Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union Communications
At noon Tuesday, December 30th, 2025 the Philadelphia Union announced they had signed 19.1-year-old center back Finn Sundstrom from North Carolina FC of the USL Championship. Since D.C. United had selected him in the waiver draft, the Union traded their 2028 natural first round selection in the 2028 MLS SuperDraft to secure the right to sign him. Because the Union previously had sold all their SuperDraft picks through 2027 to Colorado, 2028 was the first pick they had available.
Sundstrom joined the NCFC’s youth academy at age 11. According to Transfermarkt, he sat on the bench with their first team in 2024 but saw no minutes in league play. He started the season opener in 2025 and subsequently started all but three of Carolina’s 33 regular season games. He started both games of their 2025 playoff run. He saw only cameos in the 2025 USL Cup, but started twice in the 2025 U. S. Open Cup. Of his 34 total starts in 2025, 25 are listed as full 90s. On November 25th, Transfermarkt updated his roster asset value to (€)200,000, at December 30th’s exchange rate roughly $235,000. Carolina signed him from their own academy only this past August 29th. He played Carolina’s 2025 entire season as an 18-year-old, turning 19 only on November 19th of this year.
It is worth noting that Philadelphia has signed him from the Division II USL Championship. Such a signing is not without precedent for them. But it is certainly rare. Oliver Semmle came from Louisville City of USL C. Memory does not recall anyone else, especially since Ernst Tanner’s arrival.
Why Sundstrom was available to D. C. United through waivers is not yet clear. What compensation North Carolina FC realized from his departure is not clear either. (Subsequent to submitting this article to our editors, we have seen reports that North Carolina FC has suspended operations until the 2028 season. Click here.)
At the very least, Philadelphia now has another center back. They clearly think he will contribute in some way because they signed him for the next three calendar years with options for the two after that, as per their signing announcement.
NCFC not operating in 2026… dropping down to League One in 2027/28.
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Wasn’t Brian Silvestre (goalie) signed from NCFC too?
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And when Birmingham signs Kai… our entire back line will be all U-22?
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Or is it now “2003”?
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NOT EXPECTING ANYTHING FROM THE UNION 2026… shooting for 100% attendance again… BUT NO TOURNAMENTS.
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ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.
The drop down is incorrect if I’m reading this right:
“USL Division One is the tentative name for a proposed professional men’s league in the highest level of the USL , alongside MLS . Organized by the USL, it would supersede the USL Championship as its premier league for men, and would employ a promotion/relegation system with the Championship. Its inaugural season would commence by 2028. Its proposed minimum salary for players would be 55,000.“
I read that as they want to be more competitive and, with the MLS calendar flip, these next couple seasons are meh anyway
It will be interesting to see the USL Division One League grow as an idea… but right now it has major stadium issues, unless the 15,000 minimum seat standards change.
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AI Overview
The vast majority of teams in the USL Championship play in stadiums with a capacity under 15,000 seats.
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Only a few clubs currently meet or exceed the 15,000-seat threshold specified in the U.S. Soccer Federation’s professional league standards for a Division 1 league.
Happy New Year?
Happy New Year. We thought 2025 season was uncertain. Gonna have a lot of new faces. Kai gets his trade 4 seasons later. Will be interesting to find out how these moves are unfolding with Tanner “out”. I’m assuming it’s business as usual though.
And the fire sale continues. At least there won’t be claims of we’re going to “run it back”
Philadelphia Union finalizing deal to sign center back Sery Larsen from Brann. BT Sporten 1st.
Larsen, 25, made 98 apps for Brann. Former Denmark youth int’l.