FC Cincinnati Secures Three Key Pieces of Its Franchise

Contract extensions for Acosta, Albright, and Noonan nod to a bright future as the team preps a playoff run for this year’s MLS Cup.
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Six weeks ago, my weekly contribution to Cincinnati Magazine’s digital pages focused on the exploits of FC Cincinnati head coach Pat Noonan and General Manager Chris Albright, highlighting their accomplishments before they arrived in Cincinnati and after the duo imparted their winning attributes on the Orange and Blue. Over the past week, Noonan and Albright have been rewarded with long-term contract extensions that likely included pay bumps from the original arrangements the two signed when they departed the Philadelphia Union for FC Cincinnati in December 2021 and October 2021, respectively.

Cincinnati issued similar statements announcing each extension, with both Noonan and Albright using the phrase “continued faith” in reference to the confidence displayed by Cincinnati’s ownership group. It’s worth mentioning that, although they were highly regarded and well-qualified candidates to fill the jobs they ended up taking, both are rookies in their respective positions. Faith rewarded, indeed.

With Noonan and Albright secured and Lucho Acosta inking a contract extension late last month—it’s clearly cuffing season at the Mercy Health Training Center—FC Cincinnati has locked up the three most critical pieces of its club at each level: front office (Albright), coach (Noonan), and player (Acosta). The spine of the on-field team—Acosta, Brandon Vazquez, Aaron Boupendza, Obinna Nwobodo, Matt Miazga, and Roman Celentano—is under club control through at least 2025.

At the time of Acosta’s deal, Cincinnati’s home dominance merited a column’s worth of words, so I merely made mention of the news. The guaranteed portion of his extension (through 2026) keeps the captain in Orange and Blue through his age-32 season, a fair length for team and player. While Cincinnati will naturally hope the presumptive league MVP maintains his elite form, soccer players can fall off the proverbial performance cliff rather quickly as they enter their 30s. Knowing how long Acosta will be around can help Albright plan for the Argentine’s eventual replacement, too.

If possible, locking up Acosta became even more essential with Vazquez destined for a transfer to Europe this winter, despite the striker agreeing to an extension in August 2022. Vazquez referred to a possible MLS Cup victory followed by a move abroad as a “perfect-case scenario” in an interview this week. With 16 goals in 28 appearances in 2023 after 19 goals in 33 matches in 2022, he’s been the subject of transfer speculation over the past two transfer windows.

An under-the-radar, off-the-field victory this week was FC Cincinnati reportedly retaining Director of Soccer Strategy Kyle McCarthy, who had apparently drawn interest from D.C. United regarding the club’s open General Manager position. Albright brought McCarthy, considered a crucial asset to Cincinnati’s front office, with him from Philadelphia.

As for on-field matters, FC Cincinnati returns from its bye week on Saturday to face Atlanta United on MLS Decision Day. The match features zero playoff implications for Cincinnati but has seeding implications for the Five Stripes, who enter as the No. 6 seed but slide up or down by one spot depending on the results of Saturday’s matches.

The earliest FC Cincinnati can begin its Round 1 playoff series vs. the winner of the No. 8/9 seed Wild Card round is October 28.

Grant Freking writes FC Cincinnati coverage for Cincinnati Magazine. You can follow him on Twitter at @GrantFreking.

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