Cavalry FC's defensive core got even stronger on Thursday, as the club announced they've signed towering centre-back Amer Didić to a contract through 2027, with a club option for 2028.
A perennial star in the first seven years of the Canadian Premier League, the six-foot-four defender arrives in Calgary with a wealth of experience. Didić, a 31-year-old native of Sherwood Park, Alta., has opted to return to his home province, after spending the past two years with Atlético Ottawa.
Cavalry will be Didić's fourth CPL club, after he played three years for his hometown FC Edmonton from 2019 to 2021, before joining Pacific FC from 2022 to 2023 and then heading to Ottawa in 2024.
In total, Didić has played 148 matches for CPL clubs, including in the playoffs, Canadian Championship and Concacaf League. He was a nominee for the CPL's inaugural Defender of the Year award in 2022. He also has two caps with the Canadian men's national team, and in 2021 he was the first active CPL player to score for Canada when he did so in a friendly against Barbados.
Didić is leaving the nation's capital as a CPL champion, having lifted the North Star Cup with Atlético at the end of 2025. However, that CPL Final — ironically, a win for Ottawa over Didić's new club Cavalry — is a bittersweet memory for the new Cavs defender.
Though he was undeniably a part of the club in Ottawa, and joined fully in the celebrations with his teammates, Didić did not play in the Final. In fact, he missed the last 29 games of Atleti's season, after suffering a fractured tibia in a match back in May.
'It's made me hungrier': Didić's return to the pitch
The broken leg was the first serious long-term injury Didić has suffered in his career, and by the time he's back on the pitch with Cavalry, he won't have played a game for almost a full calendar year.
However, after a gruelling process of surgery and rehabilitation, Didić feels that he's fully ready to be a top defender in the CPL again. He was participating almost fully in training with Ottawa by the time the playoffs rolled around, so a few extra months' rest mean he's ready to get involved quickly in Calgary.
In 2024, his last full season, Didić led the league in aerial duels won (91), and he was third in clearances (134) and fourth in passes completed (1,354).
Cavalry, for their part, are banking on Didić recreating that impact in 2026.
During his injury recovery, Didić remained fully embedded with Ottawa, attending training every day. After he went down, Atleti were left with the league's youngest defensive group. Without Didić, every centre-back they played in their back three was aged 22 or younger.
"It was a lot of reflecting, a lot of watching, a lot of observing," Didić told CanPL.ca. "It was great to have a bunch of young guys back there with Atlético Ottawa, and trying to do whatever I could to influence them, to help them. Obviously they did a great job, they were unbelievable all year."
On a personal note, Didić explained that being unable to contribute on the pitch was eye-opening for him. Though, of course, the process was — in his words — "miserable," he said it gave him a different perspective on life, and the game of soccer.
Above all, it meant that he's coming into 2026 more motivated than ever. He has lifted the North Star Cup, yes, but he's desperate to do so again, and this time with a larger impact on the pitch.
"This experience has pushed me," he said.
"It made me realize I love soccer a lot, because this is the longest I've gone without it. It's made me hungrier."
Throughout his career, Didić has developed a reputation as a warrior. Once he's back on the pitch, few would be surprised if he's better than ever.
Didić-Klomp-Ingham trio could give Cavs defensive leg up
There are a few reasons Didić chose to sign in Calgary.
Not least of which: he's much closer to home than he has been for the past four years. He explained that being just a few hours' drive from Edmonton was important as he and his wife — newlyweds as of late December — begin to build their life there.
From a soccer perspective, however, Cavalry also seemed like a great fit for the no-nonsense centre-back. With Didić in the lineup, Cavalry will aim to be the league's best defensive side in 2026.
He joins a team that has always proven tough to score against, but that might be truer than ever this time around. Didić is likely to be partnered with Daan Klomp, a two-time CPL Defender of the Year and the only centre-back ever to win the Player of the Year award (2023).
So, Didić is certainly excited to form part of what could well be the best defensive pairing in the CPL this year.
"It's exciting for me to have a possible partner in the future that's so calm on the ball and good at bringing the ball out of the back -- and obviously a good defender as well, reads the game really well and wants to win," Didić said. "Hopefully, looking at the traits of both of us, we're able to complement each other in really good ways."
That's not all, though.
Cavalry's other splashy signing this month was another arrival from Atlético Ottawa. After saying goodbye to captain Marco Carducci, the Cavs brought in Ottawa's own skipper Nathan Ingham, a two-time Golden Glove nominee and reigning CPL champion.
Didić knows Ingham well by now, after the last two years in Ottawa. Although he and Klomp will be focused on preventing any shots from getting through, he's familiar enough that he trusts Ingham.
"I have that familiarity with Nate back there that it's like, if something happens to get past us, we've got a pretty good goalkeeper back there," he said. "Hopefully we can do whatever we can to limit those opportunities for Nate so he can have a cigar back there, but it's the game and I know that doesn't happen."
Ultimately, Didić has been impressed with the way Cavalry play over the seven years he's spent defending against them. He has seen them fighting for a title every year, with a defensively sound structure under Tommy Wheeldon Jr., and now has a chance to help them fight for more silverware.
