Photo courtesy Philadelphia Union Communications

At noon Tuesday, December 30^th, 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.