10 Things to know ahead of Charlotte FC's opener
To prepare for Saturday's opener in St. Louis, catch up on latest with Toklomati, Zaha, Biel and other Charlotte stars — plus what World Cup means for the schedule, previewing the match and more
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Roundup of five talkable topics heading into 2026: Pep Biel is back healthy, Wilfried Zaha’s loan expires midseason, Toklomati’s locked up and other roster considerations heading into season-opener in St. Louis
The core of Charlotte FC’s roster is back for the start of the 2026 season, the fifth in franchise history. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
If it feels like the Super Bowl just ended, and no way is the start of Charlotte FC’s fifth season already here, not to worry. We’ve got you covered. In plenty of time to be prepped and ready for Saturday’s season-opener in St. Louis, we catch you up on everything you need to know about Charlotte FC heading into the 2026 season.
Whether you’re brand new to Fútbol Friday or you’ve been reading since Adam Armour scored the club’s first goal against Atlanta United, welcome and welcome back. Follow along each Friday throughout the season for insights, newsy nuggets, context, in-depth reporting and some fun along the way. This is a great, easy and free way to keep up with all things Charlotte FC.
1. Wilfried Zaha wildcard
Zaha brings back undeniable star power and quintessential designated player quality on the wing for Charlotte FC. (A designated player, or DP, is a star player who is paid with less regard to the salary cap, which allows clubs more flexibility to bring in and pay high-profile players.) Zaha is coming off a 10-goal, 10-assist season in his first in MLS. But there’s a catch: His loan from Turkey’s Galatasaray expires on June 30.
Zaha said during the preseason that he and general manager Zoran Krneta planned to talk about a possible new contract at the end of the preseason. Both sides seem eager to extend his stay — Zaha’s family has adjusted well to Charlotte, and he’s found a role on the field where he can thrive — but it’ll come down to the bottom line. Charlotte FC covered just $2.8 million of the nearly $5 million Zaha, 33, was due last season by Galatasaray. The $2.8 million portion was already a record salary for Charlotte.
2. Idan Toklomati’s starring role at striker
The 21-year-old Israeli striker starts the season as the centerpiece of Charlotte’s attack, and wearing the representative No. 9 jersey as well (switching from last year’s No. 17). He opens 2026 with the definitive starting spot and something predecessor Patrick Agyemang never had: a long-term contract. Charlotte FC announced Wednesday it had signed Toklomati to a new deal, extending him an additional year and a half through ’28-’29 with another option year after. He’s still an Under-22 Initiative player, which gave Charlotte FC the flexibility to raise his salary without counting against the salary cap.
Krneta said last season he had no interest in selling Toklomati “for the foreseeable future.” The extension doesn’t guarantee he won’t, but the contract gives Toklomati more security and helps Charlotte FC protect his value if, and more likely when, international suitors up the ante.
(Agyemang, who was sold for an $8 million transfer fee, is crushing it in Derby County of the English Championship, by the way, with 10 goals and three assists in 28 matches. He is continuing to play his way into World Cup roster contention and a trip to Charlotte for a May 31 exhibition with the U.S. Men’s National Team.)
3. How do you replace Malanda at center back?
As good of a player as Adilson Malanda was for Charlotte — Middlesbrough FC is finding out now, pushing for a promotion to the English Premier League — it was going to be hard to replace him. Charlotte FC hasn’t, and even after signing Henry Kessler, the 6-foot-4 six-year veteran defender for St. Louis and New England, he suffered a hamstring injury shortly after he arrived and has not returned to practice.
Andrew Privett was a starting center back alongside Malanda, before Tim Ream was acquired. He is capable of doing the job and will be given that assignment to start the season, this time playing on his natural right side. Charlotte FC will also look to Morrison Agyemang, for more depth at center back. The 6-foot-3 Ghanian national was signed to Crown Legacy last year from HNK Sibenik, a top tier Croatian team and got plenty of action during the preseason.
Coach Dean Smith has also shown a willingness to use defensive midfielder and captain Ashley Westwood along a backline of three defenders, between the center backs, which not only helps defend the box but allows more versatile outside backs to carry play forward.
4. Biel and better midfield depth
Pep Biel is back healthy in the midfield, which is good news in and of itself for the DP central attacker who played like an MVP last season before hamstring and knee injuries forced him out. With the addition of Luca de la Torre, who played in his hometown San Diego on loan last season, Smith has more midfield flexibility this season. “I think we can change a game from the bench this year,” he said.
Smith keeps threatening to take playing time from Westwood, who turns 36 in April, and he brought motor Brandt Bronico off the bench in preseason games at the Coachella Invitational. Djibril Diani is back and capable of impacting games as well. But De La Torre, a “tidy” player as Zaha has called him, is the missing piece Charlotte hoped it might have in Eryk Williamson a year ago. He’s a connector and progressive passer, who can still hold his own on defense.
5. What about Liel Abada?
After the disappointing season Charlotte’s third DP, Liel Abada, had last year, it’s noteworthy that the winger is back with the team this season. It’s not easy to get value in return coming off a season in which he had just seven goal contributions (five goals, two assists), but the young Israeli right winger has a chance at redemption.
So far this preseason, he’s showing we might see some. He assisted both of Toklomati’s goals in last Saturday’s 2-1 friendly win against Minnesota United and saw significant minutes during exhibition games. Abada is at his best when he’s using his speed to get open in space and delivering the ball quickly, to avoid defenders who outsize him. His competition with Colombian Kerwin Vargas resumes, though Vargas just returned to practice after going through concussion protocol following a blow to the head.
“I’m hoping that one of them can be pushing Wilfried as well,” Smith said. “I don’t want any players to be ‘givens’ in the team.”
5 Quick Hits: What else is new? A World Cup in the middle of the MLS schedule, new backup goalkeeper, and Austrian left back
World Cup impact: The World Cup schedule will force MLS to take a seven-week break from late May until mid-July. Ream will likely be gone in March to camp with the U.S. Men’s National team, as might Luca de la Torre. Charlotte FC will be hosting watch parties throughout the World Cup break, by the way. More information on that to come.
Soccer City: The U.S. Men’s National team will be at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte just before the World Cup starts for an exhibition against Senegal on May 31 at 3:30 p.m. It’ll be the first game following the announcement of the U.S.’s World Cup roster. Charlotte will book-end being on the national soccer stage when it hosts the MLS All-Star game July 29 at Bank of America Stadium. There’s a good chance Charlotte will finally have its first MLS All-Star.
Austrian flavor: Just as Charlotte said goodbye to former captain and assistant coach Christian Fuchs, now coaching in England, the team is getting another affable Austrian in the fold. Left back David Schnegg, known around the team as “Schneggy,” has made his presence felt already with some pinpoint crosses and overall play in the preseason. As a backup who is already pushing Harry Toffolo for playing time, this could be a shrewd waiver signing from D.C. United.
Keeping up: Charlotte FC signed a new goalkeeper in Tyler Miller, a veteran of four MLS teams, after the departures of both David Bingham and Drake Callender as backups to Kristijan Kahlina. Miller, who played for Seattle, LAFC, Minnesota and D.C., has a longstanding relationship with Charlotte FC goalkeepers coach Aron Hyde. Miller was playing college soccer at Northwestern when Hyde was coaching with the Chicago Fire.
Kilts and bagpipes: Scotland’s national team will be training at Atrium Health Performance Park during the World Cup, in between Group C matches in Boston and Miami. In a press release announcing the decision, Scotland coach Steve Clarke said, “I’d like to add that Charlotte FC’s staff could not have been more welcoming,” which has to be referring to both Smith, a Brit, and Scottish national and Charlotte FC technical director Tommy Wilson.
Meet me in St. Louis: Ream on playing in his hometown
When Charlotte FC travels to St. Louis for Saturday’s opener, it’ll be the first time Tim Ream plays a club game in his hometown “on the bad side,” as he explained Thursday. He’ll be playing his first game there as an MLS opponent of St. Louis City SC, a franchise now in its fourth season. Ream has played as a pro in St. Louis four times with the U.S. Men’s National Team, which he says will make this return easier.
“I think if this would have been the first time going back there to play in a professional capacity, we might be having a little bit of a different conversation,” Ream said. “But I’m pretty comfortable knowing the ins and outs of the whole surrounding area and the lead-up to the games and the stadium and the changing room.”
Ream, who makes his permanent home in Charlotte now, isn’t spending time doling out tickets to a contingent of family and friends. He prefers to focus on the business at hand.
“Even with the national team, I tell people, ‘Listen, I’m there to do a job,’” Ream said. “‘The offseason is the time for visits and catching up and enjoying company.’ When I’m working, I’m working, and that’s just the way I’ve always approached it.”
One thing Ream said he will do, though, is get his hands on a signature St. Louis dish: toasted ravioli.
Injury update: Ream missed preseason time nursing a calf injury, which he blamed on overdoing it in his offseason workouts. Ream, a veteran of the 2022 World Cup, is approaching what he considers the biggest season of his career, highlighted by the chance to play in a World Cup in his home country. He took just five to seven days off.
“I always tend to do more than I probably should, and I probably didn’t take enough time off,” said Ream, now the elder statesman of both Charlotte FC and the U.S. team at 38. “I’m not a spring chicken anymore. That catches up to you.”
He feared the injury might cost him time early in the season, but he was able to get back into the lineup for Charlotte’s friendly last Saturday against Minnesota United and said he’s good to go for Saturday.
Tim Ream returns to hometown St. Louis for the first time as an MLS opponent. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Up Next: Charlotte FC at St. Louis City SC
When/Where: 2:30 p.m. Saturday, Energizer Park, St. Louis
How to watch: Apple TV. MLS Season Pass is not longer required, just an Apple TV subscription.
How to listen: WFNZ 92.7 in English, WOLS 106.1 in Spanish.
Notable:
Tim Ream, Harry Toffolo, Nathan Byrne and Kerwin Vargas all returned from minor injuries this week for Charlotte FC, leaving only new center back Henry Kessler unavailable due to a hamstring injury. Smith said it will keep the newcomer out for “a number of weeks.”
Charlotte plays in St. Louis for the first time since the inaugural home game for that franchise on March 4, 2023, which St. Louis won 3-1. St. Louis went on to win its first five games that season and finish first in the Western Conference. In the two years since, though, St. Louis has finished 24th in MLS.
St. Louis hired Frenchman Yoann Damet as its new coach in December, and he brings in a new system, which Smith said he caught a glimpse of during a preseason match at the Coachella Invitational tournament.
Charlotte FC’s original radio color analyst, Jessica Charman, will be on the play-by-play call Saturday for Apple TV, alongside her new broadcast partner this season, Ian Joy.
Charlotte FC is hosting a free watch party at Clutch Kitchen and Pour House at 601 South Cedar St.
Charlotte opens the season with away games at St. Louis and at L.A. Galaxy, before opening its home slate at Bank of America Stadium on March 7 against Austin F.C.
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her fifth season covering Charlotte FC. She would love to hear from you. E-mail her with questions, suggestions, story ideas and comments!
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