Atlanta United’s 2025 season — and goalkeeper Brad Guzan’s 14-year MLS career — ended Saturday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with a 1-1 draw against D.C. United in front of a sparse but emotional home crowd.
The result leaves Atlanta with a final regular-season record of 5-13-16, good for 28 points and last place in Major League Soccer, per the league’s official statistics. D.C. United, the league’s other struggling Eastern Conference side, finished 5-10-18.
“It’s hard to put into words what this place has meant to me. I came here in 2015 and we won an MLS Cup in 2018 and lost an MLS Cup in 2019. Tonight is not how I wanted to go out, but I wouldn’t trade any of it.”
— Brad Guzan, postgame, on the field after the final whistle
What the season was
Atlanta entered 2025 as a team in transition. The Five Stripes parted ways with longtime head coach Gonzalo Pineda in the offseason and brought in Ronny Deila, the Norwegian coach who had won trophies in Scandinavia and at New York City FC. The expectation was that a change in style, plus the addition of a new Designated Player, would lift Atlanta back toward the playoff line.
It did not.
Atlanta never won more than two games in a row all season, finished with the league’s worst record, and was eliminated from playoff contention in mid-September. The team’s final eight-game winless streak dropped its record below the line it needed to avoid the league basement.
What went wrong
In short: goals.
Atlanta scored just 28 goals in 34 matches, the lowest total in MLS. The team cycled through three different starting strikers, none of whom scored more than six goals all season. The defense, anchored by Guzan and veteran center back Miles Robinson, was better but could not compensate for the lack of offensive output.
The team’s biggest single loss came in mid-July, when the Five Stripes fell 5-0 to Inter Miami at home in front of a largely empty stadium — a result that crystallized the depth of the team’s struggles.
What was good
For the second consecutive season, the team sold out every home match at Mercedes-Benz Stadium despite the on-field results. The supporters’ section, the Five Stripes, continued to fill the north end of the stadium with choreographed displays, smoke, and noise.
Miguel Almiron, in his second stint with the club after returning from Newcastle United, finished the season with six goals and a team-high seven assists — a respectable return by any standard, and a reminder of what a fully-fit Almiron can still be.
And the team signed three Homegrown Players to first-team contracts this season, the most of any year in club history, a quietly important development for the pipeline that will need to produce for the franchise in the years to come.
What’s next
The club’s search for a new head coach — Deila was fired in mid-October — will begin in earnest this week. The leading candidate, according to multiple reports, is Gerardo “Tata” Martino, the Argentine coach who led Atlanta to the 2018 MLS Cup championship in the team’s first season of existence.
Martino is reportedly interested in returning to the club, but the two sides have not yet finalized a deal.
“We’re going to take our time and get this right. This is not a one-season fix. This is a five-year project.”
— Garth Lagerwey, Atlanta United president of soccer
The club’s first match of the 2026 season is scheduled for February 22, the season opener against FC Cincinnati.
Jordan Reyes covers the Hawks, Falcons, Braves, and Atlanta United for WACN 21. Reach him at jreyes@wacn21.com.
