Published for NYCFC II fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
⚽ NYCFC II Fans — Your Young Pigeons Just Made History!
A club-record 47 points, a second-ever playoff run, and a Hudson River Derby owned from March to September. White shirts, sky-blue pinstripes, Queens in full voice — this is the season to wear the Young Pigeons’ colors.
The Club
New York City FC II is the reserve team of MLS club New York City FC, owned and operated by the same City Football Group family as the first team. The club was announced on December 6, 2021 — the very day MLS NEXT Pro was formed — the name was revealed in January 2022, and the Young Pigeons played their first season that spring. The nickname is no accident: the flying pigeon on the club’s own crest is a nod to the birds that own every rooftop and rail yard in the five boroughs, and the league itself calls this team “The Pigeons.”
Home is split between two of the most New York venues in American soccer. The club’s base is Belson Stadium in Queens, on the St. John’s University campus, its home since 2022. And since July 2024 — after the club put $3 million toward pitch upgrades — part of the home schedule is also played at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island in Manhattan. In 2026 the first seven home matches were at Belson, followed by seven straight at Icahn. Two boroughs, one team, and a home crowd that commutes by subway either way.
The man in charge is Matt Pilkington, head coach since February 9, 2022 and the club’s academy head coach since 2016 — he has shaped this pathway longer than almost anyone in the building. That pathway is the whole point of the club: MLS NEXT Pro exists to complete the route from academy to first team, and league-wide more than 230 players have signed MLS first-team contracts after time in this league. NYCFC II’s job is to make sure New York’s kids are next in that line.
And then there is the shirt. Ask anyone searching for the NYCFC II jersey in 2026 and they will describe the same thing: this is not the first team’s sky-blue shirt. Since 2024 the II team wears its own kits — a white adidas shirt crossed by thin vertical sky-blue pinstripes, a sky-blue crew collar, the flying-pigeon crest on the left chest and no front sponsor at all. The kits are not sold to the public, which is exactly why the white and sky blue has become such a badge of honor for the fans who follow this team.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#27 Flax — NYCFC II Style Jersey
$59.99
The Homegrown heartbeat in white and sky blue — thin pinstripes, the flying-pigeon crest and 27 on the back. Fan-inspired apparel made for Young Pigeons fans.
Last Season (2025): The Step Back
After the promise of 2024 — a first-ever playoff quarterfinal and that famous cup run — 2025 was the reality check. New York City FC II finished 12th in the Eastern Conference, 24th overall, with 9 wins, 6 draws and 13 losses. They scored 53 goals but conceded 61, among the worst defensive numbers in the East, and their 35 points left them watching the playoffs from home a year after gate-crashing them.
The bright spot wore No. 99: Seymour Reid was the team’s top scorer with 13 goals, a one-man highlight reel on a side that leaked too many at the other end. The lesson of 2025 was written clearly enough — the talent was there, the structure was not. The reset came in 2026, and it produced the best league season in club history.
Best Players Right Now
Cooper Flax — #27, midfielder. The star of this team, full stop. The Homegrown from Dix Hills was NYCFC II’s top scorer in 2026 with nine goals from midfield and earned an Honorable Mention in the 2026 MLS NEXT Pro Best XI. When the Young Pigeons needed a goal — a penalty under pressure against Chattanooga in June, week after week all summer — it was No. 27 who carried the attack.
Sebastiano Musu — #81, forward. The Italian centre-forward was one of only three NYCFC II players to reach five or more goals in 2026, and he sits among the team’s leading assist providers too. A proper No. 9 presence at the top of a young side — hold-up play, penalty-box movement, and a finisher’s calm.
Máximo Carrizo — #29, midfielder. The Manhattan-born Homegrown playmaker matched Musu with five or more goals in 2026, and his quality showed on the biggest night of the season: inside two minutes of the playoff quarterfinal at Chattanooga, it was Carrizo who carved out the game’s first big chance. A local kid running games for his hometown club.
Drew Kerr — #75, midfielder. The chief creator. Kerr finished 2026 as the team’s assist leader, the midfielder whose final pass turned the Young Pigeons’ pressure into the goals that built a record points total. Every good attack this team produced ran through his boots.
Mac Learned — #31, goalkeeper. The last line of a defense that tightened up dramatically in 2026: 68 saves and six clean sheets across the season. His commitment summed up the playoff run — in the dying seconds at Chattanooga he was up in the opposition box for a corner, chasing an equalizer, when the empty-net third goal settled it.
Jacob Arroyave — #47, midfielder. The playoff goalscorer. Arroyave pounced on a loose Chattanooga backpass in the 53rd minute of the quarterfinal to level the club’s second-ever playoff match — the moment a record-breaking season came within one bounce of something even bigger.
Star Spotlight
October 18, 2026 — the equalizer that nearly turned a season. Chattanooga FC used their Pick-Your-Opponent choice on New York, and for an hour at Finley Stadium the pick looked like a mistake. Alex Krehl’s 31st-minute header put the hosts ahead, but the Young Pigeons — with 57% of the ball — kept coming, and on 53 minutes Jacob Arroyave punished a loose backpass to silence the home crowd. It took Chattanooga’s substitutes until the 86th minute to break them, and the empty-net third at 90+7′, with Learned stranded upfield, flattered the hosts. A record season ended fighting, in front of 3,131 fans in Tennessee.
September 20, 2026 — Decision Day nerves, settled from the spot. Needing a result at Philadelphia Union II to lock up a playoff place, NYCFC II drew 1–1 — and then won the shootout 2–1. Sixth place in the East, the No. 6 seed, and the final point of a club-record 47-point regular season. A year after missing the postseason entirely, the Young Pigeons were back in the dance.
Cooper Flax’s 2026 — the Homegrown who carried the attack. Nine goals from midfield, a penalty buried under pressure in the June draw with Chattanooga at Belson, and a place in the league’s Best XI conversation with an Honorable Mention when the awards landed on October 8. The Dix Hills product was the face of the best league season this club has ever had.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
More Young Pigeons stars, same white and sky blue.
This Season (2026): The Record Breakers
The numbers first, because they are the best this club has ever posted. New York City FC II finished 6th in the Eastern Conference — the No. 6 seed, 3rd in the Northeast Division and 10th overall: 28 played, 13 wins, 5 draws, 10 losses, 50 goals scored and 44 conceded. The 47 points are a club record, the best season point-wise in Young Pigeons history, and they carried the club into the playoffs for only the second time ever.
The run-in told the story of a young team growing up in public. Back-to-back road defeats — 2–0 at Toronto FC II on August 28 and 4–2 at Inter Miami CF II on September 1 — put the season on the brink. Then came the response: a 4–2 Hudson River Derby win over Red Bull New York II at Icahn Stadium on September 8, a 1–0 win over CT United FC five days later, and the Decision Day shootout at Philadelphia that sealed the seed. In the quarterfinal, Chattanooga — the No. 2 seed — picked them, led them, were pegged back by them, and needed two goals in the final minutes to end their season 3–1 on October 18. No trophy, no semifinal — but a standard has been set in Queens, and it is 47 points high.
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Mark Your Calendar
Sunday, October 25, 2026 — MLS NEXT Pro Conference Semifinals. New York’s season is over, but the tournament they fought their way into reaches its final four in each conference — and the East runs through the team that eliminated them. Chattanooga FC hosts CT United FC at Finley Stadium (5:00 p.m. ET), then Crown Legacy FC hosts Columbus Crew 2 (7:00 p.m. ET). Out West: Austin FC II vs LAFC 2 (8:30 p.m. ET) and Portland Timbers2 vs Ventura County FC (10:00 p.m. ET).
October 30 – November 1, 2026 — Conference Finals. One match in each conference, hosted by the higher remaining seed, to decide who plays for the Cup. The Young Pigeons will be watching the East final knowing they were eleven minutes from being in the semifinal themselves.
November 6–8, 2026 — MLS NEXT Pro Cup. The championship match, hosted by the finalist with the highest regular-season points total. Every remaining playoff match — semifinals, conference finals and the Cup — streams live on OneFootball.com and MLSNEXTPro.com.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Red Bull New York II — the Hudson River Derby. The same river, the same city, zero love lost — and in 2026 the Young Pigeons owned it outright. A 1–1 draw at Belson on March 15, settled by a 5–4 shootout win; a 3–2 win away at MSU Soccer Park on May 17; and a 4–2 statement win at Icahn Stadium on September 8. Unbeaten in three derbies — against the defending MLS NEXT Pro Cup champions, no less. Add the history: NYCFC II beat this same club on the famous 2024 Open Cup run, and the edge only sharpens every year.
2. Chattanooga FC — the playoff executioners. The independent Tennessee club and New York had barely crossed paths — three meetings in three seasons — before 2026 made them inseparable. On June 21 at Belson it finished 1–1, Cooper Flax’s first-half penalty answered before Chattanooga took the shootout 5–4. Then came October 18: Chattanooga used their Pick-Your-Opponent choice on the Young Pigeons and ended their season 3–1 in the quarterfinal, two goals in the final minutes after Arroyave’s equalizer had the upset alive. Some rivalries are chosen. This one was, literally.
3. Philadelphia Union II — the shootout war. Three meetings in 2026, and a playoff berth swung on kicks from the spot. New York won 1–0 in Chester on June 14; the August 1 rematch finished 1–1 before NYCFC II survived a marathon shootout 8–7; and on Decision Day, September 20, another 1–1 draw ended with a 2–1 shootout win that clinched sixth place in the East. No fixture in this club’s calendar carries more tension per minute.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does New York City FC II play?
The club’s home is Belson Stadium in Queens, on the St. John’s University campus. Since July 2024 the Young Pigeons also play part of their home schedule at Icahn Stadium on Randalls Island — in 2026 the first seven home matches were at Belson and the next seven straight were at Icahn. Check the fixture before you travel, because the venue genuinely changes.
Who is New York City FC II’s best player?
Homegrown midfielder Cooper Flax (No. 27). The Dix Hills product was the team’s top scorer in 2026 with nine goals and earned an Honorable Mention in the 2026 MLS NEXT Pro Best XI. Right behind him are forward Sebastiano Musu (No. 81) and Manhattan-born playmaker Máximo Carrizo (No. 29), who each scored five or more goals.
What trophies has New York City FC II won?
None yet — honestly. The Young Pigeons’ best league finishes are Conference Quarterfinal runs in 2024 and 2026, and their famous moment is the 2024 U.S. Open Cup run to the Round of 16, when they finished as the last Division III team standing. In 2026 they set a club record with 47 points.
How can I get tickets or watch New York City FC II?
Tickets are sold through the club at newyorkcityfc.com. MLS NEXT Pro matches stream live on MLSNEXTPro.com and OneFootball — and every 2026 playoff match, including MLS NEXT Pro Cup on November 6–8, airs on those two platforms.
⚽ NYCFC II Fan Shop
The full Young Pigeons trio — Flax, Musu and Carrizo in white and sky blue.
Sources & official links: New York City FC official site · MLS NEXT Pro official site · NYCFC II quarterfinal recap
White shirts, sky-blue pinstripes, Queens in full voice — fly high, Young Pigeons.
