2026 Richmond Kickers season

Richmond Kickers

2026 season
Chairman	22 Holdings, LLC
Manager	Darren Sawatzky
Stadium	City Stadium
USL League One	N/A
U.S. Open Cup	TBD
Prinx Tigres Cup	Group stage
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The 2026 Richmond Kickers season will be the club's 34th season in existence, their eighth season in USL League One, and their 22nd season in the third tier of American soccer. The Kickers are led by seventh-year head coach, Darren Sawatzky.

This is the first season since 2019 without Emiliano Terzaghi, who transferred to Portland Hearts of Pine, after playing for the Kickers for five seasons. This will also be the first season since 2021 without Simon Fitch and Chandler O'Dwyer who transferred to Spokane Velocity and Sarasota Paradise respectively.

The 2025 season was the club's 34th season of existence, their sixth season in USL League One, and sixth year under head coach Darren Sawatzky. The Kickers worsened from the previous season getting of 8 wins, seventeen losses, and five draws. With Darwin Espinal being the top goalscorer with nine goals.They failed to reach league playoffs for the first time since 2023 by finishing in 13th.

Outside of USL League One, the Kickers participated in the U.S. Open Cup and the USL Cup. The Kickers lost the first round in the U.S. Open Cup losing to Virginia Dream 3–0 and also got eliminated in the group stage of the USL Cup.

Date	Position	No.	Name	From	Fee	Ref.
December 2, 2025	FW	11	Tarik Pannholzer	Marshall Thundering Herd	Free	[1]
December 4, 2025	DF	26	Mujeeb Murana	Miami FC		[2]
December 9, 2025	DF	5	Ethan Kos	Birmingham Legion		[3]
December 11, 2025	GK	1	Yann Fillion	Floriana		[4]
December 17, 2025	DF	4	Sam Layton	GC Knights		[5]
December 18, 2025	DF	99	Daniel Moore	Crown Legacy		[6]
January 7, 2026	MF	18	Austin Amer	None		[7]
January 8, 2026	DF	12	Owen O'Malley	Vermont Green		[8]
January 13, 2026	DF	22	Sean Vinberg	Portland Hearts of Pine		[9]
January 14, 2026	FW	23	Tyler Freeman	Western Suburbs		[10]

Date	Position	No.	Name	To	Fee	Ref.
November 12, 2025	DF	39	Brendan Dobzyniak	VCU Rams	Free[i]	[11]
	MF	42	Grafton Kahl	West Virginia Mountaineers	Free[i]	[12]
	FW	40	Nick Sarrantakos	High Point Panthers	Free[i]	[13]
November 30, 2025	GK	1	Pablo Jara	None	Free	[14]
	DF	25	Marcelo Lage	New York Cosmos	Free	[15]
	DF	14	Guilherme Franca	Sampaio Corrêa	Free	[14]
	DF	16	Klaidi Cela	KF Skënderbeu	Option declined	[14]
	DF	4	Simon Fitch	Spokane Velocity	Free	[14]
	DF	5	Maxi Schenfeld	None	Free	[14]
	DF	6	Ryan Baer	Tacoma Defiance	End of loan	[14]
	MF	11	Rivendi Pierre-Lewis	None	Option declined	[14]
	MF	17	James Vaughan	Chattanooga Red Wolves	Free	[14]
	MF	20	Adrian Billhardt	Union Omaha	Free	[14]
	MF	33	Matt Bolduc	None	Free	[14]
	FW	27	Chandler O'Dwyer	Sarasota Paradise	Option declined	[16]
	FW	32	Emiliano Terzaghi	Portland Hearts of Pine	Free	[17]
December 1, 2025	MF	18	Jonathan Kanagwa	None	Option declined	[14]
February 12, 2026	DF	38	Griffin Garnett	Ferencvárosi TC II	Free	[18]

Transfer notes

Pittsburgh Riverhounds v Richmond Kickers

February 2 Friendly	Pittsburgh Riverhounds	v	Richmond Kickers	Coraopolis, PA
TBD EDT				Stadium: AHN Health + Sports Medicine Center Montour

Loudoun United v Richmond Kickers

February 7 Friendly	Loudoun United	v	Richmond Kickers	Leesburg, VA
TBD EDT				Stadium: RavenTek Park

As of January 19, 2026. Numbers after plus–sign (+) denote appearances as a substitute.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		USL1		USL.1 Playoffs		U.S. Open Cup		Prinx Tigres Cup
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	CAN	Yann Fillion	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
2	MF	USA	Dakota Barnathan	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
3	MF	USA	Hayden Anderson	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
4	DF	AUS	Sam Layton	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
5	DF	USA	Ethan Kos	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
7	FW	USA	Landon Johnson	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
9	FW	USA	Josh Kirkland	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
10	MF	GER	Nils Seufert	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
11	FW	GER	Tarik Pannholzer	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
12	FW	USA	Owen O'Malley	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
18	MF	USA	Austin Amer	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
19	FW	HON	Darwin Espinal	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
22	DF	USA	Sean Vinberg	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
23	FW	USA	Tyler Freeman	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
26	DF	NGA	Mujeeb Murana	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
34	DF	USA	Beckett Howell	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
35	GK	USA	James Sneddon	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
41	MF	USA	Andrew Richman	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0
99	DF	USA	Daniel Moore	0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0	0+0	0