Philadelphia Union Release 2025 Roster Profile
A look into the specifics of the Union's 2025 roster.
Major League Soccer’s 30 teams released their roster profiles this week.
We’ve come an incredibly long way in roster transparency in a short amount of time. Now we have every single detail that we could imagine for roster building.
The roster compliance deadline was last Friday, but teams can add players through the primary transfer window that ends on April 23. The secondary transfer window opens from July 24-August 21.
The Union have three Designated Players on the roster in Bruno Damiani, Mikael Uhre and Daniel Gazdag. Damiani is classified as a young DP.
Quinn Sullivan and Olwethu Makhanya are signed under the league’s Under-22 initiative.
Sullivan is the newcomer to that roster slot. Makhanya has been designated in that slot.
Tai Baribo, Andre Blake, Ian Glavinovich, Jakob Glesnes, Danley Jean Jacques and Kai Wagner are all listed as TAM players and then are nine regular roster players.
The rest of the roster is backloaded with Homegrown Players.
C.J. Olney, Jeremy Rafanello, Andrew Rick, Cavan Sullivan and David Vazquez are on the supplemental roster, along with Isaiah LeFlore.
Eddy Davis, Sal Olivas, Neil Pierre, Nelson Pierre and Frankie Westfield fill the off-roster spots and Nick Pariano is the 31st player on the roster.
Nelson Pierre was loaned out to Vancouver Whitecaps II on Thursday.
Here’s the key note to follow on the players in the off-roster spots:
“Off-Roster Homegrown Players are ineligible for MLS League Season competition except as short-term call-ups. Off-Roster Homegrown Players may appear as short-term call ups in up to six MLS League Season matches per Season.”
Westfield made his first appearance on Saturday, so under the roster rules, he has five short-term call-ups remaining.
The big thing to watch with the roster is if Westfield plays so well that he takes over the starting right-back spot.
Nathan Harriel and Olivier Mbaizo dealt with injuries in preseason. That opened up the space for Westfield to play in the season opener. Westfield’s earned high praise from coaches and players for his play so far in 2025.
Davis and Olivas will primarily feature for Union II and Neil Pierre has started the season as the No. 4 center back on the depth chart.
The international spots have been figured out as well. Jesus Bueno has received a green card. Damiani now occupies Bueno’s international spot, so there’s no concern for his eligibility once his visa gets approved.
The other notable thing from the roster profile release is the contracts that are up at the end of 2025.
Daniel Gazdag, Mikael Uhre, Olwethu Makhanya, Tai Baribo, Jakob Glesnes, Alejandro Bedoya, Chris Donovan, Nathan Harriel, Oliver Semmle, Indiana Vassilev and Isaiah LeFlore all have expiring contracts.
Bedoya and Uhre are the only players among that group without any type of option attached to their deals.
This really helps me understand the roster intricacies. Green card v international spot etc.