Columbus Crew 2025 Season Preview

Major League Soccer

·17 February 2025

Columbus Crew 2025 Season Preview

By MLSsoccer staff

2025 Schedule

First game/Home opener: Feb. 22 - 7:30 pm ET vs. Chicago Fire FC
Full schedule
Watch on MLS Season Pass
Buy the 2025 jersey

Armchair Analyst's Breakdown

Strength: They play the best ball in the league. Period. And they have been incredible at imposing that upon opponents, even in the biggest games (unless they’ve got a team-wide case of the runs). Plus Wilfried Nancy has been brilliant at coaching young or marginal players up, which means they rarely run out of gas.
Weakness: In the past two windows they’ve sold their best d-mid, their best player and their best pure goalscorer. So far they’ve replaced none of them. We’re really stretching the plausibility of Nancy’s player development chops here.

Key Departures

Cucho Hernández: The Crew transferred their superstar forward to LaLiga side Real Betis for a reported club-record fee (around $16 million plus add-ons and a sell-on fee), concluding a legendary two-and-a-half-year stint in Columbus.
Alexandru Mățan: The Romanian midfielder was out of contract after recording 5g/14a over the past two seasons.
Christian Ramírez: The veteran striker was traded to LA Galaxy after scoring eight goals in each of the past two seasons.
Yaw Yeboah: The Ghanaian international is now with LAFC after three years with Columbus, highlighted by scoring in MLS Cup 2023 presented by Audi.

Key Signings

Lassi Lappalainen: The Finland international joins as a free agent after spending the past six seasons with Montréal. He can play numerous positions across midfield.
Full roster

He Came. He Saw. He Won 🏆 MLS Cup MVP & Champion, Leagues Cup MVP & Champion. Cucho Hernández will always have a place in Black & Gold history.
– Tuesday, 4 February 2025