Published for Columbus Crew fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
💛 Columbus Crew Fans — Your Crew Is Crafted for Excellence!
A coaching change, a summer of sold stars and a cup final lost on penalties — and still the Crew reach the run-in flying, four wins in five and one point off the playoff line. Black and Gold shirts on: this autumn surge is all heart, and it is not finished yet.
The Club
The Columbus Crew are one of MLS’s ten charter clubs — founded on June 15, 1994, first season 1996, and the league’s original hard-hat team. The Black & Gold, owned by a Haslam Sports Group-led group and run by general manager Issa Tall, carry a trophy cabinet most of MLS envies: MLS Cups in 2008, 2020 and 2023, Supporters’ Shields in 2004, 2008 and 2009, the 2002 U.S. Open Cup, the 2024 Leagues Cup and the 2021 Campeones Cup. Columbus does not do decoration; Columbus does winning.
Home is ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, Ohio — a downtown cathedral of black and gold that opened in July 2021 as Lower.com Field and took its new name on November 25, 2025. Capacity is 20,371, and on derby nights it feels like twice that.
The dugout tells the 2026 story in one line. Wilfried Nancy, the beloved coach of MLS Cup 2023 and the 2024 Leagues Cup, left after 2025. His replacement, Henrik Rydström, was dismissed on May 17, 2026 with the team struggling. Up stepped Laurent Courtois — previously Crew 2 head coach and a Nancy assistant — as interim boss, and everything since, the surge, the cup final, the derby sweep, has carried his fingerprints.
Search “columbus crew schedule” and you find a run-in with no margin for error. Search “columbus crew roster” and you find a squad rebuilt mid-season. And search “columbus crew jersey” and you meet the 2026 Crafted for Excellence Kit: bright yellow, a black polo collar — the Crew’s first collared shirt since 2018 — and the motto “Wholeheartedly Committed to Crafting Excellence” inside the neck. A fan-inspired shirt for a fanbase that has earned one.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#10 Méndez — Columbus Crew Style Jersey
$59.99
The La Liga No. 10 in bright Crew yellow — black polo collar, crafted for excellence. The new face of the Black & Gold, fan-inspired.
Last Season (2025): The End of an Era
The Crew’s 2025 was solid rather than spectacular: 7th in the Eastern Conference on 54 points (14 wins, 12 draws, 8 defeats), a league-phase Leagues Cup exit, and a Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 elimination by LAFC despite winning the second leg 2–1 in Columbus. Diego Rossi carried the attack with 16 league goals, 19 in all competitions.
The ending hurt twice over. In the playoffs, Columbus fell in Round One to arch-rivals FC Cincinnati in a Best-of-3 — a 0–1 loss away, a roaring 4–0 home win, then a 1–2 defeat in the decisive Game 3 in Cincinnati. Then the era closed: captain Darlington Nagbe retired, and Wilfried Nancy departed, setting up a turbulent 2026 rebuild that nobody in Columbus pretended would be smooth.
Best Players Right Now
Brais Méndez — #10, attacking midfielder. The new centerpiece. A Designated Player signed from Real Sociedad in July 2026, through the 2028-29 season, Méndez arrived with 332 career La Liga appearances and four Spain caps — and has delivered five goals and four assists in his first 13 MLS games. He scored against Inter Miami on September 27 and swung in the corner for Gonzalo Tapia’s Hell is Real winner on October 18.
Santiago Rodríguez — #8, forward. The second summer Designated Player, signed from Botafogo for a reported fee of around $6 million to give the post-Rossi attack a second DP punch alongside Méndez. A Uruguayan forward with a finisher’s instincts, Rodríguez is the piece Columbus bought for exactly the run-in they are now living.
Josef Martínez — #77, striker. A former MLS MVP and Golden Boot winner, signed on a free from Tijuana in summer 2026 — and already writing himself into Crew folklore. Martínez converted the go-ahead penalty against Inter Miami on September 27 and scored the winner in the Open Cup semi-final against Orlando on September 16. A proven penalty-box finisher for the nights when one chance decides everything.
Taha Habroune — #16, forward. The homegrown breakout story of the autumn. Habroune scored at Orlando on October 10, against Charlotte on October 14, and the 54th-minute second goal in the Hell is Real win at Cincinnati on October 18 — three straight scoring appearances powering the playoff push, from a kid who came through the Crew’s own academy.
Dylan Chambost — #7, midfielder. The French engine room. Chambost links midfield to the front line, keeps the Crew’s rhythm in possession, and takes his share of the set pieces — the connective tissue that lets Méndez and the forwards play.
Gonzalo Tapia — #33, forward. The Chilean, on loan from São Paulo, scored the 22nd-minute header — from a Méndez corner — that opened the scoring in the October 18 Hell is Real win at TQL Stadium. Big-game goals in a Columbus shirt write your name into this club fast, and Tapia has his already.
Star Spotlight
The new era beats the champions. September 27, 2026: Columbus 2–1 Inter Miami at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. Brais Méndez announced himself to the home fans with a goal, Josef Martínez converted the go-ahead penalty, and the reigning MLS Cup champions went home beaten. It was the night a season everyone had filed under “rebuild” turned into a live playoff race — the result the whole autumn surge is built on.
Hell is Real, silenced. October 18, 2026, at TQL Stadium, the loudest away fixture in MLS: Columbus won 2–0. Tapia’s 22nd-minute header from a Méndez corner, Habroune’s 54th-minute strike, and a season sweep of FC Cincinnati was complete. A year after Cincinnati ended the Crew’s season in the playoffs, Columbus walked into their house and turned the lights out.
A final lost on penalties. Three days later, October 21, Columbus hosted the U.S. Open Cup Final in front of 20,250 fans. Ninety minutes and extra time against St. Louis City SC produced no goals; the shootout produced heartbreak, 3–5. Agony, no question — but weigh it properly: a club that sat 10th at the World Cup break reached a cup final and swept its derby. That arc is the defining story of the Courtois interim era.
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More Crew stars, same black and gold.
This Season (2026): The Autumn Surge
The table says Columbus are 11th in the East on 35 points — 10 wins, 5 draws, 15 defeats, 46 scored and 47 conceded. The table does not say the rest. The Crew sit one point behind the New York Red Bulls and the final Wild Card spot with four games left, they have won four of their last five league matches — at Montréal, against the champions Miami, against Charlotte, and at Cincinnati in the derby — and their fate is in their own hands. Zero margin for error, maximum belief.
How did a team get here the hard way? Start with a World Cup break that functioned as a fire sale: leading scorer Diego Rossi sold to CF Monterrey on July 3 for a reported fee of up to $8 million, USMNT wingback Max Arfsten sold to Middlesbrough for a reported $7.5 million, Dániel Gazdag’s contract mutually terminated, and DP striker Wessam Abou Ali already lost for the season after tearing his ACL on April 12. In came Méndez, Rodríguez and Martínez — and in the cups, this patched-together side refused to act patched-together: an Open Cup run past Richmond, One Knoxville, NYCFC and Orlando to a home final lost only on penalties, and a Leagues Cup quarter-final against Club América, the Crew’s first defeat in that tournament since its 2023 relaunch, ending a 14-match unbeaten run. Whatever happens in the next four games, nobody gets to call this season quiet.
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Mark Your Calendar
Saturday, October 24, 2026 — vs Toronto FC, ScottsMiracle-Gro Field. The Trillium Cup decider: Toronto won the first meeting 2–1 at BMO Field in March, so the season series — and the cup — is settled in Columbus. Playoff points and a trophy in one afternoon.
Wednesday, October 28, 2026 — at FC Dallas, Toyota Stadium (8:30 p.m. ET). The Lamar Hunt Pioneer Cup: Lamar Hunt founded the Crew, and his family owns FC Dallas. A midweek trip to Texas with the season balanced on a knife edge.
Saturday, October 31, 2026 — vs D.C. United, ScottsMiracle-Gro Field (2:00 p.m. ET). The final home match of the regular season. If the surge is still alive, this building will shake.
Saturday, November 7, 2026 — at Chicago Fire FC, Soldier Field (4:00 p.m. ET). Decision Day. The oldest enemy, away, with the Crew’s playoff life on the line — this rivalry was always going to get the last word on the season.
November 18, 2026 — the Wild Card, then Round One, November 20 – December 2. The best Columbus can finish is the East’s 8th or 9th seed, so any playoff run starts with a single-game Wild Card on the road on Wednesday, November 18. 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. FC Cincinnati — Hell is Real. Named after the “HELL IS REAL” billboard on I-71 between the two cities, this is Ohio’s war — and 2026 belonged to Columbus. Both meetings: a 2–1 home win on July 25 (Jamal Thiaré and a Dániel Gazdag penalty answering Kévin Denkey’s early opener), then the 2–0 silencing at TQL Stadium on October 18. The all-time MLS derby record now reads Columbus 11 wins, 6 losses, 6 draws — and after Cincinnati knocked the Crew out of the 2025 playoffs in Game 3, the sweep tasted like exactly what it was: payback.
2. Toronto FC — the Trillium Cup. The cup contested over the season series, named for the official flowers of Ohio and Ontario. Toronto struck first in 2026, winning 2–1 at BMO Field on March 21 — José Cifuentes and an 83rd-minute Walker Zimmerman winner, after Abou Ali’s fourth-minute opener for Columbus — which makes October 24 in Columbus the decider. Cross-border, flower-named, and absolutely not friendly.
3. Chicago Fire FC. One of the league’s oldest Eastern feuds, dating to 1998: Chicago beat Columbus in the 1998 U.S. Open Cup Final; Columbus beat Chicago in the 2008 Eastern Conference Final on the way to MLS Cup 2008. This year’s first meeting finished 0–0 in Columbus on March 7 — and fate saved the rematch for Decision Day, November 7 at Soldier Field, with everything on it.
Frequently Asked Questions
When is the Columbus Crew’s next game?
Saturday, October 24, 2026 — at home to Toronto FC at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in the Trillium Cup decider. The regular season then closes at FC Dallas on October 28, at home against D.C. United on October 31 (2:00 p.m. ET) and at Chicago Fire on Decision Day, November 7 (4:00 p.m. ET).
Who is the Columbus Crew’s star player in 2026?
Brais Méndez, the No. 10 Spanish Designated Player signed from Real Sociedad in July 2026, with five goals and four assists in his first 13 MLS games. Leading scorer Diego Rossi was sold to CF Monterrey in July, and DP striker Wessam Abou Ali is out for the season with a torn ACL.
Where do the Columbus Crew play, and how do I get tickets?
The Crew play at ScottsMiracle-Gro Field in Columbus, Ohio (capacity 20,371), renamed from Lower.com Field in November 2025. Official tickets are sold through the club site, columbuscrew.com, and every match streams live on Apple TV via MLS Season Pass.
What trophies have the Columbus Crew won?
Three MLS Cups (2008, 2020, 2023), three Supporters’ Shields (2004, 2008, 2009), the U.S. Open Cup in 2002 — plus a runners-up finish in 2026, losing the October 21 final to St. Louis on penalties — the Leagues Cup in 2024 and the Campeones Cup in 2021.
💛 Columbus Crew Fan Shop
The full Black & Gold trio — Méndez, Rodríguez and Martínez in yellow and black.
Sources & official links: Columbus Crew official site · MLS official site · Columbus Crew tickets
Black and Gold hearts, wholeheartedly committed to crafting excellence — glory to Columbus.
