Former Cavalry FC captain Marco Carducci moves east, signs with Halifax Wanderers

After seven successful seasons with his hometown club Cavalry FC, Marco Carducci wanted a new challenge. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Ethan Cairns

After seven successful seasons with his hometown club Cavalry FC, Marco Carducci wanted a new challenge.

The 29-year-old goalkeeper believes he has found it in Halifax, joining new Wanderers coach Vanni Sartini on the East Coast.

“I looked outside the league, I looked across to Europe and was curious about what kind of opportunities were out there,” Carducci explained.

“But Halifax approached me quite early. They were extremely clear about the ambition the club had to go to a new level. Of course, that was highlighted by bringing in a coach like Vanni.

“And I think there was a clear alignment, in terms of the values and the culture at the club, which was important for me.”

Halifax president and founder Derek Martin has made no secret of his championship ambitions, tasking former Whitecaps coach Sartini with taking the club to the next level.

The Cavalry captain announced his departure from Calgary in late September, saying he would leave the club in the off-season at the end of his current contract.

His last game was a 2-1 loss to Atletico Ottawa in the CPL championship game, played Nov. 9 in blizzard-like conditions at TD Place Stadium.

Cavalry offered Carducci a contract extension.

“Calgary’s home for me. I love the city,” said Carducci, whose fiancée is originally from Ontario.

“I’ve been so privileged to be a part of the club and what we’ve built since the beginning of the CPL. But growth is key, growth is important. And I think I got to a point where I did feel a little bit comfortable.

“That feeling of being within that comfort zone, I knew I needed to step out of it.”

Ottawa announced last week goalkeeper Nathan Ingham is leaving the club when his contract expires at the end of the month.

More goalkeeping moves are expected across the eight-team league during the off-season.

Halifax has until Dec. 31 to exercise a club option on goalkeeper Rayane Yesli, who played 28 games this season.

Yesli, who was born in Algeria but moved to Montreal at the age of two, could be a target for expansion FC Supra, which is building an all-Quebec team.

Yesli came through the CF Montreal academy before moving to to Italy where he helped Vibonese win promotion to the Italian third tier.

Back in Canada, Yesli played university soccer for the Montreal Carabins before joining Valour FC.

Carducci has been with Cavalry since the CPL’s inaugural season in 2019, winning the league’s Golden Glove Award as its top goalkeeper in 2019 and ’22. He was a finalist for the award this season.

Carducci made 193 appearances across all competitions for Cavalry with 57 clean sheets, overcoming testicular cancer along the way.

He helped the Calgary side to the CPL Shield, topping the regular-season standings, in 2023, and the North Star Cup as CPL champion in 2024.

Carducci joined the Vancouver Whitecaps as a homegrown player in March 2014 after spending 2 1/2 years with the club’s residency program, making his pro debut later that year in a Canadian championship loss to Toronto FC.

After being loaned to the Whitecaps reserve side, Carducci had a stint with the USL Championship’s Rio Grande Valley FC in 2017 before joining Wheeldon in Calgary at Foothills FC in 2018.

He is a two-time Canadian U-17 Player of the Year, winning in 2012 and ’13

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press