer	January 16, 2019	[9]
14	FW	Vincent Lamy	Montreal Impact Academy	Free Transfer	January 22, 2019	[10]
8	MF	Elliot Simmons	Dalkurd	Free Transfer	January 22, 2019	[10]
15	MF	Scott Firth	Suburban FC	Free Transfer	January 30, 2019	[11]
20	DF	Ndzemdzela Langwa	Socuéllamos	Free Transfer	February 5, 2019	[8]
6	DF	Chrisnovic N'sa	Montreal Impact Academy	Free Transfer	February 5, 2019	[8]
50	GK	Christian Oxner	Saint Mary's Huskies	Selected 19th overall in the 2018 CPL–U Sports Draft	February 20, 2019	[12]
24	DF	Alex De Carolis	Umeå FC	Free Transfer	February 20, 2019	[12]
13	MF	Kouamé Ouattara	CS Dieppe	Free Transfer	February 21, 2019	[13]
9	MF	Kodai Iida	Washington Premier FC	Free Transfer	February 21, 2019	[13]
10	FW	Luis Alberto Perea	La Equidad	Free Transfer	February 25, 2019	[14]
7	MF	Juan Diego Gutiérrez	Sport Rosario	Free Transfer	February 25, 2019	[14]
2	DF	Peter Schaale	CBU Capers	Selected 5th overall in the 2018 CPL–U Sports Draft	March 29, 2019	[15]
3	DF	André Bona	UQAM Citadins	Selected 10th overall in the 2018 CPL–U Sports Draft	March 29, 2019	[15]
12	MF	Mohamed Kourouma	FC Miami City	Free Transfer	April 4, 2019	[16]
22	MF	Abd-El-Aziz Yousef	SC Cambuur	Free Transfer	April 4, 2019	[16]
17	FW	Tomasz Skublak	Vaughan Azzurri	Free Transfer	April 9, 2019	[17]
23	DF	Matthew Arnone	Vaughan Azzurri	Free Transfer	May 1, 2019	[18]
16	DF	Duran Lee	Vaughan Azzurri	Free Transfer	August 13, 2019	[19]

HFX Wanderers selected the following players in the 2018 CPL–U Sports Draft on November 12, 2018.^[20] Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. Only those who are signed to a contract will be listed as transfers in.

Round	Selection	Pos.	Player	Nationality	University
1	5	DF	Peter Schaale	Germany	CBU Capers
2	10	DF	André Bona	France	UQAM Citadins
3	19	GK	Christian Oxner	Canada	Saint Mary's Huskies

No.	Pos.	Player	Transferred to	Fee/notes	Date	Source
2	DF	Peter Schaale	CBU Capers	Developmental Contract expired	August 15, 2019	[21]