Nimick and Batisse named Defender of the Year finalists
Two Forge centre backs make the three-man shortlist alongside Cavalry's Daan Klomp, with the semifinal second leg at Hamilton Stadium on Saturday.
· by Colin Radek · awards · playoffs · defence · atletico ottawa
Forge FC have two of the three finalists for the Canadian Premier League's Defender of the Year award, with Daniel Nimick and Antoine Batisse named on Wednesday alongside Cavalry FC's Daan Klomp, who has won the honour twice.
The numbers behind the shortlist are striking. All three players went through the entire regular season without an error leading to an opponent's goal, and Batisse and Klomp did not make an error leading to so much as a shot on goal. The two of them combined for 4,420 minutes.
Batisse, 31, is in his first season in Hamilton. The native of Versailles, France, had been in talks with Forge last season before the deal was finally completed in January 2026, and he arrived with his wife Susan and their two young daughters shortly before the Champions Cup. He tied for the league lead among defenders with seven goal contributions (four goals, three assists), completed 152 passes into the final third and won 30 aerial duels. He has played both centre back and as a holding midfielder, and is expected to start in the No. 6 role on Saturday. His performances against CF Montréal in the Canadian Championship brought him the first senior trophy of his career.
"I'm proud, but the most important thing is the team," Batisse said, pointing to a backline that conceded the second-fewest goals in the league.
It is a third nomination for Nimick, who was a finalist with HFX Wanderers in 2023 and won the award last year in his first season with Forge. He also recorded four goals and three assists, ranked third in the league for accurate passes into the offensive zone and fifth for carries, blocked 17 shots or passes, made 90 clearances and completed 82 per cent of his tackles. He scored one of Forge's four successful attempts in the title-game shootout against CF Montréal.
Nimick credited the wider group, naming Rezart Rama, Marko Jevremović, Daniel Krutzen and Manjrekar James, and described Batisse as a "Swiss Army knife" who can fill either role the way Alex Achinioti-Jönsson once did. He was less satisfied with the 2-2 draw in Ottawa on Sunday, where the hosts twice equalized eight minutes after Forge had gone in front. "They're goals that we shouldn't be giving up," he said, though he believes the problems are fixable through shape.
The second leg is Saturday at Hamilton Stadium (1 p.m., OneSoccer and TSN). The winner advances to the single-game final on Nov. 21 against the winner of Cavalry FC and expansion side FC Supra du Québec.