Published for Atlanta United fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
🔴 Atlanta United Fans — Your Five Stripes Are Waiting!
Tata Martino is back, the 17s are loud, and the Five Stripes are fighting to the final whistle of the playoff race. Four games, no margin for error — this is the month to wear the red and black like you mean it.
The Club
Atlanta United FC arrived in MLS in 2017 — the league’s 22nd team, founded on April 16, 2014 — and instantly rewired what an American soccer crowd could be. The Five Stripes, named for the red and black stripes on the crest, play in red, black and gold, and their supporters call themselves the 17s: the club retired the No. 17 shirt for the fans before a ball was ever kicked, and no Atlanta player will ever wear it.
Home is Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta, shared with owner Arthur Blank’s Falcons and set up for 42,500 in soccer configuration — with the upper bowl open, it has held crowds past 73,000. Atlanta has set MLS single-match and average attendance records in this building, averaging 41,435 a game in 2025. If you are checking the Atlanta United schedule for a first trip, pick a big one: there is no louder room in the league.
The man in the dugout is the man who built it. Gerardo “Tata” Martino, the club’s first-ever head coach, is back for a second stint in 2026 on a contract through 2027, replacing Ronny Deila after one season. Martino won MLS Cup here in 2018, and his return is the storyline hanging over every roster decision, every lineup and every result this fall.
Is Almirón fit? Who leads the line? It is what Atlanta types into Google every single week — and right now the answers run through a rebuilt roster: a returning hero at No. 10, a Russian playmaker wearing 59, and a World Cup striker who landed in August. The red and black Atlanta United jersey has rarely had this many names worth printing on the back.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#10 Almirón — Atlanta United Style Jersey
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The king is home — and breaking records. Six goals, five assists and a club assist record in 2026: the fan-inspired No. 10 Almirón style jersey is the shirt the 17s sing for.
Last Season (2025): The Worst Year in Club History
Spend big, fall hard. Atlanta broke the MLS transfer record to bring in striker Emmanuel Latte Lath from Middlesbrough for $22 million and welcomed Miguel Almirón home from Newcastle United — then won just two of their first eleven matches and never recovered. The goals dried up, the confidence went with them, and the Five Stripes limped home 14th in the Eastern Conference with 28 points (5W–13D–16L): the worst season in club history.
Latte Lath scored twice on his debut against Montréal in February, then went from late March to mid-July without a goal, finishing as the team’s league top scorer with only seven. There was no playoff run — Atlanta did not qualify — and the Leagues Cup ended at the league stage. Head coach Ronny Deila, hired in December 2024, was dismissed the day after the final match. The club’s answer was a homecoming: back to Tata.
Best Players Right Now
Miguel Almirón — #10, right winger / attacking midfielder. The returning hero, back for a second spell after Newcastle United, and still the heartbeat of this team: six goals and five assists in 23 league matches, and in August he broke Atlanta’s all-time club assist record — his 42nd and 43rd assists across his two spells, both setting up goals in the 2–1 win over Sporting KC. Under contract through December 2027.
Aleksey Miranchuk — #59, attacking midfielder. The Russian Designated Player is Atlanta’s creative hub, with a team-leading six goals and seven assists and 2,055 minutes played — third-most on the team. Everything dangerous runs through the No. 59, and he is signed through December 2027.
Breel Embolo — #36, striker. The blockbuster summer arrival: signed on August 23, 2026 from Stade Rennais for a reported $18 million, one of the largest fees in MLS history, on a deal through the 2029-30 season. The Switzerland international arrived fresh off a World Cup quarter-final run — two goals and two assists at the tournament — and has two goals and an assist in his first eight MLS matches, including his first open-play goal in the 3–0 win at Montréal.
Tristan Muyumba — #8, defensive midfielder. The ever-present engine: a team-high 30 league matches, with four goals and an assist. The availability and bite in midfield that Martino has built the side around.
Fafà Picault — #22, winger. The veteran spark from the wide areas: four goals and an assist in 23 matches — and on October 17 he won and converted the late penalty against his former club, Inter Miami, to give Atlanta their only goal of a painful night.
Tomás Jacob — #55, center-back. The defensive success story of the rebuild: three goals and two assists in 26 matches from center-back, a genuine set-piece threat who scored in the Embolo-presentation win over Sporting KC.
Star Spotlight
Embolo Day. August 23, 2026. Hours before kickoff against Sporting Kansas City, Atlanta confirmed Switzerland’s World Cup striker Breel Embolo from Rennes for a reported $18 million, and presented him to the Mercedes-Benz Stadium crowd that night. He watched his new teammates win 2–1 — with Almirón assisting both goals, from Jacob and Picault, to break the club’s all-time assist record. A statement signing in the middle of a losing season.
Almirón’s record-breaking homecoming. The fan favorite who left for Newcastle in 2019 came home in 2025 — and in August 2026 he passed every playmaker in club history, assists No. 42 and 43 of his two Atlanta spells arriving in the same game. Six goals and five assists in an injury-interrupted 23 league matches tells only half of it: when Miggy plays, Atlanta create.
The Montréal statement. October 14, 2026, season on the line: Atlanta went to Montréal and won 3–0, their best away performance of the year, with Embolo scoring his first open-play Atlanta goal. It kept the miracle playoff chase alive for three more days — until Messi’s four-minute brace in Atlanta on October 17 pushed the Five Stripes to the very brink.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
More Five Stripes stars, same red and black.
This Season (2026): Win Out and Pray
The table does not lie: 14th in the Eastern Conference, 30 points from 30 matches (8W–6D–16L), 37 scored and 51 conceded. And yet, somehow, Atlanta are still alive. The Five Stripes sit six points behind 9th-placed Red Bull New York — the club holding the last Wild Card spot — with four matches to play, and the math is brutal: win all four, reach 42 points, and still need Cincinnati, New York, Toronto, Columbus and NYCFC to drop points along the way. It is a miracle chase, priced at around a 3% chance in early October. But it is a chase.
The summer teased a revival. After the seven-week World Cup break — Spain beat Argentina in the July 19 final — Atlanta ripped off three straight wins: 2–1 over Red Bull New York, 2–1 at Minnesota, 2–1 over Sporting KC on Embolo presentation night. Then came one win in five, a U.S. Open Cup run that included a 2–0 win at Charlotte before a 1–4 exit at Orlando, and October’s split: the 3–0 statement at Montréal, either side of losses to Cincinnati and Miami. The $22 million man is gone, too — Latte Lath loaned to Union Berlin in the summer after scoring twice in 2026 — and October reporting has openly asked whether Martino is coaching his final games here, contract through 2027 or not. Four games to change the story.
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Mark Your Calendar
Saturday, October 24, 2026 — vs Chicago Fire FC, Mercedes-Benz Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET). Pride Night in Atlanta, and the first of four must-wins. Nothing less than three points keeps the dream breathing.
Wednesday, October 28, 2026 — at New York City FC. A midweek road test against another club in the Wild Card fight — drop points here and the math gets close to impossible.
Sunday, November 1, 2026 — vs Toronto FC, Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The final home game of 2026. If the chase is still alive, the 17s will make it feel like a cup final.
Saturday, November 7, 2026 — at Red Bull New York, Sports Illustrated Stadium. Decision Day, and it could not be scripted better: Atlanta close the regular season at the home of the team holding the last Wild Card spot. A six-pointer to end all six-pointers.
November 20 – December 2, 2026 — Round One, Best-of-3 (if the miracle lands). Atlanta would enter through the Wild Card round on November 18 as a No. 8 or No. 9 seed. Conference semifinals follow December 5–6, conference finals December 11–12, and MLS Cup 2026 lands on Friday, December 18. Every match streams on Apple TV with MLS Season Pass.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Orlando City SC — the Southern rivalry. The Southeast’s original feud, born the day Atlanta arrived in 2017 and immediately outshone Orlando. Atlanta lead the all-time MLS series (Orlando’s record across 28 meetings: eight wins, eight draws, 12 losses), and the 2024 playoff run that stunned the league went through this fixture. But 2026 belonged to Orlando: a 1–1 draw in Florida in May, a 1–4 U.S. Open Cup beating three days later, and a 2–3 home defeat in September. Three meetings, no wins — the Five Stripes owe them one.
2. Charlotte FC — the Southern Clash. The I-85 rivalry, running since Charlotte’s first season in 2022, with Dean Smith’s side holding a narrow all-time edge and sweeping the 2025 league series. Atlanta’s best moment of 2026 in this fixture came in the cup: a 2–0 U.S. Open Cup win in Charlotte in April. The league meetings brought a 2–2 draw there in July and a 0–2 home loss in August — a series that now demands a response every single year.
3. Inter Miami CF. Not a traditional derby — a grudge. Atlanta authored the most famous upset in recent MLS history in the 2024 playoffs, knocking out Miami’s record-breaking Shield winners in Round One, and the connection runs deeper still: Tata Martino has now coached both clubs. In 2026 Miami had the edge — a 2–2 draw at Nu Stadium in September, then a 1–3 home defeat on October 17, when Messi scored twice in four minutes to push Atlanta’s playoff hopes to the brink.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who coaches Atlanta United in 2026?
Gerardo “Tata” Martino — the coach who won MLS Cup 2018 in the club’s second season — returned for 2026 on a contract through 2027, after Ronny Deila’s one-season spell ended with the worst finish in club history (14th in the East, 28 points in 2025).
Have Atlanta United ever won MLS Cup?
Yes — MLS Cup 2018, a 2–0 win over the Portland Timbers at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in just the club’s second season, in front of an MLS postseason-record crowd of 73,019. The Five Stripes have also won the U.S. Open Cup (2019) and the Campeones Cup (2019).
Who is Atlanta United’s record signing?
The title has changed hands twice in 18 months. Emmanuel Latte Lath arrived from Middlesbrough for an MLS-record $22 million in February 2025 — but after scoring just twice in 2026 he was loaned to Union Berlin. His replacement, Switzerland striker Breel Embolo (No. 36), signed from Rennes on August 23, 2026 for a reported $18 million.
Where do Atlanta United play, and how do I get tickets?
At Mercedes-Benz Stadium in downtown Atlanta (soccer capacity 42,500), shared with the Falcons. Tickets are sold through the club at atlutd.com and Ticketmaster, and every match streams on Apple TV via MLS Season Pass. The final home game of 2026 is Sunday, November 1 vs Toronto FC; Decision Day is away at Red Bull New York on November 7.
⚽ Atlanta United Fan Shop
The full Five Stripes trio — Almirón, Miranchuk and Embolo in red and black.
Sources & official links: Atlanta United official site · MLS official site · Atlanta United tickets
Red, black and gold, full voice to the final whistle — win out and believe, Atlanta.
