The 2025 season was D.C. United's 30th in existence and its 30th consecutive season in the top division of American soccer, Major League Soccer. The team participated in the 2025 U.S. Open Cup in addition to MLS play.
The 2025 was poor season for United, who for the second time in four years, finished at the very bottom of the MLS table. This caused the club to miss the MLS Cup playoffs for the sixth season in a row, extended the club's record for playoff drought. The poor performance caused head coach, Troy Lesesne to be sacked midway through the regular season and general manager, Ally Mackay, to be fired at the season's end. Nevertheless, fans and the media put less blame on Lesesne and Mackay and instead aimed more blamed at club ownership, specifically Jason Levien and Steven Kaplan, who, under their ownership, have seen the team earn four last-place finishes and only one major trophy won.
Despite woes in MLS play, United did have their deepest run in the U.S. Open Cup since the 2013 championship run. United reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open Cup before losing to eventual Open Cup, champions, Nashville SC. Outside of these two competitions, United did not participate in any continental tournaments.
Background
The 2024 D.C. United season saw the arrival of Ally Mackay as general manager following the dismissal of Dave Kasper, and Troy Lesesne as head coach following the sacking of Wayne Rooney. Entering the season, expectations among the media were low among the club, and most expected the team to finish at the bottom of the table, and possibly win the Wooden Spoon. The club vastly improved their attack thanks to a Golden Boot-winning season by Christian Benteke as well as acquisitions of players such as Aaron Herrera, Jared Stroud, and Lucas Bartlett. However, the club let in a record 70 goals, the third worst in the league, which offset the 52 goals they scored during the season.
Benteke and Herrera nevertheless were named All-Stars and the former won the MLS Golden Boot, becoming the first D.C. United player to win the boot since Dwayne De Rosario did so in 2011.
Club Front office Position Name Chairman and Majority Owner Jason Levien Co-chairman Stephen Kaplan Minority Owners Mark Ingram II Mario Mims Devin Talbott President, Business Ops Danita Johnson Chief Financial Officer Dan Franceschini
Technical staff Position Name General Manager Ally Mackay Assistant GM Caleb Shreve Director of Player Personnel Clarens Cheridieu Head coach René Weiler Assistant coach Alex Martínez Goalkeeping coach Cody Mizell First-team roster Squad No. Name Nationality Position(s) Date of birth (age) Apps Goals Assists Signed from Goalkeepers 1Kim Joon-hongGK1100 Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors13Luis BarrazaGK2400 New York City FC24 Jordan FarrGK400 Tampa Bay Rowdies Defenders3 Lucas BartlettCB6723 St. Louis City SC 4Matti PeltolaCB / DM6301 HJK Helsinki5 Lukas MacNaughtonCB1110 Nashville SC12Conner AntleyRB / CB2712 Tampa Bay Rowdies15 Kye RowlesCB3400 Heart of Midlothian16 Garrison TubbsCB2611 Atlanta United FC18 Derek DodsonRB1502 Minnesota United22 Aaron HerreraRB6218 CF Montréal 28David SchneggLB4021 Sturm Graz Midfielders5Boris EnowCM4011 Maccabi Netanya8 Jared StroudLW / RW6869 St. Louis City SC 10Gabriel PiraniAM75154 Santos11Randall LealRM1804 Nashville SC23Brandon ServaniaCM3303 Toronto FC 25Jackson HopkinsAM / SS7241 D.C. United Academy30 Caden ClarkAM400 CF Montréal44Rida ZouhirCM1600 CF Montréal 48Gavin TurnerAM / LW100 D.C. United Academy77Hosei KijimaCM3120 San Diego FC Forwards7PeglowLW / RW2634 Radomiak Radom17 Jacob MurrellFW5133 Georgetown Hoyas19Hakim KaramokoFW200 NC State Wolfpack20Christian BentekeST1004911 Crystal Palace23Dominique BadjiCF3321 Bandirmaspor27Kristian FletcherFW3221 Loudoun United
Transfers MLS SuperDraft picks
Round Selection Player Position College Status 1 10 Hakim Karamoko FW NC State Signed with first team 2 40 Daniel Ittycheria FW Princeton Returned to school 3 70 Jonah Biggar DF South Carolina 3 86 Grant Bailey DF Loyola (Chicago)
Transfers in Date Position No. Name From Fee/notes Ref. GK 24 Jordan Farr Tampa Bay Rowdies GK 13 Luis Barraza New York City FC $50,000 GAM + incentives MF 77 Hosei Kijima San Diego FCKijima last played for St. Louis City SC but was selected by San Diego FC in the 2024 MLS Expansion Draft before being traded to D.C. United. $400,000 GAM MF 7 Peglow Radomiak Radom Signed through 2027, 2028 team option DF 5 Lukas MacNaughton Nashville SC $150,000 GAM + incentives DF 18 Derek Dodson Minnesota United 2024 MLS Re-Entry Draft FW 19 Hakim Karamoko NC State Wolfpack 2025 MLS SuperDraft GK 1 Kim Joon-hong Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors Signed through 2027, 2028 Team Option MF 11 Randall Leal Nashville SC Claimed off waivers, 2026 Team Option DF 15 Kye Rowles Heart of Midlothian MF 23 Brandon Servania Toronto FC MF 48 Gavin Turner D.C. United Academy Homegrown Player, signed through 2027 with Team Options in 2028-29 MF 44 Rida Zouhir CF Montréal One-year deal, Team Options in 2026-27 MF 30 Caden Clark CF Montréal U-22 Initiative $700K to Montreal (plus $100K in incentives and sell-on percentage) Signed for 2025 with Team Options in 2026-27 FW Oscar Avilez D.C. United Academy Homegrown Player, signed through 2028 with Team Options in 2029-30
Transfers out Winter First team Date Position No. Name To Fee/notes Ref. October 25, 2024 GK 1 Tyler Miller Notts County Released FW 11 Cristian Dájome Santos Laguna Released MF 14 Martín Rodríguez Ñublense Released MF 18 Jeremy Garay Loudoun United FC Released GK 24 Alex Bono New England Revolution Released GK 26 Nathan Crockford FC Cincinnati 2 Released DF 30 Hayden Sargis Orlando City B Released GK 50 Luis Zamudio Charleston Battery Released DF 97 Christopher McVey San Diego FC Released MF 43 Mateusz Klich Atlanta United Trade MF 6 Russell Canouse Retired Free MF 7 Pedro Santos Loudoun United FC Free DF 45 Matai Akinmboni AFC Bournemouth Undisclosed fee (est. $1.25M-2.5M) MF 21 Ted Ku-DiPietro Colorado Rapids $1.125M cash, $275K future incentives Future sell-on/trade percentage clause.
Academy Summer Date Position Name To Fee/notes Ref. June 30, 2025 MF Michael Dessalegn Old Dominion Monarchs Signed NLI June 30, 2025 MF Teymour Mohammed Montpellier HSC Free July 1, 2025 MF Otu Bisong Virginia Cavaliers Signed NLI July 1, 2025 MF Gleb Bogdanov Villanova Wildcats Signed NLI July 1, 2025 GK Ethan Pendleton UCLA Bruins Signed NLI July 15, 2025 GK Alexander Aguilar Old Dominion Monarchs Signed NLI July 15, 2025 MF Alessandro Maldonado Old Dominion Monarchs Signed NLI
Loans in DatePos.PlayerFromDate untilRef. February 26, 2025 FW Fidel Barajas Guadalajara June 30, 2025
Loans out DatePos.PlayerToDate untilRef. August 30, 2024 FW Kristian Fletcher Nottingham Forest April 22, 2025 May 30, 2025 FW Hakim Karamoko Loudoun United December 30, 2025 July 1, 2025 MF Gavin Turner Chattanooga FC December 30, 2025
Transfer notes
Preseason and friendlies
Competitions
Major League Soccer
Standings Eastern Conference
Overall table
Results summary
Match results
U.S. Open Cup
Statistics
Appearances and goals Numbers after plus-sign(+) denote appearances as a substitute.
Top scorers {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;" |- ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:35px;" scope="col"|Rank ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:35px;" scope="col"|Position ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:35px;" scope="col"|No. ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526;" scope="col"|Name ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:75px;" scope="col"| ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:75px;" scope="col"| ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:75px;" scope="col"|Total |- | 1 || FW || 20 ||align="left"| Christian Benteke || 9 || 0 || 9 |- | 2 || MF || 10 ||align="left"| Gabriel Pirani || 7 || 1 || 8 |- |rowspan=2| 3 || FW || 7 ||align="left"| João Peglow || 3 || 0 || 3 |- | MF || 25 ||align="left"| Jackson Hopkins || 2 || 1 || 3 |- |rowspan=2| 5 || MF || 77 ||align="left"| Hosei Kijima || 2 || 0 || 2 |- | FW || 17 ||align="left"| Jacob Murrell || 1 || 1 || 2 |- | 7 ||colspan="7"|7 players with 1 goal |- !colspan="4"|Total !30||7||37
Top assists {| class="wikitable" style="font-size: 100%; text-align: center;" |- ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:35px;" scope="col"|Rank ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:35px;" scope="col"|Position ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:35px;" scope="col"|No. ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526;" scope="col"|Name ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:75px;" scope="col"| ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:75px;" scope="col"| ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:75px;" scope="col"| ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:75px;" scope="col"| ! style="background:#000000; color:#FFFFFF; border:2px solid #E32526; width:75px;" scope="col"|Total |- | 1 || DF || 22 ||align="left"| Aaron Herrera || 4 || 0 || 1 || 0 || 5 |- |rowspan="4"| 2 || FW || 10 ||align="left"| Gabriel Pirani || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 4 |- | MF || 7 ||align="left"| João Peglow || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 4 |- | DF || 28 || align="left"| David Schnegg || 4 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 4 |- | MF || 11 || align="left"| Randall Leal || 1 || 0 || 3 || 0 || 4 |- |rowspan="2"| 6 || FW || 20 ||align="left"| Christian Benteke || 3 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 3 |- | MF || 23 ||align="left"| Brandon Servania || 3 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 3 |- |rowspan="2"| 8 || DF || 4 ||align="left"| Matti Peltola || 2 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 2 |- | MF || 44 ||align="left"| Rida Zouhir || 2 || 0 || 0 || 0 || 2 |- | 10 ||colspan="7"|8 players with 1 assist |- !colspan="4"|Total !33||0||7||0||40
Disciplinary record PlayerMLSU.S. Open CupTotal 1 GK 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 DF 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 4 DF 6 0 0 0 0 0 6 0 0 5 DF 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 6 MF 8 0 0 1 0 0 9 0 0 7 FW 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 8 FW 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 10 MF 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 12 DF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 13 GK 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 14 FW 3 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 0 15 DF 8 0 0 0 0 0 8 0 0 16 DF 3 0 0 1 0 0 4 0 0 17 FW 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 0 0 18 DF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 19 FW 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 20 FW 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 22 DF 8 0 1 0 0 0 8 0 1 23 MF 7 0 0 0 0 0 7 0 0 25 MF 4 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 28 DF 8 0 0 1 0 0 9 0 0 30 MF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 44 MF 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 77 MF 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 0
Player awards MLS Team of the Matchday Week Player(s) Opponent(s)1XI: Boris EnowToronto FC9XI: PeglowNew York Red Bulls11Bench: Christian BentekeColorado Rapids13XI: Luis BarrazaNew York City FC16Bench: Gabriel PiraniNew England Revolution17XI: Gabriel PiraniBench: AntleyFC Cincinnati31XI: Gabriel PiraniNew York City FC35Bench: Christian BentekeInter Miami Notes
References
External links D.C. United