The 2026 Rhode Island FC season is the third season for Rhode Island FC, and their third in the USL Championship, the second tier of professional soccer in the United States.

RIFC will play an unbalanced 30-game regular season schedule, plus four USL Cup games. They will play their Eastern Conference opponents twice, each home and away, and six of the teams in the Western Conference, three home and three away. The top eight teams in each conference will make the playoffs.

The group stage of the 2026 USL Cup will have six teams competing in Group 5, each playing four games, two home and two away.

RIFC entered in the first round of the 2026 U.S. Open Cup and advanced to the Round of 32.

Preseason RIFC's preseason included a local training camp in Rhode Island, followed by extended training in Florida at IMG Academy. RIFC played closed-door scrimmages against New England Revolution II, Sporting Club Jacksonville, Sarasota Paradise, Philadelphia Union II, and Hartford Athletic. An open exhibition game against Brooklyn FC was canceled due to after-effects of the Blizzard of '26, which left 30 inches of snow in Pawtucket.

The team's season-opening game against Loudoun United FC, scheduled for March 7, was also postponed due to the blizzard. The game was moved to mid-October.

Player movement In No.Pos.PlayerTransferred fromFee/notesDateSource8FW Leo Afonso Atlanta UnitedFree transferJanuary 8, 202622DF Nick Scardina Charlotte FCFree transferJanuary 9, 202629GK Jacob Castro Tacoma DefianceFree transferJanuary 13, 202610MF Agustín Rodríguez Club Atlético LanúsLoanJanuary 14, 202620FW Jamin Gogo Peters Brown UniversityFree transferFebruary 16, 202614FW Logan Dorsey Minnesota United FC 2LoanFebruary 25, 202625DF CJ Williams Boston CollegeFree transferMarch 3, 202618FW Osman Foyo AFC WimbledonUndisclosed feeJuly 23, 202614FW Yutaro Tsukada Orlando City SCLoanJuly 30, 202616MF Eric Klein New England Revolution LoanAugust 14, 202637FW Stas Korzeniowski Philadelphia UnionLoanAugust 27, 202628DF Cai McLean Inter Miami CF AcademyFree transferSeptember 16, 202627FW Nikolai Pierre Orlando City SC AcademyFree transferSeptember 16, 202630MF Kevin Medina Inter Miami CF AcademyFree transferUSL Academy contractSeptember 17, 202631GK Nate DiLoreto Sacred Heart UniversityFree transfer25-day contractSeptember 30, 2026

Out

DatePos.PlayerTransactionDetailsNew ClubRef.December 19, 2025MF Maxi RodriguezTransferUndisclosed fee Detroit City FCJanuary 9, 2026FW Albert DikwaTransferUndisclosed fee Pittsburgh Riverhounds SCJanuary 16, 2026DF Aimé MabikaReleaseMutual consentFebruary 14, 2026FW Mathieu NdongoTransferUndisclosed fee Miami FCJune 5, 2026FW Logan DorseyRecall of loan Minnesota United FCJuly 27, 2026MF Clay HolstadLoanOption to buy FC DallasAugust 25, 2026FW JJ WilliamsTransferUndisclosed "club-record" fee Heart of Midlothian FCAugust 29, 2026DF Hamady DiopTransferUndisclosed fee Birmingham Legion FC

Roster

Out on loan

Competitions

Preseason Friendlies As they did in their first two seasons, RIFC held a limited training camp in Rhode Island, before heading to IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida for preseason training. The team announced closed-door scrimmages against teams from MLS Next Pro and both USL leagues, ahead of the start of the regular season. They also played an unannounced preseason friendly against the New England Revolution.

USL Championship

Eastern Conference

Results summary

Regular season

U.S. Open Cup

Rhode Island entered in the First Round of the 2026 U.S. Open Cup, joining the competition at the same time as 16 other USL Championship teams. Their first-round game against the amateur team CD Faialense of the Bay State Soccer League was played on Tuesday, March 17 at Centreville Bank Stadium. They were drawn at home against rivals Hartford Athletic for a second-round game on April 1. RIFC beat Hartford 2–0, with two first-half goals scored from corner kicks.

After their victory in the second round, RIFC was paired with New England Revolution in a Round of 32 game. The Revolution were seeded as designated hosts, but Gillette Stadium was not available for New England to play in their home stadium. The game was played at Centreville Bank Stadium, with The Revolution as the "home" team and Rhode Island "away." The Revolution took the lead on a 51st-minute goal from Diego Fagúndez. RIFC tied the game at 1–1 late in second-half stoppage time via a header from JJ Williams. After a scoreless extra time, the Revolution won the ensuing penalty-kick shootout.

USL Cup

Matches Group Rounds

Player statistics

Goals PlacePos.No.NameTotal1FW9 JJ Williams8210112MF17 Jojea Kwizera600063FW8 Leo Afonso401054MF7 Dwayne Atkinson300034DF4 Hugo Bacharach300034FW37 Stas Korzeniowski300034DF22 Nick Scardina210038DF3 Aldair Sanchez110028FW14 Logan Dorsey101028MF12 Clay Holstad101028FW14 Yutaro Tsukada200028DF24 Karifa Yao2000213DF2 Dani Rovira0100113DF25 CJ Williams0100113FW10 Agustín Rodríguez0010113DF17 Frank Nodarse1000113DF5 Grant Stoneman1000113MF77 Amos Shapiro-Thompson10001Own Goals01001Total 39 7 5 0 51

Assists PlacePos.No.NameTotal1FW9 JJ Williams410052MF77 Amos Shapiro-Thompson301042FW11 Noah Fuson400044FW10 Agustín Rodríguez210034DF22 Nick Scardina300034MF17 Jojea Kwizera201034FW8 Leo Afonso300034FW14 Yutaro Tsukada300039MF12 Clay Holstad200029DF3 Aldair Sanchez011029DF4 Hugo Bacharach1100212DF19 Kevin Vang0100112GK1 Koke Vegas1000112FW18 Osman Foyo10001Total 29 5 3 0 37

Clean Sheets

PlacePos.No.NameTotal1GK1 Koke Vegas6220102GK30 Jacob Castro10001Total 7 2 2 0 11

Disciplinary No.Pos. Name Total 1GK Koke Vegas 1 1 112DF Dani Rovira 1 13DF Aldair Sanchez 4 1 54DF Hugo Bacharach 10 1 1015DF Grant Stoneman 1 1 117MF Dwayne Atkinson 1 18FW Leo Afonso 4 49FW JJ Williams 3 1 3110FW Agustín Rodríguez 3 311FW Noah Fuson 2 1 312MF Clay Holstad 3 1 414FW Logan Dorsey 1 114FW Yutaro Tsukada 2 215DF Frank Nodarse 4 1 4116MF Eric Klein 3 317MF Jojea Kwizera 7 2 921MF Zachary Herivaux 2 224DF Karifa Yao 3 1 1 537FW Stas Korzeniowski 2 277MF Amos Shapiro-Thompson 4 1 5Total 60 3 5 0 4 2 0 0 69 5

League and Cup Honors USL Championship Team of the Week Hugo Bacharach – Week 21, 25 Jojea Kwizera – Week 3 (bench), 11/12, 19/20 (bench), 28 Frank Nodarse – Week 2 (bench), 5, 19/20, 23 Nick Scardina – Week 11/12, 14/15 Yutaro Tsukada – Week 25 (bench) JJ Williams – Week 8/9 (bench), 11/12, 14/15, 23 (bench) USL Championship Goal of the Week Jojea Kwizera – Week 12 Yutaro Tsukada – Week 28 USL Championship Save of the Week Koke Vegas – Week 6, 30 USL Cup Team of the Round Clay Holstad – Third Round Frank Nodarse – Third Round (bench) U.S. Open Cup Team of the Round Dani Rovira – First Round (bench) JJ Williams – Second Round References