Published for Union Omaha fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
🦉 Union Omaha Fans — Your Owls Are Waiting!
The most decorated club in League One history, a new downtown home, and a No. 2 seed with a third title in sight. Black shirts, volt trim, full voice — One Means All.
The Club
Union Omaha was unveiled as a USL League One club on May 1, 2019, the name was revealed that October, and the Owls played their first season in 2020. Seven seasons later, the verdict is simple: no club in the league’s short history has won more. Omaha are the only club with two League One playoff titles (2021 and 2024) and three Players’ Shields (2021, 2023 and 2024). The nickname is Los Búhos — the Owls — for the great horned owl on the crest, a species native to Nebraska. The motto is “One Means All,” the colors are black and volt, and under principal owner Gary Green this remains the only professional soccer team in the state of Nebraska.
Home changed in 2026. After six seasons at Werner Park in Papillion, the Owls moved downtown to Morrison Stadium on the Creighton University campus — a 7,500-capacity soccer stadium that opened its Omaha era with a 3–2 win over Athletic Club Boise on March 22. It is an interim home with a spectacular footnote: the club has announced a $114 million soccer-specific stadium of its own in North Downtown Omaha, with construction expected to begin in fall 2026 and a targeted move-in for the 2028 season.
The man in charge is Vincenzo Candela, in his first full season. Candela stepped up from assistant on an interim basis in July 2025, when Dominic Casciato — the architect of the 2023 Shield and the 2024 double, and a two-time League One Coach of the Year — left to become head coach of the Tampa Bay Rowdies. The club kept Candela on permanently, and 2026 has vindicated the call.
One piece of lore belongs in every Omaha guide: after the 2024 Final, owner Gary Green retired the No. 2 shirt for defender Mechack Jérôme, who had been seriously injured in a home explosion weeks earlier — the second number retired by the club, and the first retired for an active player.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#20 Ors Navarro — Union Omaha Style Jersey
$59.99
The record-chasing No. 20 in the black-and-volt crackle shirt — fan-inspired apparel for the Morrison Stadium faithful.
Last Season (2025): The Defense That Never Caught Fire
Omaha entered 2025 holding both the Players’ Shield and the playoff crown — and the defense of the double never quite caught fire. The Owls finished fifth of 14 at Werner Park, in the club’s final season there, and the campaign split in two on July 8, 2025, when Casciato left for Tampa Bay and Candela took over as interim the next day. To his credit, the assistant steered a drifting champion into the playoffs anyway.
The postseason lasted one night: a 0–0 draw at FC Naples on November 1, 2025, and a 4–3 defeat in the penalty shootout. The cups were modest too — an Open Cup run to the Third Round and a USL Cup group-stage exit. The one unmistakable bright light was Spanish forward Sergio Ors Navarro, the club’s top scorer with 10 league goals and 11 in all competitions — the first sign of the surge that has come to define 2026.
Best Players Right Now
Sergio Ors Navarro — #20, forward. Omaha’s main man two years running. The Spanish striker from Castellón, a West Virginia University product, topped the club’s scoring charts in 2025 and leads them again in 2026 with 10 goals in all competitions and seven in league play. Per the club, he goes into the final weekend level at the top of Omaha’s all-time scoring charts — one more goal makes the records his alone.
Diego Gutierrez — #17, forward. The hometown story of 2026. An Omaha native who arrived from Monterey Bay FC on a 25-day contract in March, earned a permanent deal by April, and finished the season as the club’s joint-top league scorer with seven goals. He scored twice in the Morrison Stadium opener against Boise — of course he did.
Laurence Wootton — #16, midfielder. The English midfielder from Halstead, a Chicago Fire academy product, is the engine of Candela’s side: an ever-present across 28 league appearances, the team’s connector and creator with five league assists, and a scorer in the 3–1 win over Spokane in September. The numbers understate him; the midfield does not work without him.
Pato Botello Faz — #9, forward. The Mexican No. 9 has five league goals, including penalties against AV Alta and Forward Madison, across one of the heaviest workloads in the squad — the line-leader who makes Ors Navarro’s runs possible.
Allen Gavilanes — #77, midfielder. The playmaker arrived on loan from Indy Eleven in May and produced five league goals in 18 appearances. Per the club, he sits on 19 career League One assists for Omaha — his next one is his 20th.
Rashid Nuhu — #24, goalkeeper. Omaha’s No. 1 since the club’s very first season in 2020, and a two-time League One Goalkeeper of the Year and Golden Glove winner (2021 and 2022). He shares 2026 duties with the 6’5″ Cole Jensen — but the gloves, and the standard, are still his.
Star Spotlight
One goal from the record books. Nobody embodies 2026 Omaha like the No. 20. Top scorer in 2025, top scorer again in 2026, and — per the club’s own October feature, “Sergio Ors Navarro: On a Scoring Surge” — level with Steevan Dos Santos (25 goals in all competitions) and Noe Meza (21 in League One play) at the top of the club’s all-time scoring charts heading into the final weekend. One more goal, in Madison or in the playoffs, and the record is his alone.
The 5–1 statement. August 16, 2026: Omaha’s biggest win of the season, a dismantling of Richmond at Morrison Stadium. Ors Navarro opened it at 28′, Aarón Gómez doubled it at 34′, a Sean Vinberg own goal and strikes from Gutierrez (67′) and Gavilanes (90′) completed a five-goal night that announced the Owls as the team to beat in their half of the bracket.
Win No. 19 — and the shot at 20. The 3–1 win at Greenville on September 26 took Omaha to 19 league wins, equalling the League One single-season record set by Omaha themselves and North Carolina FC in 2023. Two defeats and a cancellation followed — so the final day at Madison is a live shot at a record-breaking 20th win, with nothing else to play for and everything to play for.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
More Owls stars, same black and volt.
This Season (2026): The League’s Clear Second-Best
Omaha close the regular season second of 17 — 19 wins, eight losses and four draws from 31 matches, 54 scored, a miserly 34 conceded, 61 points — and locked into the No. 2 seed. Nobody can catch them from below, and Charlotte Independence’s relentless autumn run to the Players’ Shield (66 points) sits just out of reach above them. The Owls sat first or second from May onward and built a club-record home unbeaten streak at their new downtown home.
The late wobble was real but painless: the streak finally ended against Fort Wayne on October 10, and Westchester won in Omaha’s backyard a week later — defeats that cost pride, not position. The cups were brief (an Open Cup Round of 32 exit at the Colorado Rapids, a USL Cup group stage that included a heavy home defeat to Louisville City): the club has already announced a home playoff match on Friday, October 30 at Morrison Stadium. The two-time champions are exactly where two-time champions want to be.
🦉 Love Los Búhos? Wear it. Shop Fan Sportswear at Toxlay Sports →
Mark Your Calendar
Saturday, October 24, 2026 — at Forward Madison FC, Breese Stevens Field (6:00 p.m. ET). The regular-season finale. Omaha’s No. 2 seed is already safe, but the stakes are real on both sides: a win gives the Owls a record-breaking 20th league victory, while Madison are fighting for a top-four finish and a home quarterfinal. Omaha won the first meeting 1–0 at Morrison Stadium in April.
Friday, October 30, 2026 — home playoff match, Morrison Stadium. The club has announced the No. 2 seed will host its quarterfinal downtown, in the October 30 – November 1 quarterfinal window. The opponent — the No. 7 seed — and the kickoff time are set by the final standings.
November 6–8, 2026 — USL League One Semifinals. Four clubs left, and Omaha expect to be one of them.
November 13–15, 2026 — USL League One Final. Title No. 3 is the whole point of the season. Charlotte hold the Shield and the top seed; the Owls hold the pedigree.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Greenville Triumph SC — the Final that never happened, and the one that did. No fixture in League One carries more history. The 2020 Final between them was cancelled on the day — COVID positives in the Omaha camp — and Greenville were named champions without a ball being kicked. A year later Omaha took revenge in the 2021 Final, winning 3–0 for the club’s first title, and the pair met again in the 2023 semifinal, Omaha coming from behind to win 2–1. Both 2026 meetings went Omaha’s way — 2–0 at home in May and 3–1 away in September, the latter the record-equalling 19th win.
2. Forward Madison FC — the regional grudge that closes the season. The two Upper Midwest originals, roughly 450 miles apart, finish each other’s seasons on October 24 at Breese Stevens Field — Madison fighting for a home playoff game, Omaha chasing the wins record. Madison finished third in 2026, making this the strongest the fixture has ever been. Omaha took the first meeting 1–0 in April on a Botello Faz penalty.
3. Spokane Velocity FC — the 2024 Final rematch. Omaha beat Spokane 3–0 in the 2024 Final at Werner Park, with Joe Gallardo named Championship Game MVP — Gallardo now plays for Spokane, which adds a personal edge to every meeting. The 2026 series split: Spokane won 1–0 at home in March, Omaha won the return 3–1 in September with Wootton among the scorers. With Spokane seeded fifth, a third straight postseason meeting is firmly possible.
4. One Knoxville SC — the champions’ measuring stick. Knoxville are the reigning champions, and Omaha measured themselves against them twice in 2026 — and won twice, 2–1 in Knoxville in May and 2–1 at Morrison Stadium in September. A playoff rematch would pair the league’s last two champions with a Final place on the line.
Frequently Asked Questions
When does Union Omaha play next?
Omaha close the regular season at Forward Madison FC on Saturday, October 24, 2026 (6:00 p.m. ET), then host a home playoff match on Friday, October 30, 2026 at Morrison Stadium. The Owls are locked into the No. 2 seed for the USL League One playoffs, behind Players’ Shield winners Charlotte Independence.
Who is Union Omaha’s best player?
Spanish forward Sergio Ors Navarro (No. 20) is the club’s top scorer for the second straight season — 10 goals in all competitions in 2026 — and goes into the playoffs level with the club’s all-time scoring records. Omaha native Diego Gutierrez (No. 17) is the joint-top league scorer with seven, and English midfielder Laurence Wootton (No. 16) runs the midfield.
Where does Union Omaha play, and how do I get tickets?
Home matches are at Morrison Stadium in downtown Omaha, on the Creighton University campus — a 7,500-capacity soccer stadium that became the Owls’ home in 2026 after six seasons at Werner Park in Papillion. It is an interim home: the club is building a $114 million stadium of its own in North Downtown Omaha, targeted to open for the 2028 season. Tickets are sold through the club’s official site, and USL League One matches stream on ESPN+ in the United States, with select matches on CBS Sports networks.
What trophies has Union Omaha won?
More than any other USL League One club: playoff championships in 2021 and 2024, and the Players’ Shield for the best regular-season record in 2021, 2023 and 2024. They are chasing a third title in the 2026 playoffs, which they enter as the No. 2 seed.
🦉 Union Omaha Fan Shop
The full Owls trio — Ors Navarro, Gutierrez and Wootton in black and volt.
Sources & official links: Union Omaha official site · USL League One official site · Union Omaha tickets
Black shirts, full voice, one means all — bring on the playoffs, Omaha.
