In the lowest division of American professional soccer, roster turnover from year to year is to be expected.
It’s a bit unusual, however, to field an almost entirely new squad. But that’s exactly what Forward Madison will do as it takes the field this weekend for its eighth campaign in USL League One.
Only Derek Gebhard, the longest-tenured member of Forward Madison and the team’s all-time leading scorer, returns from the 2025 season. The rest of the 17 players announced to this point not only have never played in Madison, but have never played in the league.
But don’t call it a rebuild.
“We’re looking at it more as a reload than a rebuild,” said head coach Matt Glaeser. “I think there’s some foundations that we’re pretty confident with just sort of structurally as an organization.”
Following a ninth-place finish in a 14-team league, and winning just eight of 30 games, it was clear some changes needed to be made. A complete roster overhaul wasn’t the intention, however.
“It’s not always just like the club makes the decision. There’s a lot of times it’s a mutual thing too,” Glaeser said, noting that the club entered discussions with a handful of players from the 2025 squad who were up for new contracts. “I know there’s some guys, for instance, that were on our roster last year that got massive pay rises even within our league.”
Early on in an injury-plagued 2025 campaign, the front office and coaching staff knew they’d need to do something different.
“We knew probably by May or June of last year that we weren’t going to keep doing what we’d been doing,” chief operating officer Conor Caloia said. “We needed a different approach.”
Perhaps the most significant change in the offseason was the addition of sporting director Matt Cairns, who has taken over player personnel responsibilities, freeing Glaeser to focus on managing the squad.
“It’s really hard on coaches to have to sign players, because coaches, they’re the ones arguing or negotiating with an agent, and then have to turn around and the player reports, and the coach has to try and get the most out of them,” Caloia said, “It’s really been unfair to Matt Glaeser for the last four years to have to do that.”
“For so many years, the League One model is to bring back veteran players, hope they perform better. And it’s kind of a crapshoot. And I think we’re going away from that crapshoot and looking a little more at data and science in trying to build something more long term,” Caloia added.
Cairns has put together a roster that’s considerably younger – the average age of this year’s player is closer to 23 than to 28 as it was last year – as well as bigger and more athletic.
(“I used to feel tall around here. I don’t anymore,” Caloia quipped.)
Physical resilience is a priority, Cairns said.
“USL League One poses a unique challenge week to week,” he said. “You can be playing in Texas in July, in Florida in August, and in Madison, Wisconsin, in April or May… We need players that have the physical skill set to cover big spaces… and the technical ability to control games with the ball. We want to be the protagonist, we want to take the game to the opposition.”
The team is also looking for players on their way up, players who are hungry to prove themselves and potentially move to a higher level in the future.
“Even more so than the backgrounds in particular, it’s more like where they’re at,” Glaeser said. “Guys that maybe haven’t peaked just yet, guys that are still on the phase of development and where maybe their best years are still in front of them.”
“If players move on, it means that they’ve done incredibly well, and that will likely mean the team’s done incredibly well,” Cairns said. “We want players who are ambitious and want to go on to MLS, Europe, wherever their level can take them.”
“Renewed optimism”
There’s a lot happening around Breese Stevens Field besides the League One season getting underway this weekend. New turf will be installed by May 1; a women’s team will take the field later this spring; the World Cup being hosted in the United States will renew interest in the sport; the stadium will celebrate its 100th anniversary.
“I’d say there’s renewed optimism around here. I think we feel good,” Caloia said. “The energy is the best I’ve seen around here in a couple years, for sure. Maybe since I’ve been here. It’s a different type of energy.”
“We’re excited about a group of players that are really excited to come into our environment and have a point to prove in the league, maybe not as much known quantities within our league, like what we’ve seen in the past,” Glaese said.”With that comes a lot of excitement, and there comes a lot of hope for what we could become… just a lot of being ready to learn each other, to get to know each other, to grow and to build this thing really together.”
Win or lose, Caloia said he’s confident the team will be fun to watch.
“My hope is we’re more exciting for our fans,” he said. “While we’ve had some ups and downs on the field over the years, we’re not normally amongst the leaders in goals scored… this time of year, we always talk about being more offensive… but we’re not always lighting it up. And my hope is we will be a little more exciting to watch.”
One thing that hasn’t changed since the team first kicked a ball in 2019: the fan base is among the most dedicated in the American lower divisions. The team averaged nearly 4,000 fans per home game, even in the down year of 2025.
“We have the best environment in the league,” Cairns said. “You’ve got a whole community invested in a soccer club… Forward Madison reminds me of a European club in that sense — the Flock, the supporters section, how much they care about the team, the atmosphere at home games … Players want to come and be a part of that and play for real fans that care about the team, that are passionate about the team, and a team that has an impact on the city it’s playing in. They’re not tucked away 20 miles outside of town, playing in front of 1,000 people, and 500 of them were free tickets.”
The Mingos kick off Saturday at 6 pm at defending league champions One Knoxville, which notched its first win of the season over Westchester over the weekend. The club is hosting a watch party at Prost, 401 East Washington Avenue.
Here’s everything you need to know for the 2026 Forward Madison season.
The Roster
Goalkeepers
- JT Harms — 23-year-old from Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin. Played collegiately at Duke and then Indiana, where he captained the team his final two seasons. Most recently played for North Texas SC in MLS NEXT Pro, starting all 16 matches and helping lead the team to the playoffs.
- Tenzing Manske — 21-year-old from Santa Fe, New Mexico, signing his first pro contract after a standout career at Georgetown. As a 6’1″ keeper, he started 17 matches for the Hoyas in 2024, recording eight solo shutouts with a .774 save percentage and a .71 goals-against average, helping Georgetown win the Big East championship.
Defenders
- Kevin Carmichael — 23-year-old former MLS NEXT Pro defender who most recently played for Huntsville City SC. Earned All-Pac-12 First Team honors as a junior and All-ACC Second Team as a senior after starting all 18 matches.
- Aaron “AJ” Edwards — Right-back from San Jose, California. Was the top-ranked forward and No. 2-ranked player overall in Northern California per TopDrawerSoccer coming out of the San Jose Earthquakes Academy. Had a breakout 2024 season with The Town FC, scoring seven goals and four assists and earning Team MVP honors.
- Turner Humphrey — 25-year-old, 6’4″ defender who played collegiately at UC-Davis and Oregon State. Helped North Texas SC win the 2024 MLS NEXT Pro Cup, logging 1,635 minutes across 26 matches with an 89.1% passing accuracy and seven clean sheets.
- Mbongeni “Geni” Kanyane — 24-year-old from Johannesburg, South Africa, who represented the South African U-20 national team and won the COSAFA Cup in 2018. Played four years at Dayton University before being drafted 63rd overall in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft by Chicago Fire FC.
- Collin McCamy — 22-year-old defender/midfielder from Raleigh, North Carolina, who played four years at Northwestern and earned three All-Big Ten selections. Fun fact: his first professional appearance came at Breese Stevens Field in 2021 on an academy contract with North Carolina FC — against Forward Madison.
- Jaylen Shannon — 25-year-old center-back from St. Joseph, Michigan, who started 68 of 77 appearances at Western Michigan University, logging over 6,000 minutes. Signed his first pro deal with Chicago Fire FC II in 2024, starting all 24 of his appearances including a 2-0 U.S. Open Cup win over Forward Madison.
- Kerfalla Touré — 24-year-old from Dorval, Québec — a rare two-sport athlete who played both soccer and hockey growing up, including junior hockey in the Central Canadian Hockey League. At 6’4″, he chose soccer full-time at age 18, played at Elmira College and then Florida Atlantic, and enters his first pro contract.
Midfielders
- Jackson Castro — 23-year-old from Plano, Texas, who tallied 22 goals and 22 assists in 74 appearances at Creighton, earning two All-Big East First Team selections. Signed with Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 in 2025 and was called up to the MLS first team multiple times, making his MLS debut against LA Galaxy on July 4, 2025.
- Enrique Machasen — 22-year-old Panamanian on loan from Club Deportivo Universitario, where he’s been rising quickly in the Liga Panameña. Made his pro debut at 19 and has racked up 57 appearances and 37 starts in Panama’s top flight, helping his club finish first in the Western Conference in 2025.
- Mark Segbers — The 29-year-old veteran and former Wisconsin Badger returns to Madison after a three-year run with Charleston Battery in the USL Championship. Was drafted No. 9 overall in the 2018 SuperDraft by New England Revolution and has logged over 200 appearances and 15,000 minutes in the USL system, with stints including a loan to LAFC.
- Roman Torres — 23-year-old attacking midfielder from Dallas, Texas, who came through the FC Dallas Academy and had an international stint with Borussia Neunkirchen in Germany. Was drafted 25th overall in the 2025 MLS SuperDraft by Minnesota United, spent time on loan at Birmingham Legion in the USL Championship, then returned to finish the season with MNUFC2 including three playoff appearances.
Strikers
- Ryan Carmichael — 24-year-old, 5’11” forward from Madden, Northern Ireland. Made over 60 appearances for Portadown FC in the NIFL Championship before moving to Hofstra University, where he recorded 46 goals and 18 assists in 75 appearances. Was picked 24th overall by Inter Miami in the 2024 SuperDraft and bagged nine goals and seven assists for Inter Miami II that year.
- Derek Gebhard — The club’s all-time leading scorer with 29 career goals returns for his sixth season, extending his status as the longest-tenured player in team history. Set a new single-season club record with 11 goals in 2025 and earned USL League One All-League Second Team honors. In 2025 he also became the first player to make 150 appearances for the club, earning the fan nickname “Mr. Mingo.”
- Claudel N’goubou — A towering 6’5″ center-forward, 24 years old, originally from Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, with both Ivorian and French citizenship. Grew up in Auray, France, played for Vannes Olympique Club, then moved stateside to Limestone University where he scored 18 goals (seven game-winners) in 40 matches before finishing at UCF.
- Stephen Annor Gyamfi — 22-year-old from Accra, Ghana, who was the top scorer in the United Premier Soccer League in 2020 with 20 goals in nine matches while at Montverde Academy. Named ACC Freshman of the Year at Virginia after scoring 10 goals including five game-winners, then drafted in the first round by Houston Dynamo. The 6’0″ striker has already scored in preseason for the Mingos.
The club expects to announce three more players in the coming days.
The Competitions
Forward Madison participates in one league and two tournaments concurrently from March through October.
USL League One. Third-division professional league with 17 teams. Each team plays each other team twice – once home and once away. Three points for a win, one point for a draw. The team with the most points wins the Supporters’ Shield; the top eight teams make the postseason playoffs, which take place in November.
Prinx Tires Cup. In-season tournament including all teams in USL League One and USL Championship (the second division professional league). Forty-three teams, divided into seven regional groups. Each team plays four of the other teams in its group. Three points for a win, one point for a draw; games ending in a draw go directly to a penalty shootout. The winner of the penalty shootout gets one more point in the standings. The seven group winners plus the top-ranked second place team go through to a knockout round, which begins in August. Semifinals take place in September and the final in October. Madison hosts Detroit City and Lexington Sporting Club and plays at Indy Eleven and Union Omaha.
US Open Cup. Straight knockout, one-and-done nationwide tournament open to all clubs, amateur and professional. First round is next week; final is in September. Forward Madison plays amateur team Flint City Bucks in Grand Blanc, Michigan next Wednesday.
Key dates
- March 14: First match of the season at Knoxville
- March 18: First round of the US Open Cup, at Flint City Bucks
- May 16: First home match of the season, hosting Detroit City FC in the Prinx Tires Cup
- May 29: First league home match of the season, hosting Corpus Christi
Where to watch
Most league and Prinx Tires Cup matches are streamed on ESPN+, with a few streaming on Golazo Network, a free streaming service. Early round US Open Cup matches will stream on YouTube.
The Rivals
Richmond Kickers. Any clash between Forward Madison and Richmond Kickers is known as the Henny Derby. It started as a bet between fans – all the way back in 2019, Forward Madison fan Kyle Carr and Richmond supporter Elliott Barr placed a wager over Twitter: whoever’s team lost would buy the other a bottle of Hennessy. Since then, the Henny has become one of the foremost rivalries in American soccer, and remains one of the only ongoing rivalries focused on Black fans.
Union Omaha. Since they entered the league in 2020, the Owls have simply been the team nearest Madison, and quickly became the Mingo’s regional rival.
Ft. Wayne FC. One of the league’s new entrants will become another driveable away day, and should develop into another regional rivalry.
