Published for FC Cincinnati 2 fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
⚽ FC Cincinnati 2 Fans — Your Orange and Blue Future Is Waiting!
A hard year in Highland Heights, no hiding from it — but the future still runs through NKU: a teenage captain scoring for fun and a 6-foot-6 striker from Senegal who took the league by storm. Royal blue shirts, full voice — back the kids who wear them.
The Club
FC Cincinnati 2 is the reserve team of MLS club FC Cincinnati — announced on December 6, 2021, as one of the 21 inaugural MLS NEXT Pro clubs, with the name and first coaching staff unveiled on February 22, 2022. The side plays in the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference in MLS NEXT Pro, the third tier of the U.S. soccer pyramid, and shares the parent club’s identity down to the last thread: this is the Orange and Blue, raised in royal blue and navy with burnt-orange fire down the flanks.
Home is NKU Soccer Stadium (Scudamore Field) in Highland Heights, Kentucky, on the Northern Kentucky University campus — a short drive across the Ohio River from downtown Cincinnati. After a nomadic first season split between NKU, the Mercy Health Training Center and even TQL Stadium, NKU became the settled home, and it is where the next generation of FC Cincinnati first-teamers learns its trade in front of the fans who follow the pathway closest.
Honesty first, because this fanbase deserves it: FC Cincinnati 2 has never won a trophy. The high-water mark is 2024 — first place in the Eastern Conference with 54 points, a first-ever playoff berth, and Tyrone Marshall named the league’s Coach of the Year. Marshall, the club’s founding head coach, departed in December 2025, and on January 8, 2026, the club handed the team to Sammy Castellanos. His first season was the toughest in the club’s short life — and it still produced stories worth telling, as you’ll see below.
And then there is the shirt. Anyone searching for the FC Cincinnati 2 jersey in 2026 finds one of the most distinctive reserve-team kits in America: a royal blue adidas shirt crossed by broad dark navy hoops, burnt-orange inserts down the flanks, orange adidas shoulder stripes, the club shield with its big white “2” on orange — and the sponsor MERCY HEALTH in bold white capitals across the navy midriff band. When the kids wear it well, there is nothing else in the league that looks like it.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#19 Chirila — FC Cincinnati 2 Style Jersey
$59.99
The back-to-back top scorer in royal blue and navy hoops — orange down the flanks, the big 2 on the shield and 19 on the back. Fan-inspired apparel made for FCC2 fans.
Last Season (2025): Playoff-Bound Again
The second season of the Marshall era ended the way the first one had — in the playoffs. FC Cincinnati 2 finished 7th in the Eastern Conference with 41 points from nine wins, seven draws and 12 defeats, good enough for a second straight postseason berth. The clincher was a statement: a 4–1 win at Orlando City B on October 5, 2025, with Kenji Mboma Dem scoring twice and Stefan Chirila adding a goal and an assist on the night the Orange and Blue punched their ticket.
The run ended one round in, again. On October 19, 2025, Cincinnati fell 2–1 away to Philadelphia Union II in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal — Stefan Korzeniowski scored early and late for the hosts, and Andrés Dávila’s 37th-minute equalizer was not quite enough. The headline of the season, though, was the scorer: Chirila, still a teenager, finished as the team’s top marksman with 9 goals, while Mboma Dem posted 7 goals and 13 goal contributions. When Marshall departed that December, the founding era closed with back-to-back playoff seasons on the books.
Best Players Right Now
Stefan Chirila — #19, forward. The face of this team, two years running. The 19-year-old Romanian scored 9 goals in 2025, then raised it to 10 goals and a team-best 5 assists in 2026 — directly producing nearly half of everything a 32-goal team scored. He captained the side on Decision Day, carries the team’s best FotMob rating, and holds a first-team contract through 2028. The pathway’s brightest light.
Ademar Chávez — #30, midfielder. The playmaker. A first-team-rostered Mexican midfielder who tied for second on the team with 3 assists in 2026 and pulls the strings in Castellanos’ midfield — including the assist on the opening goal in the May win over Columbus Crew 2 that gave this season its best night.
Cheikhou Niang — #51, forward. The cult favorite. A 6-foot-6 Senegalese striker signed in April 2026 from the Rise Academy in Thiès, Niang scored 6 goals in just 977 minutes — a goal roughly every 163 minutes — to finish as the team’s second top scorer despite arriving a month into the season. His form earned him a September loan to USL Championship side Detroit City FC for their playoff push.
Nathan Gray — #45, midfielder. Third on the team with 3 goals in 2026 — including the Decision Day strike that put Cincinnati ahead of the East’s No. 1 seed, Crown Legacy FC, before two late goals flipped the finale. A midfielder who keeps arriving in the right place.
Leo Orejarena — #57, midfielder. The team’s second-best FotMob rating of 2026 and the scorer of the opener in the 2–1 Ohio win over Columbus Crew 2 in May. One of the academy’s headline names to watch heading into 2027.
Fabian Mrozek — #93, goalkeeper. A Polish goalkeeper on loan from Liverpool FC — yes, that Liverpool — holding down the No. 1 spot for the Orange and Blue. In a season when the defense was under siege, his presence between the posts was one of its more remarkable storylines.
Star Spotlight
The back-to-back scoring crown. Top scorer at 18. Top scorer again at 19 — and top creator, too. Chirila’s 10 goals and 5 assists in 2026 came on a team that managed only 32 all season, and he wore the captain’s armband on Decision Day with a first-team contract already in his pocket through 2028. When Cincinnati fans ask who the first team is being built around, the answer starts at NKU.
The 6-foot-6 signing from Senegal. Niang’s story sounds invented: spotted at the Rise Academy in Thiès, capped at Senegal U20 level, a training stint with French Ligue 1 side Stade Brestois 29 — then six goals in 977 minutes in Kentucky, and a loan move up a division to Detroit City FC before the September roster freeze. The most unusual player story on any MLS NEXT Pro roster this year.
May 10, 2026 — the Ohio win. In a season short on highlights, this was the night: Columbus Crew 2 at NKU, Orejarena opening the scoring on 27 minutes from a Chávez assist, Owen Presthus leveling five minutes later — and Chirila burying the 62nd-minute winner for a 2–1 victory. The star, the playmaker and the rivalry, all in one match. That is the night 2026 will be remembered for in Highland Heights.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
More Orange and Blue stars, same royal blue and navy.
This Season (2026): The Hard Year
No sugarcoating: 2026 was the toughest season in the club’s short history. FC Cincinnati 2 finished 15th of 16 in the Eastern Conference — last in the Northeast Division — with five wins, three draws and 20 defeats, 32 goals scored and 62 conceded for 20 points. The playoffs, reached in both 2024 and 2025, never came into view, and the season closed on Decision Day, September 20, with a 1–2 home defeat to Crown Legacy FC — a match Cincinnati led through Nathan Gray’s 57th-minute goal before the East’s top seed scored twice late. The last win of the year had come a month earlier, a 3–1 victory at Carolina Core FC on August 22.
And yet this is a development club, and development stories still broke through the gloom. Chirila produced a second straight scoring crown. Niang arrived from Senegal in April and was playing up a division by September. The club even made a small piece of league history on opening day, hosting CT United FC’s first-ever MLS NEXT Pro match at NKU on March 1 — a 3–1 defeat, but one in which Chirila scored from the penalty spot. Castellanos’ young core got a full season of hard lessons; 2027, with the Sprint Season format ahead, is where those lessons are supposed to cash in.
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Mark Your Calendar
Sunday, October 25, 2026 — MLS NEXT Pro Conference Semifinals. Cincinnati’s season is over, but Ohio is still playing: rivals Columbus Crew 2 visit top seed Crown Legacy FC at the Sportsplex at Matthews (7:00 p.m. ET), and Chattanooga FC host CT United FC at Finley Stadium (5:00 p.m. ET) in the first playoff match between two independent clubs in league history. Both stream live on OneFootball and MLSNEXTPro.com.
October 30 – November 1, 2026 — Conference Finals. One match in each conference decides the finalists for MLS NEXT Pro Cup, with the highest remaining seeds hosting under the league’s Pick-Your-Opponent format.
November 6–8, 2026 — MLS NEXT Pro Cup. The championship match, hosted by the finalist with the highest regular-season points total. Every playoff match streams live on OneFootball.com and MLSNEXTPro.com.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Columbus Crew 2 — the Ohio war. An hour up I-71, three meetings a year, and no love lost at any level of this fixture. The 2026 series had everything but a Cincinnati series win: a 2–0 defeat in Columbus on March 21 (Chase Adams and Kevin Gbamblé the scorers), the glorious 2–1 home win on May 10 sealed by Chirila’s winner, and a cruel 1–0 home defeat on June 14 — Zengue’s 74th-minute goal beating a Cincinnati side that played with 10 men from the 37th minute and still nearly held out. Add the 4–3 Cincinnati win from September 2025 and this is the grudge that defines the 2s calendar.
2. Philadelphia Union II — the playoff nemesis. The side that ended Cincinnati’s 2025 season, 2–1 in the Eastern Conference Quarterfinal at Subaru Park. The all-time series was dead even and bitter before 2026 — five Cincinnati wins, six Philadelphia wins through 11 meetings — and this year only deepened the grudge: a 1–0 defeat at Subaru Park on March 8, then a 3–2 home loss on August 30 in a five-goal swing of a match. There is a score to settle in Chester.
3. Toronto FC II — the northern needle. Toronto have simply had Cincinnati’s number: four wins from the last five meetings, including both 2026 editions — a 3–1 defeat at NKU on July 17 and a 2–1 loss in Toronto on September 4. A Northeast Division fixture the Orange and Blue have circled in red for revenge in 2027.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does FC Cincinnati 2 play?
At NKU Soccer Stadium (Scudamore Field) in Highland Heights, Kentucky, on the Northern Kentucky University campus — a short drive across the Ohio River from downtown Cincinnati. It has been the club’s settled home since its 2022 inaugural season.
Who is FC Cincinnati 2’s best player?
Forward Stefan Chirila (No. 19). The 19-year-old Romanian led the team in scoring two straight seasons — 9 goals in 2025 and 10 in 2026 — added a team-best 5 assists in 2026, captained the side on Decision Day, and is signed to a first-team contract through 2028. Right behind him: playmaker Ademar Chávez (No. 30) and 6-foot-6 striker Cheikhou Niang (No. 51), who scored 6 goals in 977 minutes in 2026.
What trophies has FC Cincinnati 2 won?
None yet — honestly. The reserve side’s best season was 2024, when it finished 1st in the Eastern Conference with 54 points and reached the playoffs for the first time; it qualified again in 2025, losing the quarterfinal 2–1 at Philadelphia Union II. In 2026 the young side finished 15th in the East and missed the postseason.
How can I get tickets or watch FC Cincinnati 2?
Home-match tickets are claimed through the FC Cincinnati App. MLS NEXT Pro matches stream live on MLSNEXTPro.com and OneFootball — including every 2026 playoff match and MLS NEXT Pro Cup on November 6–8, 2026.
⚽ FC Cincinnati 2 Fan Shop
The full Orange and Blue trio — Chirila, Chávez and Niang in royal blue and navy.
Sources & official links: FC Cincinnati 2 official site · MLS NEXT Pro official site · 2026 MLS NEXT Pro playoff semifinals
Royal blue shirts, full voice, through the hard years too — the future wears Orange and Blue, Cincinnati.
