The 2018

FC Cincinnati Football Club Cincinnati, commonly known as FC Cincinnati, is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Cincinnati. The club plays in the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The ...

season was the club's third season of existence, and their third in the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

(USL). It was FC Cincinnati's second season as a second-tier team in the U.S. soccer pyramid, as the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

provisionally promoted the USL from Division III to Division II for the 2017 season. FC Cincinnati played in the Eastern Conference of the USL. This was the final season of the club's USL incarnation. On May 29, 2018,

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

awarded the FCC ownership group an expansion franchise, which began play in MLS under the FC Cincinnati name in 2019. On September 26, 2018, the club clinched their first USL Regular Season Championship with a 4–1 victory over the

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

Club

Coaching staff

Roster

On October 25, 2017, general manager Jeff Berding held a press conference to make the first announcements about the 2018 roster. The return of nine players from 2017 was confirmed at this press conference:

Matt Bahner Matt Bahner (born March 12, 1990) is an American former Association football, soccer player who last played as a Defender (association football), defender for USL Championship club El Paso Locomotive FC, El Paso Locomotive. Career Bahner played ...

, Kenney Walker,

Danni König Danni König (born 17 December 1986) is a retired Danish professional footballer. Career Born in Tingbjerg, König played as a youth player with Brønshøj BK U-19 team before signing with the Brønshøj BK pro team in 2005. He played with the ...

Corben Bone Corben Bone (born September 16, 1988 in Plano, Texas) is an American former professional soccer player. Career College and amateur Bone played college soccer at Wake Forest University from 2007 to 2009 where he appeared in 68 games scoring 15 ...

Jimmy McLaughlin James Joseph McLaughlin III (born April 30, 1993) is an American former professional soccer midfielder who most recently played for USL Championship side Louisville City. He began his professional career in 2012 as a homegrown player for MLS s ...

, Garrett Halfhill,

Justin Hoyte Justin Raymond Hoyte (born 20 November 1984) is a professional footballer. Primarily a right back, Hoyte previously played for English clubs Arsenal, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Millwall and Dagenham & Redbridge, as well as American side FC ...

, Sem de Wit, and Josu. Six additional players from the 2017 roster— Austin Berry,

Mitch Hildebrandt Mitchell A. Hildebrandt (born November 12, 1988) is an American former professional association football, soccer goalkeeper. He is currently a coach for the Michigan Wolves youth academy. Career College and amateur Hildebrandt played his entire ...

Djiby Fall Baye Djiby Fall (born 20 April 1985), often referred to simply as Djiby, is a Senegalese professional footballer who plays as a forward. Fall last played for Hobro IK in the 2018–19 Danish Superliga. Fall has previously played professional f ...

Harrison Delbridge Harrison Andrew Delbridge (born 15 March 1992) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays for K League 1 club Incheon United and the Australia national team. Club career Youth and amateur Delbridge played four years of college socc ...

Andrew Wiedeman Andrew Dennis Wiedeman (born August 22, 1989) is a retired American soccer player, who played as a forward. Career College and amateur Wiedeman played college soccer at the University of California, where he earned numerous individual honors ...

, and Paul Nicholson—were mentioned as still under consideration for 2018, pending contract discussions and future announcements. Berding also confirmed they would not renew contracts or exercise options for any other former players. In the following weeks, Djiby Fall implied he would not be returning via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, and Paul Nicholson announced his retirement from professional soccer. The club began announcing new signings in November 2017. The team signed Israeli defender Dekel Keinan on November 10, as well as Canadian forward

Daniel Haber Daniel A. Haber is the director of the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center, a professor of oncology at Harvard Medical School, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI). Career Haber earned his B.S. in life sci ...

on November 15. On April 16, 2018, the club announced they had mutually agreed to part ways with defender Josu. On April 17, 2018, the club announced they had reach an agreement for the free release of defender Garrett Halfhill. Halfhill subsequently join the

New York Cosmos B New York Cosmos B were an American soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that played in the National Premier Soccer League, the fourth tier of the United States soccer league system, as the reserve team of New York Cosmos. History T ...

of the NPSL. On July 9, 2018, the club announced the free transfer of forward

Ottawa Fury FC Ottawa Fury Football Club was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competed in the North American Soccer League and USL Championship and played its home games at TD Place Stadium. The Ottawa Fury FC were diss ...

. On July 30, 2018, forward

Fanendo Adi Fanendo Adi (born 10 October 1990) is a Nigerian footballer who plays as a striker. Club career Europe Following his transfer from AS Trencin, Adi scored a goal in his F.C. Copenhagen debut against FC Vestsjælland on 25 August, despite not ...

was acquired from the

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...

as the first

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

designated player for FC Cincinnati. The club also announced the acquisition of midfielder

Fatai Alashe Abdul-Fatai Alashe (born October 21, 1993) is an American professional soccer player. Career College and amateur Alashe spent all four years of his college career at Michigan State University where he made a total of 86 appearances for the Spar ...

from the

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

. On August 1, 2018, the club announced the acquisition of defender

Pa Konate Pa Momodou Konate (born 25 April 1994) is a professional footballer who plays as a left back for Nea Salamis Famagusta. Born in Sweden, he represents the Guinea national team. Club career Malmö FF Born in Malmö, Sweden, Konate began his foo ...

from

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Coppa ...

S.P.A.L. Società Polisportiva Ars et Labor, commonly known as S.P.A.L. (), is a professional football club based in Ferrara, Emilia-Romagna, Italy. The team plays in Serie B, the second tier of the Italian football league system. Founded in 1907, since ...

Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth.

Competitions

USL

Results Table

, text_H=Home, text_A=Away

Standings

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cincinnati 2018 USL season American soccer clubs 2018 season

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...