He's a keeper: Stefan Cleveland stays at Austin FC, and other less surprising roster decisions
One of Austin FC's original 2021 players is no longer with the club, while its first-ever SuperDraft pick will be Verde for at least one more season.
For now, Austin FC has three goalkeepers on its roster.
That's perhaps the most surprising of the decisions announced from the club on Tuesday, less than 24 hours before the league required the club to reveal its roster decisions ahead of the 2026 season. While Damian Las has been recalled from his loan in Louisville — after winning USL's Golden Glove award after letting in just 0.7 goals a game to further prove that he's ready for the next level, with the next level being MLS — and Brad Stuver is a seemingly implacable starter coming off his first All-Star appearance, the 31-year-old Cleveland allowed two goals against USL side El Paso in his only 2025 appearance.
And yet, for now, both Cleveland and Las will be competing with Stuver for the spot between the sticks — those this move could set up for dealing either to a different team prior to the start of the 2026 season.
Here's what else the club did, with my commentary.
An OG is released
Though not surprising, the decision not to pick up Julio Cascante's option means that one of the last remaining 2021 original Austin FC players is now departing from Austin. His totally wholesome Instagram account doesn't include any farewell messages (yet), and it's unclear whether he can find another MLS destination or if his future lies elsewhere.
But the 32-year-old does leave Austin with 125 of his 173 MLS league appearances in Verde (well, this shade of verde, as he was also in Portland), and up until this season, he was one of the best players on the team using the sometimes-perplexing goals added metric. (Guilherme Biro was the team leader this year, with Cascante far down on the list between Owen Wolff and Robert Taylor, which is an indicator that goals added is weird.)
With his exit, Rodolfo Borrell's roster has no TAM players on it. Rectifying that could be a key to the 2026 season.
Return of the captain
In our recent poll results article, we revealed that slightly more than half of you (who responded) thought that Austin FC should move on from Ilie Sánchez on his current contract. Perhaps you thought $600,000 was too much to spend on a player who logged his lowest total minutes (1627) since the 2020 season.
He's back on a renegotiated contract for 2026 with an option for 2027, and while we won't know what number he's on until April when the MLS Players Association blesses us with salary release data, we can assume it's on a more club-friendly. What role he'll have on the team is another question, though, as he appears to have lost some pace from 2024, even though he's perhaps even gained in leadership from when he was at LAFC, where he was already reaching a high bar.
And the others
Other roster developments were, shall we say, not surprising.
The club picked up options on Brendan Hines-Ike, Dani Pereira (though some wondered if the delay in the club announcement was hinging on a renegotiated contract to keep Pereira Verde beyond 2026), and Riley Thomas. In fact, "The option for Brendan Hines-Ike was automatically exercised based on performance metrics during the 2025 season," which is curious given how the Emiliano Rigoni saga went down, though Hines-Ike did come to Austin fairly early in Borrell's tenure.
We'd already learned about Diego Rubio's option not being extended (though I've heard from a source that his late-season hamstring injury is no longer hobbling him and wasn't the factor I feared it might be), and the club also declined the option on Jimmybryant Farkarlun (getting older but not progressing to a consistent MLS level, and that might be the last time I get to type Jimmybryant).
How things look now
Per the club, these are the current 24 players on the roster.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Stefan Cleveland, Damian Las, Brad Stuver
DEFENDERS (8): Guilherme Biro, Mikkel Desler, Mateja Djordjević, Jon Gallagher, Brendan Hines-Ike, Žan Kolmanič, Oleksandr Svatok, Riley Thomas
FORWARDS/WINGERS (6): Osman Bukari, CJ Fodrey, Jáder Obrian, Robert Taylor, Myrto Uzuni, Brandon Vázquez
Certainly, this could change, as there are a couple of underperforming buyout candidates or otherwise movable players (provided the right suitor) on the roster, plus one dynamic 20-year-old who strangely isn't yet the subject of recent transfer rumors. (Search for Wolff, and you might remember the Brest rumors from a year ago that didn't materialize.)
But overall, the team is less reinvented at the end of the 2025 season than it was in 2024, when it only retained 21 players following the exits of Matt Bersano, Ethan Finlay, Matt Hedges, Alex Ring, and Jhojan Valencia.
That indicates a bit more stability, even though further roster remaking could theoretically lift the team from its current 6th-in-the-West base camp to a higher peak. My prediction is that there's still more work to be done ahead of the Feb. 21 home opener — which is now 88 days away.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
Collectively, you think Austin FC will do okay (but perhaps not great) in 2026. And the frustration you displayed about myriad things indicate you collectively wanting more winning.
A few weeks back, nearly 200 of you took a survey to gauge your feelings on Austin FC. We've got a lot of pie charts to let you know how you collectively feel.
With a new July to May schedule on the horizon, Austin FC will get a few less matches in triple-digit temperatures. What other changes are coming, though?
For now, Austin FC has three goalkeepers on its roster.
That's perhaps the most surprising of the decisions announced from the club on Tuesday, less than 24 hours before the league required the club to reveal its roster decisions ahead of the 2026 season. While Damian Las has been recalled from his loan in Louisville — after winning USL's Golden Glove award after letting in just 0.7 goals a game to further prove that he's ready for the next level, with the next level being MLS — and Brad Stuver is a seemingly implacable starter coming off his first All-Star appearance, the 31-year-old Cleveland allowed two goals against USL side El Paso in his only 2025 appearance.
And yet, for now, both Cleveland and Las will be competing with Stuver for the spot between the sticks — those this move could set up for dealing either to a different team prior to the start of the 2026 season.
Here's what else the club did, with my commentary.
An OG is released
Though not surprising, the decision not to pick up Julio Cascante's option means that one of the last remaining 2021 original Austin FC players is now departing from Austin. His totally wholesome Instagram account doesn't include any farewell messages (yet), and it's unclear whether he can find another MLS destination or if his future lies elsewhere.
But the 32-year-old does leave Austin with 125 of his 173 MLS league appearances in Verde (well, this shade of verde, as he was also in Portland), and up until this season, he was one of the best players on the team using the sometimes-perplexing goals added metric. (Guilherme Biro was the team leader this year, with Cascante far down on the list between Owen Wolff and Robert Taylor, which is an indicator that goals added is weird.)
With his exit, Rodolfo Borrell's roster has no TAM players on it. Rectifying that could be a key to the 2026 season.
Return of the captain
In our recent poll results article, we revealed that slightly more than half of you (who responded) thought that Austin FC should move on from Ilie Sánchez on his current contract. Perhaps you thought $600,000 was too much to spend on a player who logged his lowest total minutes (1627) since the 2020 season.
He's back on a renegotiated contract for 2026 with an option for 2027, and while we won't know what number he's on until April when the MLS Players Association blesses us with salary release data, we can assume it's on a more club-friendly. What role he'll have on the team is another question, though, as he appears to have lost some pace from 2024, even though he's perhaps even gained in leadership from when he was at LAFC, where he was already reaching a high bar.
And the others
Other roster developments were, shall we say, not surprising.
The club picked up options on Brendan Hines-Ike, Dani Pereira (though some wondered if the delay in the club announcement was hinging on a renegotiated contract to keep Pereira Verde beyond 2026), and Riley Thomas. In fact, "The option for Brendan Hines-Ike was automatically exercised based on performance metrics during the 2025 season," which is curious given how the Emiliano Rigoni saga went down, though Hines-Ike did come to Austin fairly early in Borrell's tenure.
We'd already learned about Diego Rubio's option not being extended (though I've heard from a source that his late-season hamstring injury is no longer hobbling him and wasn't the factor I feared it might be), and the club also declined the option on Jimmybryant Farkarlun (getting older but not progressing to a consistent MLS level, and that might be the last time I get to type Jimmybryant).
How things look now
Per the club, these are the current 24 players on the roster.
GOALKEEPERS (3): Stefan Cleveland, Damian Las, Brad Stuver
DEFENDERS (8): Guilherme Biro, Mikkel Desler, Mateja Djordjević, Jon Gallagher, Brendan Hines-Ike, Žan Kolmanič, Oleksandr Svatok, Riley Thomas
MIDFIELDERS (7): Micah Burton, Nico Dubersarsky, Dani Pereira, Besard Šabović, Ilie Sánchez, Ervin Torres, Owen Wolff
FORWARDS/WINGERS (6): Osman Bukari, CJ Fodrey, Jáder Obrian, Robert Taylor, Myrto Uzuni, Brandon Vázquez
Certainly, this could change, as there are a couple of underperforming buyout candidates or otherwise movable players (provided the right suitor) on the roster, plus one dynamic 20-year-old who strangely isn't yet the subject of recent transfer rumors. (Search for Wolff, and you might remember the Brest rumors from a year ago that didn't materialize.)
But overall, the team is less reinvented at the end of the 2025 season than it was in 2024, when it only retained 21 players following the exits of Matt Bersano, Ethan Finlay, Matt Hedges, Alex Ring, and Jhojan Valencia.
That indicates a bit more stability, even though further roster remaking could theoretically lift the team from its current 6th-in-the-West base camp to a higher peak. My prediction is that there's still more work to be done ahead of the Feb. 21 home opener — which is now 88 days away.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
Read Next
Fairly decent team, frustrated fans: Your Austin FC end-of-season survey results, Part Two
Collectively, you think Austin FC will do okay (but perhaps not great) in 2026. And the frustration you displayed about myriad things indicate you collectively wanting more winning.
Fairly decent team, frustrated fans: Your Austin FC end-of-season survey results, Part One
A few weeks back, nearly 200 of you took a survey to gauge your feelings on Austin FC. We've got a lot of pie charts to let you know how you collectively feel.
The three best and three worst things about the 2026 Austin FC schedule
We all learned some things about the 2026 Austin FC schedule on Thursday. There are still some big questions for MLS to answer about tournaments.
Reading the tea leaves on Andy Loughnane's schedule change and Apple TV update press conference
With a new July to May schedule on the horizon, Austin FC will get a few less matches in triple-digit temperatures. What other changes are coming, though?