Charlotte FC welcomes rival in 2025 home opener
Plus: Charlotte still in the hunt for Paraguayan winger after missing on him last summer
It’s time for an online edition of Fútbol Friday, which gets you up to speed on Charlotte FC, the city’s pro soccer team.
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Agyemang and Charlotte FC will return to action Feb. 22 in Seattle. (Photo by Kevin Young of The 5 and 2 Project.)
Charlotte FC set a Major League Soccer attendance record with 74,479 fans at its inaugural home opener in 2022 against the L.A. Galaxy. It has attracted more than 60,000 in home openers against the New England Revolution (69,345) and New York City FC (62,291) each of the past two seasons.
Those are stout numbers against big market teams. Now, let’s see how Charlotte does while hosting its regional rival from Atlanta to open the 2025 season. Major League Soccer released its schedule Thursday afternoon, indicating that Charlotte FC will travel to Seattle for its first game of the 2025 season on Feb. 22 (with a 10:30 p.m. Eastern start), then return home to host Atlanta United on March 1.
Charlotte’s first four games of the season might be its toughest test:
at perennial playoff contender Seattle
at home against rival Atlanta
on the road March 9 against Lionel Messi and the defending Supporters’ Shield-winning (regular season champion) Miami
at home against Cincinnati, which has finished in the top 4 in the Eastern Conference two years running
Tickets went on sale for Charlotte FC’s home opener on Thursday. That March 1 game will be played at 2 p.m., which will be more attractive to families but less, perhaps to the typical MLS fan. Unlike last year, when nearly every MLS game started at 7:30 p.m. local time for the benefit of Apple TV, Charlotte has a half-dozen games in exclusive windows this season. In addition to the 2 p.m. start against Atlanta, Charlotte starts at:
5 p.m. Sunday, March 9, in Miami
1:30 p.m. local March 29 in Colorado (4:30 p.m. Eastern)
2:30 p.m. at home April 5 against Nashville
Some notable opponents this year include a couple of first-time matchups from the western conference:
San Jose, which will play at Bank of America Stadium for the first time March 22
Kansas City, which will host Charlotte on June 25
new expansion club San Diego, which plays in Charlotte on April 19
By the time summer hits, Charlotte will have played all 29 MLS teams in its fourth year in the league.
Charlotte FC will be on the road for the entire month of June, while Bank of America hosts four FIFA Club World Cup games, welcoming Spain’s Real Madrid and Germany’s Bayern Munich, among others.
Unlike last season, when MLS took a month-long break for Leagues Cup action, Charlotte will play four MLS games during the tournament between teams from MLS and Liga MX of Mexico. The format has not yet been announced for this year’s Leagues Cup, which will run from July 29-Aug. 31, but it’s expected to include 18 MLS teams instead of the full 29, to feature more matchups between MLS and Liga MX teams and to be played midweek, so as not to interfere with weekend league play.
For Charlotte FC’s full 2025 schedule, click here, and to check out a hysterical montage of video clips that Charlotte FC’s content team put together poking some fun at this year’s opponents.
Back in the hunt for big-name player: One of the two big swings and misses Charlotte FC took at the close of the summer transfer window last season is back in play. Charlotte FC is still in pursuit of 30-year-old Paraguayan winger Miguel Almiron.
Continued talks between Charlotte FC and Almiron’s Newcastle club were first reported by Tom Bogert of GiveMeSport.com on Thursday and confirmed by a source with knowledge of the situation. A deal is not imminent, but Charlotte FC and Almiron’s Newcastle Club appear to be much closer to workable terms than in conversations approaching the deadline last Aug. 14.
Newcastle reportedly wanted $20 million for Almiron’s services last summer, while Charlotte FC was only willing to go as high as $10 million in a potential transfer fee. After Almiron played in just six league matches for Newcastle last season, the club is reportedly willing to consider a deal close to $10 million, which would be the largest transfer fee in Charlotte FC’s history.
Charlotte has Almiron’s discovery rights, which means it is the only MLS team that can negotiate to sign him.
Almiron, age 30, might have seen his best days as a Premier League player, but he is a proven superstar in the MLS ranks already. He starred for Atlanta United in 2017 and 2018, finishing runner up for MLS MVP to his teammate Josef Martinez the season Atlanta won an MLS Cup. What a splash it would be if he were in a Charlotte FC jersey to face off against his former Atlanta team in the 2025 home opener at Bank of America Stadium.
Charlotte has one spot open for a designated player, or player signed with less regard for the salary cap. Last month Charlotte FC freed up a “DP” spot by declining the purchase option on Spanish midfielder Pep Biel, who was acquired as a “DP” at the close of the summer window in August.
But the club would like to bring Biel back on a non-DP contract. Charlotte could also gain more roster flexibility if it decides to part with striker Karol Swiderski, given that Patrick Agyemang is now a proven double-digit goal scorer at the position (10 goals in 2024.)
Carroll Walton is a longtime baseball writer with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution now in her third 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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