Chattanooga Football Club just completed its seventh regular season as a professional club, following a decade of unprecedented growth as an amateur, grassroots football club that made waves across the nation.
The club’s inaugural season competing in its current league, MLS NEXT Pro, was chock-full of valuable lessons as CFC finished just outside of playoff qualification, missing out on the very last day of the regular season.
Year two for the club in MLS NEXT Pro saw more history and progress made: CFC became just the second independent club to qualify for the playoffs and the first to host a playoff match. While the Boys in Blue fell just short of advancing past the Conference Quarterfinals, once again valuable lessons were taken on board.
Year three has once again been a clear progression from the preceding regular season, as Chattanooga FC set new club records in points (56), final seed (2) and wins (15).
The club will host NYCFC II at Finley Stadium on Sunday, October 18 at 5:00 p.m. ET with a clear focus: to become the first independent club to host and win an MLS NEXT Pro Playoff match. More progress. More growth.
Before that momentous match, ChattanoogaFC.com highlights 10 storylines from the 2026 regular season.
Dixon brings stability and success
After taking on the interim head coach role just a month before the season began in earnest, Richard Dixon established himself as one of the top coaches in the league.
At the beginning of August, Dixon officially became the sixth permanent head coach in the club's history having led the team to strong playoff positioning and a 10W-5L-6T record. Since becoming permanent head coach, the trend continued and Dixon steered the club to the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference, making it the most successful regular season by an independent club in league history.
History at Erlanger Park
The club announced its partnership with local hospital system Erlanger at the beginning of the year and built on that relationship in significant fashion by playing at Erlanger Park, home of the Chattanooga Lookouts Minor League Baseball team, on July 4th.
It was a memorable evening on multiple accounts as a club record attendance for a regular season match was set as 6,107 fans came out to support the Boys in Blue.
The match was also the highest attended in the entire league for the 2026 regular season.
Captain McGrath returns
Club captain Alex McGrath missed the majority of the team's 2025 campaign due to injury, and after a grueling yet ultimately successful rehabilitation period, he returned for the 2026 campaign like he had never been gone.
McGrath finished the 2026 regular season with seven goals, the same amount he scored in 2024, and one assist. One of the most significant and profound moments of his campaign came in just the second match of the season when he scored in a 4-2 win over expansion side CT United.
Two new centurions
During the 2026 campaign, Tate Robertson and McGrath became just the fourth and fifth players in club history to reach 100 appearances. Robertson (129) and McGrath (121), joined legends Markus Naglestad (116), Juan Hernandez (127) and Zeca Ferraz (135) in the centurion club.
Impact of off-season recruitment
The front office, led by Sporting Director Sebastian Giraldo, was strategic in its roster construction in the off-season to fit the playing style of MLS NEXT Pro.
In particular, the additions of Yves Tcheuyap, Damien Barker John, Anton Sorenson, Alex Krehl (more on him later), Mattias Hanchard and Isaiah Jones all contributed significantly to a club-record campaign.
Krehl's historic campaign
Krehl joined the club in the off-season after being on trial, coming in at a crucial time to fill the void left after an unfortunate injury to forward Yuval Cohen in preseason.
No one could have predicted the incredible impact Krehl would end up having. Eighteen regular season goals later, the Illinois native has quickly become a cult hero. Krehl, who finished in second place just two goals back from Arif Kovac (20) in the league's Golden Boot race, broke the club record for goals in a single MLS NEXT Pro season and scored the club's first hat-trick in the league since Jalen James' on April 13, 2024. Krehl gave the CFC faithful so many memories during the campaign, including scoring the winner in front of over 6,000 at Erlanger Park.
More Open Cup history
Chattanooga FC competed in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the country’s longest running national soccer competition. for the 11th year.
After wins over Kalonji Pro-Profile and Tennessee Tempo, CFC made more history when it hosted Atlanta United in the Round of 32, the first time an MLS team faced the Boys in Blue in a competitive match at Finley Stadium.
Yves Tcheuyap opened the scoring for the hosts in front of over 5,000 fans, creating a memory the city will never forget.
Fort Finley fortress
Finley Stadium is the club's fortress.
Chattanooga FC was the only club in the Eastern Conference to reach 10 wins at home during the regular season (10-2-2). Austin FC II was the only other club in the league to record double-digit victories (10) at home.
New player pathways established
The club continues to evolve and develop pathways in its recruitment to remain competitive and set the standard for independent teams in the league.
The club loaned forward Keegan Ancelin to Drogheda United of the League of Ireland Premier Division, signed Kenneth Tsokli and Francis Amoateng from the highly-regarded Right To Dream Academy in Ghana, Junior Flores and Alexis Arrúa from established clubs in Argentina and recently announced the loan signing of Edoh Koffi from Trivela FC in Togo.
The anchors: Jakupović and Sar-Sar
Goalkeeper Eldin Jakupović and center-back Farid Sar-Sar continue to bring invaluable leadership from the backline. For the second consecutive season, both players led the club in minutes played, underlining their importance to Dixon and Co.
Their experience and leadership will be crucial as the club looks to make more history this upcoming postseason.
