The 2020 Atlanta United FC season was the fourth season of

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

's existence, and the twelfth year that a professional soccer club from

Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

competed in the top division of

American soccer 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 a ...

. Atlanta United played their home games at

Mercedes-Benz Stadium Mercedes-Benz Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium located in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. Opened in August 2017 as a replacement for the Georgia Dome, it serves as the home stadium of the Atlanta Falcons of the National Football League (NFL) ...

. Outside of

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 ...

, the team made their second appearance in the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

, and were set to participate in the

2020 U.S. Open Cup The 2020 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was planned to be the 107th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, a knockout cup competition in American soccer. Atlanta United FC were the defending champions after defeating Minnesota United FC in the 2019 final. Th ...

as defending champions, before the tournament's cancelation due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Following the club's elimination from the

MLS is Back Tournament The MLS is Back Tournament took place during the 2020 Major League Soccer season to mark the league's return to action after being suspended as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Of the 26 Major League Soccer teams, 24 participated in the tour ...

, manager

Frank de Boer Franciscus de Boer (; born 15 May 1970) is a Dutch football manager who was most recently the head coach of the Netherlands national team. A former defender, De Boer spent most of his professional playing career with Ajax, winning five Eredi ...

was fired, with

Atlanta United 2 Atlanta United 2 are the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. The team plays in the USL Championship, the second tier of American soccer. The team was established on November 14, 2017 and began their first professiona ...

manager

Stephen Glass Stephen Randall Glass (born September 15, 1972) is an American paralegal who previously worked as a journalist for ''The New Republic'' from 1995 to 1998, until it was revealed that many of his published articles were fabrications. An internal i ...

taking over as interim manager for the remainder of the season. The 2020 season was the first time Atlanta United FC finished worse than fourth in the Supporters' Shield table and failed to qualify for the MLS Cup playoffs.

Club

International roster slots

Atlanta had eight International Roster Slots for use in the 2020 season. During the 2020 offseason,

Franco Escobar Franco Nicolás Escobar (born 21 February 1995) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Major League Soccer club Houston Dynamo. Club career Newell's Old Boys Escobar began his career in the Newell's Old Boys acad ...

, Ezequiel Barco, and

Eric Remedi Eric Daian Remedi (born 4 June 1995) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Argentine Primera División club Club Atlético Banfield. Career Banfield Remedi's senior career started in 2015 with Argenti ...

acquired

green card A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

s, making them domestic players for MLS roster purposes.

Results

Non-competitive

Friendlies

Competitive

Major League Soccer

On March 12, 2020, the season entered a month-long suspension due to the

COVID-19 pandemic in North America The first cases of the COVID-19 pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 in North America were reported in the United States on 23 January 2020. Cases were reported in all North American countries after Saint Kitts and Nevis confirmed a case on 2 ...

, following the cancellation of several matches. On March 19, the suspension was extended until May 10, and on April 17, the suspension was extended further to June 8. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the first interruption of regular season play since the

2001 MLS season The 2001 Major League Soccer season was shortened due to the September 11 attacks, with the final weeks' regular season matches canceled. The playoffs, however, were played, and the San Jose Earthquakes won their first MLS Cup. Standings ...

, in which many late regular season games were cancelled due to the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercia ...

. On June 10, MLS announced that a

bracket A bracket is either of two tall fore- or back-facing punctuation marks commonly used to isolate a segment of text or data from its surroundings. Typically deployed in symmetric pairs, an individual bracket may be identified as a 'left' or 'r ...

format dubbed the "

" would begin July 8 at

ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex The ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex is a multi-purpose sports complex located in the Walt Disney World Resort, in Bay Lake, Florida, United States, near Orlando. The complex includes nine venues and hosts numerous professional and amateur s ...

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, th ...

, and end with the final on August 11. The three group stage matches would count towards the regular season standings. Following the tournament, the MLS regular season resumed with a revised schedule, concluding with the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

and

MLS Cup 2020 MLS Cup 2020 was the 25th edition of the MLS Cup, the championship match of Major League Soccer (MLS), and was played at Mapfre Stadium in Columbus, Ohio. The match was originally set to take place on November 7, 2020, but was postponed to Dec ...

League tables

= Eastern Conference

= Overall

MLS is Back Tournament - Group E

= Results summary

= ''*Table does not include three group stage matches of

*''

= Results by round

= Matches

MLS Cup Playoffs

U.S. Open Cup

Originally, Atlanta United FC were to begin play by the 19th or the 20th of May. However, the tournament was suspended and eventually cancelled due to the

CONCACAF Champions League

Round of 16

Quarter-finals

Statistics

Appearances and goals

, - ! colspan=16 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Goalkeepers'' , - ! colspan=16 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Defenders'' , - ! colspan=16 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Midfielders'' , - ! colspan=16 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Forwards'' , - ! colspan=16 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Players who have played for Atlanta United this season but have left the club:''

Top scorers

Player movement

In

SuperDraft picks

Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. Only trades involving draft picks and executed after the start of

2020 MLS SuperDraft The 2020 MLS SuperDraft was the 21st edition of the MLS SuperDraft, SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The 2020 SuperDraft was the first SuperDraft held exclusively via conference call and web streaming. The first two rounds of the 2020 ...

are listed in the notes. Atlanta had two selections in the draft.

Loan in

Out

Loan out

Non-player transfers

Honors

Weekly / monthly

MLS team / player / coach of the week

MLS goal of the week

References

{{2020 in American soccer Atlanta United FC seasons

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...