Chris Richards, an 18-year-old American center back, is officially a Bayern Munich player.
The FC Dallas Homegrown Player joined the German giant on loan in July. On Thursday, his move was completed as the Alabama native signed a four-and-a-half-year contract with Bayern. According to reports, FC Dallas will be paid $1.5 million for Richards.
He’s one of the most iconic players in the history of the USMNT. And he just can’t quit soccer.
Landon Donovan, having come out of retirement twice before, once again has failed to stay retired. According to Sports Illustrated, Donovan will return to the pitch to play with the San Diego Sockers of the Major Arena Soccer League.
Club León this is not.
In the history of U.S. Soccer, no one has scored more goals and tallied more assists for the USMNT and MLS than Landon Donovan. He’s kind of a big deal.
I hope you can kick these balls with some of the world's best players. Here's a brief guide to the balls used in some of the world's most popular leagues and how much they cost.
English Premier League: The Nike Merlin, at a cool $160. Looks and feels like a classic professional ball.
Something happens — the internet reacts. This is the way of the world. It's predictable. On Thursday the Seattle Sounders revealed that Zulily, an online retailer, would be their new primary kit sponsor starting with the 2019 season.
The headline should read: "Local startup turned billion-dollar company invests in the local soccer team; fans upset because internet." But let's unpack that.
Austin FC had a name, a logo and a stadium. Now it’s officially the 27th Major League franchise. As for when will Austin FC start play in MLS, the league announced Tuesday that it will be just in time for its new stadium to open.
Major League Soccer will kick off the 2019 season with 24 teams following the addition of FC Cincinnati. Inter Miami and Nashville will join in 2020. The following year, it’ll be all about Austin.
Putting down roots in ATX.
You know the case isn’t closed until Zlatan Ibrahimovic has had his say, and that’s exactly what’s happened in the war of words between Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi regarding the “challenge” that the Portuguese issued to the Argentine to join him in Italian football.
With the first pick of the 2019 MLS Draft, FC Cincinnati takes … a timeout.
As if you needed any more proof of the superfluous nature of the MLS SuperDraft these days, expansion club FC Cincinnati needed to take a timeout before making the first pick of the 2019 draft on Friday in Chicago — not to mention the quirk of even being able to call a timeout.
As has been well-documented, the emergence of signing young international players with Targeted Allocation Money and the increased regularity of moving Homegrown Players up the ranks has made the MLS SuperDraft less meaningful than ever (not that signing a 22-year-old who’s spent the last four years playing a three-month long season was ever a recipe for success). That’s not to say that a few of the 2019 selections won’t contribute in meaningful ways, but it’s just that — a few.
The 2019 schedule for Major League Soccer — which will be its 24th season — was released Monday (including the MLS 2019 TV schedule on ESPN), with action beginning on March 2. There’s a lot to get excited about beginning with Day 1, including FC Cincinnati’s inaugural game (away to the Sounders at 10 p.m. ET on FS1), Wayne Rooney’s D.C. United hosting defending champion Atlanta (6 p.m.