You know them, you (maybe) love them. You’ve laid your eyes on them as they’ve gallivanted about in Orange and Blue. You’ve said your goodbyes to them, and have maybe thought about them on occasion as they’ve dotted themselves across the globe, on fields of green,in cramped dugouts, or in upstairs offices. In honor of the FC Cincinnati Alumni Friendly match last weekend, here are the stories of 10 ex-Cincinnati players and coaches, good and bad, expected and unexpected, that you may not be privy to.
FC Cincy’s highest pre-MLS appearance maker was a fitting participant in the alumni match. The midfielder retired in 2022 after two years with Louisville City in the USL Championship, and has since returned to the Cincinnati area. Based off of his Instagram, he’s doing a lot of dad stuff, spending time with his wife (who runs a tattoo business), three children, and two dogs. He’s also found time to attend concerts put on by an eclectic range of musical artists, including Dijon and Boygenius. He currently serves as a club ambassador for FC Cincinnati, and offers private 1v1 coaching sessions.
Another stalwart in FCC’s early years that appeared in the alumni game, Ledesma is still the club’s joint-fourth top scorer, netting 22 times in two years in the Queen City. Before his time in Ohio, the Argentine midfielder had already led a career characterized by transience, spending time at 13 different clubs across four nations in between 2008 and 2018. After the conclusion of his contract with Cincinnati, Ledesma added a further four clubs (and two nations) to this list; in between USL Championship spells with Indy Eleven and the Las Vegas Lights, he spent years with SJK Seinäjoki of Finland and AC Barnechea of Chile’s second division, before retiring two years ago. LikeBone, Ledesma now lives in Cincinnati, working as a club ambassador for FCC and running his own youth soccer program in Blue Ash.
There’s no better way of putting it—Jurgen Locadia was absolutely abysmal in the Queen City. One goal in 17 matches is a statline befitting of, well, certainly not a guy on loan from a Premier League club. Locadia’s method of cleansing himself of his MLS disaster-class? Travelling the world. After (somehow) grinding out one more English top flight appearance with Brighton and Hove Albion, the former Dutch youth international spent an unmemorable eight months in the Bundesliga with VfL Bochum before leaving Europe once again, this time to join Persepolis FC in Iran’s Persian Gulf Pro League. His stop was brief, but successful, scoring six goals in nine games. Since the start of 2023, he has played for Cangzhou Mighty Lions in the Chinese Super League, SD Amorebieta in Spain’s third tier, and CF Intercity, where he currently plies his trade, in that same division. During that time, he’s also declared for the Curacao national team, playing five games. A true journeyman.
Fans of the Orange and Blue could be forgiven for forgetting Swedish defender Tom Pettersson’s brief, 19-game spell at the club. In fact, out of the eight teams that Pettersson has played for throughout his lengthy career, he played the fewest total matches for Cincinnati. But at the wily old age of 35, Pettersson finds himself in the midst of a minor career renaissance, on the doorstep of the first top-flight division title of his career. After a season and a half playing for Norwegian club Lillestrom, Pettersson now plies his trade for Mjällby AIF in Sweden. Mjällby, who come from a minute fishing town of less than a thousand people, are currently a miraculous four points clear at the pinnacle of Swedish top division table, with only 11 games of the season remaining. Pettersson, who has aged like a fine wine, has started 10 of the club’s 19 games. Certainly, not where many would have expected the big Swede to be in 2025 when Cincy released him from his contract four years ago.
Embed from Getty Images
Harrison Delbridge
Similarly to Pettersson, Harrison Delbridge has found a new lease on his life in soccer post-Cincinnati. Two stellar years for the Orange and Blue in their 2016 and 2017 USL seasons proved to be the catalyst for a move to Melbourne City in Delbridge’s home nation of Australia. He was a consistent starter through two and a half seasons in the top division down under, and nearly won the league in his final year (edged out by a FC Sydney winner in extra time of the A-League’s Grand Final). He signed with South Korea’s Incheon United in 2021, where he remains today. He has racked up over 100 appearances for his current side, and even managed a call-up to the Australian national team in 2022 (playing a solitary match). Although Incheon were relegated from Korea’s highest league in 2024, a quick return appears to be on the cards; the club is currently leading the second division by eight points.
From the pleasantly surprising to the disappointing: Brenner’s European adventure has proved not as fruitful. After his $10 million dollar transfer to Udinese in Serie A, the man who once aided in catapulting Cincinnati into the MLS playoffs for the first time in their history never really got going. A muscular injury hampered Brenner’s first season in Italy, and he quickly fell deep into the center-forward pecking order at the club. After two seasons and 17 paltry appearances, the former boy wonder was rumored to be on the move again earlier this summer, this time back to Brazil. But these talks have since died down, and surprising developments have ensued; Brenner has featured in almost all of Udinese’s pre-season friendlies. This is absolutely not a slam dunk signifier of prosperity in Italy’s top flight, but, at the very least, it’s a step in the right direction.
Embed from Getty Images
Jaap Stam
Jaap Stam was a fantastic soccer player. Jaap Stam is not a fantastic manager. While the stoic Dutchman was admittedly in charge of a weak Cincinnati roster, he did less than a great job with what he had; a winning percentage of 17% speaks for itself. Stam was relieved of his duties in late 2021, and has not managed a professional club since. However, that’s not to say that he isn’t still managing. In 2024, he went back to where it all began, taking charge of Dutch amateur side DOS Kampen; Stam began his career with the club back in 1988. Kampen, whose nickname literally translates to the “Puddle Ducks,” currently play in the 6th division of Dutch soccer. Yes, the 6th division. But Stam doesn’t care. “I’m thrilled to be returning to the club where I started,” he gushed after his hiring, according to Kampen’s club website. “I look forward to continuing to help [them] develop.”
Unfortunately, it seems that Cincinnati’s goalgetter of yore may have peaked in Ohio. Vazquez was serviceable during his first season in Mexico with CF Monterrey, netting a solid if unspectacular 10 goals in 27 games. Four in 23 the following year, however, was both unspectacular and unsolid. He was unable to usurp prolific Argentine striker German Berterame from the starting center-forward role, and lost his place with the U.S. men’s national team, too. In late 2024, Monterrey released him, less than a year after he made his debut in the Liga MX. It’s not all bad news, though: since returning to the MLS in January with Austin FC, Vazquez has scored nine goals in all competitions. Perhaps it’s not a total return to the glory days, but it’s heartening to see some consistency in the career of a former Cincy stalwart.
He may have never held a permanent contract with Cincinnati, but Yerson Mosquera’s loan stint with the club was a very positive one; his winner against Philadelphia in 2023’s conference semifinals will live long in the memory. And Mosquera’s momentum didn’t stop after his time in the U.S. In January of that year, he joined La Liga club Villarreal on another loan, and his arrival coincided with a huge uptick in form for his new side (they only lost two matches through the entire back half of the season). At the beginning of the 2024-25 campaign, Mosquera started in each of parent club Wolverhampton Wanderers’ first five Premier League games, and even scored his first goal for the Colombian national team in a shock win over Argentina. Unfortunately, an ACL injury cut the defender’s season incredibly short, but his career has by no means been derailed. He signed a new, long-term contract with Wolves in March, and has spoken positively about his lengthy recovery. Yerson (fingers crossed) is just getting started.
What better place to end than with Cincinnati’s first real sorcerer, their first absolute Major League Soccer star? After his league-leading 30-goal contribution season for FCC in 2024, Lucho jumped ship and joined FC Dallas as a designated player, instantly becoming the highest-paid member of their squad. The result of this punchy, intra-league move? Well… it actually wasn’t great. Acosta struggled to fit into the Texan side’s tactical system, and his attacking numbers cratered. It was not a disaster, but, with the season halfway done, and the Argentine midfielder notching a mere six goal contributions in 21 MLS games, Dallas cut their losses, and sold Acosta to Brazilian side Fluminense for around four million dollars. Maybe, just maybe, Cincy shuffled their roster at the right time… but it is hard to say. Hopefully, Lucho can rediscover that special something in South America’s biggest league.
Facebook Comments