By Canadian Press

Experienced winger Fraser Aird makes third CPL stop, this time with Cavalry FC

Feb 9, 2022 | 5:27 PM

Cavalry FC added experience and versatility on Wednesday by signing winger Fraser Aird.

Calgary will be the third Canadian Premier League stop for the 27-year-old, who has also played for Valour FC and FC Edmonton.

Aird, who has won eight caps for Canada, was born to Scottish parents and raised in Toronto.

He signed with Scotland’s Rangers as a teenager and went on to make 85 appearances in five years. He went out on loan to the Vancouver Whitecaps before returning to Scotland for stints with Falkirk, Dunfermline Athletic, Queen of the South, Dundee United and Cove Rangers before returning to Canada.

“He is a player that has exceptional quality and a great end-product that will add more goal opportunities for our team,” Cavalry coach and GM Tommy Wheeldon said in a statement. “He is a fierce competitor with a wealth of experience from his time in Scotland, the Canadian national team, and has already made an impact here in the CPL.

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“In signing Fraser, we have got a big character in the locker-room and an impact player on the pitch that ultimately makes us an even better squad.”

Aird will help fill the void left by Mo Farsi, who has joined the Columbus Crew’s second team, Crew 2.

In other CPL news, defending champion Pacific FC has signed free agent centre back Amer Didic.

The 27-year-old Didic has been with FC Edmonton since the CPL’s inaugural 2019 season. Prior to that, he was with Swope Park Rangers, Sporting Kansas City’s USL affiliate, and played briefly for the USL’s San Antonio FC in 2019.

The six-foot-four defender became the first active CPL player to start and score for Canada, in a 4-1 win over Barbados in January 2020.

FC Edmonton has re-signed defender T-Boy Fayia (pronounced fay-EYE’-uh) and goalkeeper Darlington Murasiranwa (pronounced mur-uh-sir-ON’-wah).

The 21-year-old Fayia, who was born in Monrovia, Liberia but grew up in Edmonton, can play left or right fullback.

Murasiranwa made five appearances for the club last season. A product of the FC Edmonton youth academy, he spent time with the Whitecaps academy as a member of its under-16 side. Born and raised in Cape Town, he moved to Edmonton with his family when he was 13 years old. 

FC Edmonton says Fayia and Murasiranwa are the only two returning players from 2021.

Valour FC has signed 28-year-old forward Alessandro Riggi, a former Canadian youth international who spent the last two seasons with HFX Wanderers FC. 

The Montreal native joined FC Montreal in 2015, spending two seasons there with the MLS team’s affiliate before moving to Phoenix Rising FC, another ULS club, in 2017. 

In other Canadian news, former Missouri State star Kyle Hiebert has signed with St. Louis City 2, the second team for future MLS expansion side St. Louis City SC.

St. Louis City 2 is slated to play in MLS Next Pro, a developmental soccer league that begins in March. The St. Louis first team is expected to begin MLS play in 2023.

Hiebert, a defender from La Salle, Man., is the first-ever Missouri Valley Conference player to win three straight Defensive Player of the Year awards.

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 9, 2022

Neil Davidson, The Canadian Press