Nashville Soccer Club Announces 2023 Preseason Schedule

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Jan. 6, 2023) – Nashville Soccer Club will kick off its 2023 preseason on Monday, Jan. 9 in Tampa, Fla. with the first of three phases, two of which will take place in Florida, and one of them in Music City. The Boys in Gold will participate in seven preseason matches through Feb. 17.

The first phase will see Nashville SC compete in two preseason matches against the New York Red Bulls and the United States Men’s National Team U-20s before returning to Music City on Jan. 24.

Phase II will see the Boys in Gold train in Nashville for a week before returning to Florida to start phase III in St. Petersburg, Fla. While in Music City, Nashville will host Louisville City FC behind closed doors.

While back in Florida, Nashville SC is slated to compete in four preseason friendlies in the final phase against Eastern Conference opponents Orlando City SC, New England Revolution, Philadelphia Union, and FC Cincinnati. See the Nashville SC Preseason Calendar section for a full breakdown of matches.

The 2023 preseason will lead to the start of a thrilling fourth season in Major League Soccer as the Boys in Gold will start the year by hosting New York City FC on Feb. 25. Tickets for the MLS Is Back weekend opening match can be purchased here. The 2023 opener can be seen on MLS Season Pass as well as on FOX and Fox Deportes.

Nashville SC 2023 Storylines

• Nashville SC owns an overall MLS preseason record of 6W-2L-3D in three seasons
• A full breakdown of the 2022, 2021 and 2020 Nashville SC preseason results can be found below.

• Gary Smith and his coaching staff return for their fourth MLS season following their third consecutive Audi MLS Cup Playoffs appearance. Nashville SC is one of five clubs in MLS history to have advanced to the playoffs in each of their first three seasons (Chicago Fire, Seattle Sounders FC, Atlanta United FC and LAFC)

• Nashville SC’s 2023 campaign will see the return of the 2022 Audi MLS Landon Donovan MLS Most Valuable Player and Audi Golden Boot winner Hany Mukhtar

• Mukhtar led MLS in 2022 with 34 goal contributions (23 goals, 11 assists) which was tied for the fifth most in a single season in MLS history
• Mukhtar scored or assisted on 65.4% of Nashville SC’s goals in 2022, which was the most by a single player in MLS last season

• Returning to Music City will be United States Men’s National Team defenders Walker Zimmerman and Shaq Moore. The duo represented the USMNT this past winter at the 2022 FIFA World Cup™ in Qatar

• Zimmerman appeared in all four matches for the United States in the World Cup with three starts, which included a shutout performance against England in the Group Stage
• Moore appeared in two matches off the bench against England and Iran

• During the offseason Nashville SC acquired winger Fabrice-Jean "Fafà" Picault from Houston Dynamo FC and center back Nick DePuy from the LA Galaxy

• Picault is coming off a two-year stretch in which the winger ranked seventh among players in his position in MLS for most combined goals and assists since 2021, recording 18 goals and eight assists across the 2021-22 seasons
• DePuy made 18 appearances in 2022, helping the Galaxy reach the 2022 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2019

• Captain Dax McCarty returns for his 18^th MLS season, ranking second all-time among outfield players in games played (439), first among active players and is five starts from 400 in his career

• Nashville SC has three players who rank in the top 10 among active players in matches played Dax McCarty (439, 1^st), CJ Sapong (342, 6^th) and Teal Bunbury (337, 9^th)

• Goalkeeper Joe Willis enters 2023 as the all-time leader in regular season appearances in Nashville SC history and is 11 shy of 100