Halifax Wanderers head coach Patrice Gheisar has had a busy winter. Two years and three months into his tenure with the Canadian Premier League soccer club, the 49-year-old is approaching the final year of his coaching contract with a familiar challenge: Winning games. It’s a challenge that has, at different times in the Etobicoke, Ont. native’s long career, looked both remarkably easy—inevitable, even—and frustratingly difficult.
In his first year as Wanderers head coach in 2023, Gheisar led his players to a third-place finish and set a dizzying array of club records along the way, from new highs in points to wins to goal differential. It felt like a natural evolution for the tiki-taka tactician, who, prior to becoming Halifax’s second head coach in club history, hadn’t lost a regular-season game in two years with League1 Ontario’s Vaughan Azzurri. But if soccer is “the beautiful game,” it is also a cruel one—and last year, Gheisar’s second in charge of the Wanderers, was a tale of trials. The club finished sixth in the eight-team league and missed the playoffs by just four points. Eight times in 2024, Halifax had players sent off for offences ranging from rough play to dissent against the referee. The team conceded 43 goals in 28 matches—tied for most in the league. At the start of the year, the Wanderers went nine straight matches without a win.
Speaking with the fan-hosted Down the Pub podcast, Wanderers president and founder Derek Martin said there was “obviously something missing” from the team’s performance on the pitch. He added that there were “concerns right out of the gate” around how the Wanderers roster “just wasn’t jelling and wasn’t meshing.”
Which brings us back to Gheisar’s busy winter: As the head coach returns to BMO Soccer Centre for the second week of the Wanderers’ pre-season—one that will take the team to England for the first time in March—he is tasked with bringing together a roster that will look both familiar and markedly different from his two prior seasons. The Wanderers have kept 16 players from 2024, but witnessed a number of high-profile departures, including two former Players’ Player of the Year nominees. In their place, the club has brought in several intriguing arrivals from near and afar. (More on those departures and arrivals below.)
With Halifax’s first match set for April 5 on the road against Atlético Ottawa, we’ve got you covered with seven things to watch as the CPL team returns to action:
1. Where will the goals come from? In both of Gheisar’s two seasons at the Wanderers’ helm, two players have scored the lion’s share of the club’s goals: Massimo Ferrin and Dan Nimick. Combined, Ferrin and Nimick netted 30 of Halifax’s regular-season, playoff and Canadian Championship goals between 2023 and 2024—a tally unmatched by any other duo in the CPL. The winger and centre-back are tied as the third highest-scoring Wanderers players of all time.
It wasn’t all that long ago that both Ferrin and Nimick seemed locks to form the Wanderers’ core for the foreseeable future. (Or until they were sold to bigger leagues.) Instead, both departed Halifax this offseason for other CPL teams—Ferrin for York United, in his hometown of Toronto; Nimick for powerhouse Forge FC of Hamilton, Ont., the reigning regular-season winners and the league’s closest thing to the New York Yankees and New England Patriots in both insufferability and success.
Gheisar’s challenge will be to pull more goals out of an offence that finished firmly in the middle of the pack last season: The Wanderers scored 37 goals in 2024, the fifth-highest mark in the eight-team league and 10 goals fewer than league-leading Forge. The club’s front office has bet on boosting that goal tally by loading up on distributors. This winter, the Wanderers signed two high-profile French wingers in Yohan Baï and Jason Bahamboula. The former, a pacy 28-year-old from Arras, has spent his career between France’s second tier and Bulgaria’s top flight, while the latter, a 23-year-old from Caen, spent four years with the reserves for Portugal’s Vitória SC before playing pro in Latvia. The team has been effusive in its praise of both.
“Yohan has an incredible ability to do things at a high speed,” Gheisar said in a release, “and we felt adding a player who can stretch the game and create individual magic will help take us to the next level.”
“Jason adds flair and an ability to beat his opponent with excellent footwork,” Wanderers sporting director Matt Fegan said.
Both Baï and Bahamboula, with their speed and guile, should offer the Wanderers a dimension they’ve lacked, at times, in their attack. But a large part of Halifax’s struggles last season can be chalked up to finishing rather than a lack of scoring opportunities. While the Wanderers averaged nearly 10 shots per game—a number on par with the league’s best—the club converted on a paltry 13% of its scoring chances. York United, by contrast, scored on one out of nearly every five shots.
Health should make a significant difference. Early last season, Ferrin and forwards Christian Volesky, Tiago Coimbra and Ryan Telfer all missed time due to injury—and even when the four were healthy enough to play, they looked visibly hampered at times. Telfer hit his stride as the season went on, scoring five goals for the Wanderers in 2024, but he’ll be 31 years old when the CPL kicks off in April. With the exception of Dominique Malonga, who scored 13 goals for Cavalry FC in 2019, few forwards have found success past age 30 in the league.
Coimbra, on the other hand, just turned 21 in January—often considered the start of a striker’s prime years. Which brings us to another burning question…
2. Just how high is Tiago Coimbra’s ceiling? This offseason, Coimbra told the Wanderers he wanted to switch his jersey number—a request that, in most circumstances, would be an arbitrary and rather insignificant one (who cares? It’s a shirt!), except for the fact that Coimbra wanted to wear number 9. And in soccer, that’s kind of a big deal. Nine is the same number that Brazilian great Ronaldo wore at Barcelona and Inter Milan when he won 1996’s FIFA World Player of the Year and 1997’s Ballon d’Or awards, earning the nickname O Fenômeno. It is the same shirt number that England’s Alan Shearer and Bobby Charlton wore for the Three Lions. The same that Manchester City’s Erling Haaland and Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappé—the world’s two best strikers today—wear now. It is, suffice it to say, the kind of number that takes some balls to wear.
Entering his third season as a professional, Coimbra told the Wanderers Notebook in December that he wants “to put Halifax on the map.” The 21-year-old just signed a long-term contract extension with the Wanderers that could see him stay in Halifax through 2028. The bull-like forward and dual-national from Fortaleza, Brazil, has scored seven goals between his two seasons as a Wanderer—good for sixth on the club’s all-time scoring list—but will be expected to shoulder a greater scoring load in 2025. In announcing Coimbra’s new contract, Halifax sporting director Matt Fegan said he believes “Tiago has a big future in the game” and that the club is “fully committed to helping him develop.” To that end, they’ve sent the young forward to England to train with West Ham United’s under-21 team ahead of the CPL season.
Both Coimbra and the Wanderers believe he has the potential to follow in the footsteps of fellow Canadian Kwasi Poku, who went from Forge FC to Belgium’s RWD Molenbeek after a breakout 2024 season—and garnered his former club a record transfer fee reported to be €500,000 (roughly $740,000). If Coimbra were to follow a similar path to the elite professional leagues, it would be the Wanderers’ first high-profile sale in the club’s seven-year history.
Halifax honoured Coimbra’s request to switch to number 9. Now the question is whether he can score enough to match the club’s belief in him—and perhaps even attract some interest from overseas.
3. What formational wrinkles does Patrice Gheisar have up his sleeve? When the Wanderers announced their preseason roster, there was one noteworthy absence: The club has no obvious replacement for right-back Zach Fernandez who, at the end of December, parted ways with Halifax after three seasons. That could all change with one signing. The Wanderers still have room to add three players to their primary roster if the front office so desires. (And according to some reports, the club could be looking to fill the right-back hole with a player brought in on loan from Major League Soccer, the highest-level league for men’s soccer in the US and Canada—and the current home of Lionel Messi.) But assuming things remain as they are, that leaves a riddle for Gheisar to solve. With five centre-backs in Nassim Mekidèche, Thomas Meilleur-Giguère, Julian Dunn, Jefferson Alphonse and Kareem Sow, and one left-back in Wesley Timóteo, does Gheisar convert one of his centre-backs into a right-back or go back to the whiteboard and draw up something new?
The Wanderers head coach could opt to convert one of his seven (!!) midfielders into a full-back. That could also help to solve the positional logjams that come with Gheisar’s preferred 4-2-3-1 formation, in which two defensive midfielders and a third attacking midfielder form the middle of the pitch, between four defenders, two wide midfielders (or wingers) and a striker. Last year, that logjam tended to come at the expense of 26-year-old midfielder Vitor Dias, whose silky footwork and eye for goal were—while impressive—fairly analogous to teammates Giorgio Probo, Aidan Daniels and Sean Rea. That left Gheisar with the dilemma of finding ways to get Dias onto the pitch. (It also meant Dias often saw fewer minutes than his talent would merit—though injuries played a role in that, too.)
Turning Dias into a full-back could solve two problems at once. And it wouldn’t be totally out of the blue. Last year, in a particularly beaten-down stretch of injuries and suspensions, Gheisar started Dias as a wingback against Cavalry FC.
Gheisar could also opt to do away with his favoured 4-2-3-1 and switch to a 5-3-2 or 3-4-3 formation. That would allow him to start Mekidèche, Meilleur-Giguère and Dunn—all starting-calibre centre-backs—and either use more attacking-minded wingbacks in place of traditional fullbacks (as with a 5-3-2) or find room on the pitch for more of his midfielders (as with a 3-4-3).
Gheisar experimented with both formations last season, albeit with middling results. (A 1-1 draw at home to Cavalry FC was probably the high-water mark for the three-centre-back approach, while a 2-0 road loss to Vancouver FC was the nadir.) By late May, he’d largely returned to playing a 4-2-3-1. But could it work in 2025 with a different squad? Without another signing, it might have to.
4. How will Gheisar use Sean Rea? Midway through last year, the Halifax Wanderers hit the jackpot. One of the Canadian Premier League’s most prolific playmakers, Rea—a 22-year-old from Montreal who set the league single-season assist record in 2022 and plays as if the ball were a yo-yo attached to his feet—was looking for a fresh start after a stint in Spain fell through. Initial reports had linked Rea to Atlético Ottawa, who had already made a splash in signing league stars Manny Aparicio, Amer Didic, Ballou Tabla, Rayane Yesli, Aboubacar Sissoko and Matteo de Brienne at the start of 2024. (De Brienne famously referred to Ottawa as the CPL’s “Avengers.”) But with all of the star power on Ottawa’s roster, there was precious little spending room left under the salary cap for any more players—let alone one who would, presumably, command a decent wage. The deal fell through. In swooped Halifax, who signed the former CF Montreal talent to a contract through the end of 2025.
Rea joined Halifax at the end of July, with an eye to helping lift the club out of its summer slump. The Wanderers needed a shake-up: The team had won just three of their 14 matches leading up to his arrival.
“I want to get them into the playoffs,” Rea told The Coast after his Natal Day debut, a 3-2 win over Vancouver FC, where the flashy winger drew “ooohs” from the crowd more than once with his quick feet. “I want to score as much as possible and contribute as much as possible. I think taking guys one-on-one is going to help them a lot.”
Alas, it wasn’t enough to boost the Wanderers’ fortunes in 2024. Rea scored once in his 14 appearances—well below his five-goal, nine-assist season with Winnipeg’s Valour FC in 2022—and saw limited action, averaging a shade more than 50 minutes of playing time per match. At times, it felt like the Wanderers had stumbled upon a magic lamp and hadn’t figured out what to wish for.
That should change in 2025. Gheisar is a sharp enough mind—and Rea a skilled enough player—that a full offseason should smooth out any growing pains that come with introducing a player midway through a season. And the departures of Ferrin and Daniels, two players who saw plenty of the pitch (and the ball) in 2023 and 2024, should make Rea’s role clearer in this squad. Can the Montrealer return to his 2022 form that saw him earn a trio of nominations for Player of the Year, Players’ Player of the Year and U-21 Canadian Player of the Year? Unlocking his best talents—the ability to shake defenders like bad colds and find passing lanes that few others see—would do a world of good for the Wanderers’ offence. And a bagful of assists on Rea’s part—especially if they end up at Coimbra’s feet—could help to boost his teammate’s stock as well.
5. Have the Wanderers solved their early-season struggles? For two years in a row now, the Wanderers have kept up a trend they would very much like to abandon: Starting cold. In the past two years, the club hasn’t won a match until June—two months into the season. In 2023, the Wanderers tied five straight times to open the season and went winless in eight matches before a June 10 win over Valour FC kicked off a run of six wins in the next nine matches. Last year, the Wanderers didn’t win until June 23, after five losses and four draws to open the season.
Gheisar and his players are determined to shake their spring slump. The Wanderers bench boss called it one of his “biggest self-reflections” after the 2024 season, telling The Coast that his players were “carrying results from the previous game” to the next one. “That’s go to go,” Gheisar added.
Part of the Wanderers’ struggles last year could be chalked up to a young defensive core. If conventional wisdom suggests that the position favours older players who have seen it all, Halifax bucked the trend and started a back line whose oldest players were 24. (Centre-back partners Dan Nimick and Cale Loughrey started the season aged 23 and 22, respectively.) The Wanderers’ front office has sought to fix that going into 2025. In searching for a veteran presence, the club has signed 27-year-old centre-back Thomas Meilleur-Giguère—a hard-nosed defender from Repentigny, Qué., who spent the past four years with Langford’s Pacific FC. (It was Meilleur-Giguère’s last-minute goal against Halifax in September that, in all likelihood, put the nail in the coffin for the Wanderers’ playoff hopes in 2024.)
Meilleur-Giguère hasn’t been shy about adopting the “fun police” role on Halifax’s back line as the club looks to seal up a leaky defence that allowed the most goals of any team in the CPL.
“It won’t happen again,” Meilleur-Giguère told The Coast of Halifax’s defensive woes.
Last year, Halifax managed to keep its opponents scoreless just four times in 28 matches—tied for the fewest of any CPL team. Which brings us to yet another burning question…
6. Can Rayane Yesli regain his Golden Glove nominee form? The Wanderers have a new goalkeeper, and he’s already setting records. At 6’7”, Rayane Yesli is the tallest ‘keeper in the club’s history—three inches taller than his predecessor, Yann Fillion, and seven inches taller than Christian Oxner, who backstopped the Wanderers for four seasons from 2019 through 2022 and still holds the club record for most appearances (66) by a goalkeeper.
Yesli comes with more than just a towering frame. There are equally lofty expectations: The 25-year-old from Tizi Ouzou, Algeria, broke into the CPL as a backup to Valour FC’s Jonathan Sirois in 2022, earning four shutouts in nine starts and stopping 76% of the shots he faced. (The reigning CPL Golden Glove winner, Emil Gazdov, stopped just under 73% of the shots he faced in goal for Pacific last season.) Yesli followed his breakout year with a solid 2023, finishing with seven shutouts in 26 starts and the league’s best save percentage (70%) among starting goalkeepers.
But just like his new club, Yesli’s 2024 season was a down one: After signing a deal with Atlético Ottawa, where the Algerian keeper was expected to compete with Nathan Ingham for the starting spot, Yesli made just eight appearances for Ottleti last season. His save percentage dipped to 65%—ahead of Fillion (61%), but a step behind most of the league’s starting keepers.
In signing Yesli, Wanderers sporting director Fegan said the club believes the 25-year-old has his “best years ahead of him.” If that’s true, it will go a long way to helping Halifax’s dreams of hosting more playoff matches at the Wanderers Grounds.
7. Will Derek Martin’s stadium wishes find any backing under this new HRM council? Wanderers president Martin has been beating the drum for years now: He believes the time is right for a permanent stadium at the Wanderers Grounds. Since the Halifax club’s 2019 debut, the temporary downtown stadium—built largely from shipping crates and metal bleachers on the city-owned Wanderers Grounds—has been a near-unimaginable success story, but it hasn’t come without growing pains. Apart from a single bathroom, the stadium has no running water. Every year, the Wanderers pay out of pocket to bring electricity to the pop-up stadium through spools of extension cords. And still, the club averages the highest attendance in the league—regularly bringing more than 6,000 fans into the Grounds.
In September 2023, Martin made his pitch to the HRM’s Community Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee to overhaul the municipally owned Wanderers Grounds in favour of an all-purpose venue. He estimates it would cost the city $40 million to build a permanent outdoor stadium that could seat a crowd of 8,500 and be used for larger concerts, high school sports games and other community events. Martin has pledged that his club would be prepared to contribute “substantially” to the costs of building such a stadium. To that end, he has also proposed a 30-year tenancy agreement with the HRM to help cover the expenses.
Related
Who pays for a $40-million stadium at Wanderers Grounds?
Speaking with Down the Pub last week, Martin called the stadium “the big, big picture of what we’re trying to do for the city and for the region.” But to date, Halifax council has made no commitments to build the kind of stadium the Wanderers president desires—or any stadium at all. Money, as ever, is tight: This year, HRM council is staring at a (likely) $69-million deficit. And decades of tax-allergic councils have left little in the coffers for anything big and shiny. Halifax council had $20 million set aside for a stadium as recently as 2022, but a mammoth budget crunch that fall changed the city’s tune. Councillors directed CFO Jerry Blackwood to stop saving the money and put it to other uses.
Last November, Haligonians elected a new council—including a new mayor, Andy Fillmore. And a permanent stadium could be the kind of tangible, look-what-I-brought-you monument that elected officials love to mark their tenures with. But there are other big-ticket items on Halifax’s shopping list. The Halifax Forum is aging and could cost $110 million to renovate. The city is budgeting for a new police headquarters. Council just balked at spending $53 million to overhaul the Windsor Street Exchange—one of the biggest pinchpoints in the city’s transportation network.
Martin has been optimistic thus far—“I do still believe 100% that it’s going to happen and that we’re in a good position for it to happen,” he told Down the Pub—but his patience is thinning.
“We’ve been pretty honest with the city—and that’s not to be dramatic—that this is not a tenable situation,” he added. “Like, we cannot stay in this situation for much longer. So either they have to turn it over to us and let us kind of do what we want to do, or they have to invest in it, or else we’re going to have to go figure something else out, because it’s just not a viable long-term solution to be in a pop-up stadium.”
The Wanderers owner has said he’s looking for a solution “in the next year and a half,” or else his club will “have to really consider what we’re going to do.” Martin’s pitch to the city’s Community Planning and Economic Development Standing Committee was to see a stadium built by 2025. Maggie MacDonald, the HRM’s executive director of parks and recreation, called that timeline an “aggressive” one and “something I would want to talk to my team about.”
Martin, no doubt, is eyeing the 2026 World Cup, which Canada is set to co-host along with the United States and Mexico. He has spoken openly of his dream to see international teams come to Halifax to use the city—and the Grounds—as a home base in the lead-up to the tournament. And the Halifax Tides’ arrival bodes well for a shared use of the Grounds that would give the city some assurances of stable long-term tenants.
But $40 million isn’t nothing, either. Will it happen overnight? Or at all? And if the timeline for a new stadium is farther out—say, 2028—will that be soon enough to keep the Wanderers around?
This article appears in Feb 1-28, 2025.