On Tuesday morning, Nashville SC announced the signing of 24-year old Ghanaian defender Maxwell Woledzi from Norwegian club Fredrikstad FK, its first addition of the offseason. Woledzi arrives in Tennessee with proven pedigree, oodles of potential and an inspiring body of humanitarian work. Fans should be just as excited for the player they’re getting as the personality behind him.
Get to know a bit more about what Nashville can expect from its new signing, both on and off the pitch.
Flexibility, stamina, and speed
Woledzi occupies a different tactical profile to many defenders. Rather than a no-nonsense, kick-it-out sort of center back, Woledzi’s best traits are his ball-carrying and hustle, a combo with the potential to change Nashville’s shape and turn it into one of the league’s strongest and most versatile units.
Throughout his two full seasons with Fredrikstad, Woledzi often played as the left-sided defender in a back three. Because of the vast distances fullbacks are expected to play in that sort of tactical setup — acting more as wide midfielders to assist in attack to offset the extra defender — that meant Woledzi was tasked with covering almost the entire left side of the pitch by himself. With a wiry 6-foot-2 build and a tireless running engine, Woledzi was perfect for the role, able to physically battle with the larger strikers he faced and keep pace with the wingers trying to weave past him. Once he dispossessed his attacker, he’d then often maraud deep into midfield with the ball, kickstarting Fredrikstad’s offense and becoming a vital piece of its build-up play.
Nashville head coach B.J. Callaghan doesn’t employ the three-back shape Woledzi grew accustomed to in Norway, but he does love his fullbacks (particularly MLS All-Star Andy Najar) to bomb forward. As such, he has shown a keenness for defenders who can cover lots of ground and assist wide players in build-up, two of the traits that made 2025 acquisition Jeisson Palacios such an integral cog in Nashville’s system. By adding Woledzi, Callaghan has inserted a sort of second Palacios into the lineup, adding legs and dribbling ability to the back line, increasing the team’s tactical flexibility dramatically as a result.
Sourcing talent from abroad
Since Callaghan took over in July 2024, Nashville has extended its scouting network into a series of untapped markets, from Honduras to Colombia to Sweden. But one of the more unorthodox connections has been with Norway’s domestic league, the Eliteserien, where midfield starters Patrick Yazbek and Eddi Tagseth both thrived before making the switch to Middle Tennessee. Woledzi becomes the third name on the Norway to Nashville list, and arrives with the highest pedigree of any acquisition from the league so far.
Taking a winding path from his hometown of Nima, Ghana, to Denmark’s Nordsjælland, to Portugal’s Vitória SC B, and then to Fredrikstad, Woledzi has worked from the ground-up for his chances and made sure to take them. His stints in Denmark and Portugal were fruitful for his development, but Norway was where he broke out, earning Eliteserien Team of the Year honors in each of his two seasons there. This coincided with a run to the 2025 Norwegian Cup title — Fredrikstad’s first since 2006 — and an appearance in the UEFA Europa Conference League playoff stage, which the club lost 1-0 on aggregate to reigning English domestic cup winner Crystal Palace. Once the season ended, Woledzi was honored with Fredrikstad’s Player of the Year designation, as well as a tifo celebrating his achievements with the club.
With one of the Eliteserien’s best players — and likely its best defender — making the switch to Music City, fans of the boys in Gold have a signing worth getting excited about. And though he hasn’t been capped to the Ghanaian national team yet, if his performances continue to impress, a call-up — even one for the 2026 World Cup — may not be far behind.
Giving back to Ghana—and the world
In addition to his many accolades on the pitch, Woledzi has spent substantial time and money working to help others off it. The Maxwell Woledzi Foundation — described on its website as “a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and engaging young people, especially girls in football” — has been a passion project of the Ghana native, helping to give youth across Africa and beyond opportunities for advancement through sport.
The Foundation oversees various initiatives, particularly youth soccer tournaments for girls, the first of which took place in Woledzi’s hometown of Nima but has since expanded to the cities of Tamale and Kumasi in Ghana and even to Norway. But perhaps the Foundation’s most impactful work has been with its “hijab project,” a partnership with Nike since 2018 to provide sports hijabs and other gear for Muslim girls to wear so they can participate in sports without deviating from religious customs. The Ghana Football Association changed its regulations to permit female soccer players in Ghana to wear sports veils during official competitions because of the Foundation’s efforts.
Defenders are meant to be stingy. Woledzi certainly is on the field. Off it, Woledzi is anything but.
Follow our newest Boy in Gold on Instagram at @maxwellwoledzi4, and his foundation at @maxwellwfoundation.
