KANSAS CITY – Niko Sigur relaxed his normally stern gaze, stood in front of grown men he had never met before and took a step outside his comfort zone.
“Say my name, say my name / You actin’ kinda shady / Ain’t callin’ me baby / Better say my name”
In front of the Canadian men’s national team at a team dinner Wednesday night, Sigur belted out those lines from Destiny Child’s 1999 hit Say My Name. It was Sigur’s initiation ritual to feel at home in his new surroundings. And, soon enough, Canadians could be saying Sigur’s name far more often.
“Me and my girlfriend listened to the song in the car a lot before camp,” Sigur said. “I got to choose the song and something just clicked.”
It’s a side of Sigur few get to see. The 20-year-old midfielder’s default setting is uber-determined, hardened and more likely to toss out a scowl than a smile. That’s the Niko Sigur that Jesse Marsch wanted.
Born in Burnaby to parents of Croatian descent, the intelligent and industrious midfielder was a starter for Croatia at the 2023 Under-21 European Championships. Yet, despite a bright future, Sigur was not named to Croatia’s final roster for the 2024 senior Euros.
That provided a window of opportunity Marsch prised open. In August, Sigur switched his international allegiance from Croatia to Canada and became the men’s team’s latest top prospect. He was named to his first Canada roster for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Mexico.
Given his youth, skill set and Croatia’s international standing compared to that of Canada, landing Sigur is a coup. Canada was exposed for its lack of technical quality in the middle of the park at times in the 2022 World Cup. Sigur could dramatically alter Canada’s midfield in the 2026 World Cup.
“One of the beautiful things about Canadians and multiculturalism is, even though (Sigur) grew up in Vancouver, he truly plays like a Croatian. He understands connections of how football works. He’s got that savviness and that football experience, even though he’s young,” Marsch said.
How Sigur went relatively undiscovered in Canada before quickly arriving at the national team speaks volumes both about his own talent and the changing landscape of player development in Canada.
Sigur was just six when former Canada men’s national team player Johnny Sulentic saw what Marsch would eventually covet.
Sulentic was Sigur’s first coach in Port Moody, outside Vancouver, and continued coaching him until he was 12. “Since he was little, Niko wasn’t allergic to hard work,” Sulentic said.
The ability to fight for what he wanted on the pitch was in Sigur’s “DNA”. “Croatia has always been fighting for its independence,” Sulentic said. “So it’s almost like Croatians have got to prove their worth. It’s never a given.”
Even with an internal drive, Sigur wasn’t blessed with size.
“Growing up, I had some talent, but it wasn’t enough for me to get a lot of eyes. I was always the smallest kid. I had to show something more,” Sigur said.
Sigur landed in the Vancouver Whitecaps academy at 14. Yet he would stay there for under two seasons. Opinions on why he left differ. Perhaps first-team playing time for a player that young wasn’t a guarantee. That might not have clicked with Sigur’s family.
“I didn’t ever have a plan B,” Sigur said. “It was only ever plan A for me: becoming a pro.”
Perhaps not every coach was aligned on Sigur’s potential. He was still young and a late bloomer in terms of hitting puberty and his growth spurt. Sigur left the Whitecaps academy at 15. Sigur believes he went undiscovered because he didn’t possess physical features “which are prominent in Canadian soccer”.
“When I was growing up, it was difficult to find opportunities because of how few clubs there were at the time in Canada,” Sigur said.
Sigur, wearing Croatia’s colors, tussles with Romania’s Valentin Ticu (Vasile Mihai-Antonio/Getty Images)
Back in 2018, the Canadian Premier League had yet to kick off. Only three MLS clubs spread across the second-largest country in the world meant limited professional opportunities for players who didn’t see a long-term fit in their academies. The CPL’s mandated playing time for under-21 players now provides the competitive opportunities that didn’t exist 10 years ago.
Players like Sigur were often left to fend for themselves and rely on any connections — however tenuous — they could find. Few would have imagined where he would find his opportunity.
The beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 occurred as the ice was melting and Canadian soccer players were returning to pitches. But with sporting leagues across Canada shut down due to government restrictions, many players were left without the chance to train and play.
Carmine Isacco, a renowned coach based outside Toronto with a history of developing players for Canada’s national team, was concerned how a summer off the pitch could negatively impact player development. With that in mind, he created an informal league with the Greater Toronto Area’s best Canadian Premier League and collegiate players.
Word of the league spread, with the country’s top players flocking to Toronto to take part in competitive games.
Among the seasoned pros was a lean and oft-quiet 16-year-old. How Isacco learned about Sigur illustrates how young the Canadian soccer infrastructure still is.
One of Isacco’s former assistant coaches, Mario Kovacevic, had left York University to pursue his own dream of becoming a doctor. Kovacevic was completing his residency in the Vancouver area. He was also playing with a men’s league team, Croatia SC, coached by Sulentic.
Sigur wanted to play against men, and did so for a short time with Croatia SC.
Sigur prepares to take on PAOK with Hajduk Split (Matija Habljak/PIXSELLPixsell/MB Media/Getty Images)
Kovacevic was struck by the wiry but hyper-competitive Sigur. He immediately alerted Isacco to this prodigious talent. Isacco recruited Sigur to play for his teams at York University and the semi-professional Vaughan Azzuri.
In the GTA, Sigur’s game took off. Despite being a teenager, Sigur separated himself from the pack in that informal league with the kind of traits free of age; the same traits coveted by Canada’s men’s national team.
“(Sigur) was immune to failure,” Isacco said proudly.
First, Sigur’s intelligence stood out as he was deployed as both a No 8 and No 6 midfield. He displayed an advanced level of tactical awareness. He didn’t take risks that would leave his team in a vulnerable position, and could implement instructions from the coaching staff immediately. He made vital second and third runs to benefit players around him in transition.
“His IQ test would probably make him brilliant,” Isacco said. “That translates on the field.”
It wasn’t just intelligence; up against stronger players, every challenge he faced on the pitch was met with the same resolute and hardened attitude. “This kid felt old school with his mentality, his work rate,” Isacco said.
Isacco uses the word “buzz” repeatedly to describe what Sigur looked like on the pitch. If there was ground to be covered, Sigur did so relentlessly. He won balls with purpose. It was hard to take your eyes off him because, well, wherever you looked, Sigur was there.
Some new faces have joined #CANMNT camp 😄🇨🇦//
Des nouveaux visages ont rejoint le camp #CANMNT 😄🇨🇦 pic.twitter.com/n7f1aQHdt8
— CANMNT (@CANMNT_Official) September 2, 2024
Sigur reminded Isacco of one of the great workers in the game this century: N’Golo Kante.
“A lot of players don’t have those last steps. Kante, he has those steps to finish tackles, to finish actions. So when Sigur got (the ball) he made sure people were getting forward,” Isacco said.
Sigur continued to move forward, too. His family had connections in Croatia and, after a brief stop with NK Radomlje in Slovenia, he arrived at Hajduk Split’s academy. Within a year his professional approach landed him his professional debut. After injuries to the first team, Sigur became a regular starter for Hajduk Split and Croatia’s under-21 side.
“You give some of these players responsibility, you’ll be surprised what they can achieve,” added Isacco, who was part of Canada’s coaching staff during the October 2023 international window.
Sigur’s father flew to meet with then-interim coach Mauro Biello and Isacco to discuss his son’s national team future. He was concerned about the political ramifications: If Sigur left the Croatian program while playing in Croatia, could his playing time and career suffer?
But without a spot on the Euros roster, Sigur saw an opportunity to make a meaningful change for his career.
Sigur told Isacco that, while he knew he would take some heat in Croatia, he wanted to represent the country of his birth. Late this summer, Marsch pitched the young midfielder not on potential but results: Canada was a team to be reckoned with after a surprise fourth-place showing at Copa America. Canada also doesn’t have a central midfielder both as young and as technically gifted as Sigur.
There was a long-term opportunity.
“How good a life Canada has given me and my family,” Sigur said when asked why he switched to Canada. “When I was in Croatia, that’s when I really realized how Canadian I was and the values and the morals I hold.”
Now Sigur might not be just another dual national, but the embodiment of what this team could look like under Marsch.
Our new Canadians 🇨🇦❤️
Nos nouveaux Canadiens 🇨🇦❤️#CANMNT pic.twitter.com/QcoVegMvjx
— CANMNT (@CANMNT_Official) September 4, 2024
Since taking over as Canadian coach in May, Marsch has toured the country taking in youth competitions and spreading his vision for a more aligned national program. One of his goals is to develop a top-down organization that ensures a certain style of play is instituted in youth setups. Doing so could harness the talent in the country and keep dual nationals on the path towards playing for Canada instead of heading abroad.
“Yes, we’re trying to connect the dots more,” Marsch said. “I use (Moise Bombito), we can use Nico. Maybe they’re relatively undiscovered. But talent emerges eventually. Are there players slipping through the cracks? Yes, there are. And can we provide more support and work together more? Yes, we can. But look at the talent on the team. Now it’s just trying to really align all the energies in the same direction between grassroots to youth football to academy football to professional football.”
Moving forward, if Sigur’s technical quality continues to develop, he promises to play a prominent role for Canada at the 2026 World Cup.
“(Sigur) will make (Canadian midfielders Ismael Kone and Stephen Eustaquio) look better because of his work rate,” Isacco said. “And (Marsch) is going to love him because of his swarm mentality, his pressing mentality and final two-step mentality.”
Sigur will have to adjust to the physicality that comes in CONCACAF. The intensity and aggression in training sessions initially caught him off guard.
But when he does adapt and feature for Canada — which could come as soon as in friendlies against either the USMNT or Mexico — more Canadians will be reminded of the talent that exists throughout the country.
And how, with continued steps towards a more robust soccer infrastructure, dual nationals like Sigur might only consider playing for Canada. Canada’s player pool could then look more competitive.
“When I get a call to come play for Canada and I have to travel 20 hours, that’s not a problem for me,” Sigur said. “I see all the other guys and all the hardship they have to do coming from all parts of Europe or wherever they play, and I can see that there’s no one complaining. Everyone wants to be here and everyone wants to put on this badge.”
(Top photo: Sigur in action for Hajduk Split; Matija Habljak/Pixsell/MB Media/Getty Images)
