TORONTO — The Canadian Premier League has been in the works for several years, but the introduction of the league's first set of player signings on Thursday shows just how close the fledgling circuit is to finally kicking off.

While many of the crucial tasks of creating a new league — including hiring staff for the league office, introducing teams and coaches, and securing stadium agreements — have been completed ahead of a planned April 2019 kick off, it's the players that fans pay to watch.

Thus, it didn't feel completely real until the inaugural player signings were announced.

MORE: Canadian Premier League announces first player signings

Getting the first players into the CPL fold was itself a lengthy process, but spreading the word of a brand new Canadian league and gaining interest from potential players was a relatively easy task.

It is 2018, after all.

"I first heard about [the CPL] when it was made public all over social media," Pacific FC defender Kadin Chung told Sporting News. "Right off the bat I obviously considered what it would be like playing in the league, but it didn't become real until this summer when James [Merriman], the assistant coach, he came up and approached me and told me a little bit more about it."

Chung's story is similar to many of his counterparts across the league, as the CPL engaged on an online blitz early in 2018 to announce its arrival to the world. Fans took notice right away, as did many players.

"I was on Instagram, actually," FC Edmonton's Randy Edwini-Bonsu, who has been capped 10 times by Canada's men's national team, told Sporting News. "So I got my Twitter back — I let it lay there for years — because I felt like I would get more information out there. I started following a lot of those [CPL] pages on Twitter.

Edwini-Bonsu added: "I didn't know what was going to happen but I was following it, and in the back of my mind I knew I wanted to come back home and if it was to happen then I would come back and play."

The CPL's promotional campaign helped turn the heads of overseas Canadian players like Chung and Edwini-Bonsu, both of whom plied their trade in Germany this year, but it also helped convince some of the stars of the campaign itself to join the league ahead of its first-ever season.

"About a year ago I was part of the promotional videos that the CPL put out," longtime national team veteran and Cavalry FC midfielder Nik Ledgerwood told Sporting News. "At the same time, Tommy Wheeldon, the coach of the Cavalry, got in touch with me and kind of sparked my interest about joining in with the Cavalry and being a part of building the CPL."

MORE: CPL players bullish on quality of play in maiden season

Allan Zebie was in the same boat as fellow Albertan Ledgerwood, as he was also featured in the CPL's initial marketing push despite no teams having been announced and not knowing whether he'd be playing in the league.

Zebie played for FC Edmonton during the club's days in the North American Soccer League but had his professional career put on hold when the club took a one-year hiatus following the NASL's demise at the end of 2017.

"I was kind of helping the club promote the whole FC Edmonton [to CPL] thing and then once it was official I knew [Edmonton coach] Jeff [Paulus], so we started talking about it right away," Zebie told Sporting News. "For me, I'm just happy to be playing again."

The inaugural players shared a common sentiment in that they wanted to be part of the building of the league. The formation of a Canadian pro circuit was seen unanimously by the players as something that was sorely needed for the sport, as well an exciting opportunity to take advantage of.

"I heard the rumours in the background [prior to the league's official unveiling early this year] and then once it started to get going and I started speaking with people who were close to it, and I started to realize the excitement behind it," Forge FC's Kyle Bekker told Sporting News. "I started wanting to become more involved.

"It just kind of snowballed into this thing where I really wanted to be a part of it from the ground floor."