Football Season Guide

A franchise record nine-game winning streak in the summer helped Charlotte finish fourth in the East before losing to a superior New York City FC in the first round of the playoffs. No MLS collected more points on home soil than Charlotte, who won 13 of their 17 games at the Bank of America Stadium. During the offseason, they’ve offloaded several backup players, but replaced them with new signings to fill the gaps in the squad. Kept hold of all their starters apart from defence leader Adilson Malanda, but a prodigious Andrew Privett is expected to step up after getting valuable playing time last season, with new signing Henry Kessler providing experience off the bench. Franchise player Wilfried Zaha should be expected to register even better numbers in his second season, while Pep Biel will look to stay healthy after struggling with injuries in 2025. Meanwhile, Idan Toklomati will be called to deliver in his first season as a full-time starting striker after being clinical in front of goal last term. In fact, Charlotte’s main strength lies in a talent-rich attack that consists of Zaha, Pep and Toklomati, each of whom recorded double digits in scoring last season. Meanwhile, in Kahlina they have one of the best goalkeepers in the competition, with the Charlotte shot-stopper having kept a league second-most 13 clean sheets last term. Boasting quality in every position, fitness issues is what really hurt Charlotte in 2025. Should they manage to deal with them, they will turn their main weakness into strength, as the best ability is availability.