For the third year in a row, FC Cincinnati will be opening their competitive calendar with international flavor. The Orange and Blue are set to compete in the Concacaf Champions Cup next week, traveling to the Dominican Republic to open the season on Wednesday, February 18th, against O&M FC in the opening round of the tournament.
From there, they return home to open the MLS season, but just about every midweek for at least the opening month or so, FC Cincinnati will take on an international opponent as they look to advance further and do better than they ever have before in the continent's top club tournament.
Each of the past two entries into the Concacaf Champions Cup have yielded a similar result, with this year setting up a challenge strikingly similar to those, particularly the 2025 edition of the tournament. Both in 2024 and 2025, FC Cincinnati took down a club from a smaller nation as favorites – traveling to open the series before returning home to secure their advancement – before then hosting and ultimately falling in the second game of the series to a team from Monterrey, Mexico and being eliminated from the tournament.
Each of those seasons yielded different challenges, and each ended in the same result, though with different processes.
This year, FC Cincinnati are looking to push even further, advance past the second round, and ultimately go as deep into the tournament as possible, if not win the whole thing. A similar challenge awaits, as Tigres UANL have already clinched their spot in the Round of 16 which sets up a potential rematch with FC Cincinnati (should they make it through O&M FC in Round One).
Meaning in order to advance in the Concacaf Champions Cup this season, The Orange and Blue will have the opportunity to go back into El Volcan (the home of Tigres in Monterrey, Mexico) and earn their way through that way. Visiting the one-time past winners and four-time finalists to go where they have never gone before.
Part of the magic of this tournament comes from playing the best teams on the continent and finding your place in it. Even in the opening round, where FC Cincinnati has had no trouble in advancing out of in years past, the chance to play against cup winners and club giants from throughout the region provides an opportunity to make your mark in places you never could have before.
For some players, it is also an opportunity to play on the global stage and find where they measure up.
“I think you're going up against the best in the continent, and I think that's an important barometer for the league itself,” FC Cincinnati defender Nick Hagglund said this preseason as to the importance of playing in the Concacaf Champions Cup. “It's also fun to go up against teams you've never played against, and go to different countries, and see the football culture there.”
Hagglund, who is now a 13-year MLS veteran, and was on the Toronto FC team that made a Concacaf Champions League Final, has somehow gone his entire career and never played in a match in the tournament. He’s appeared on the bench, but, through a combination of health and selection, he has never taken the field in the tournament.
In the last two seasons for FC Cincinnati, Hagglund has been injured and working his way back into the squad when the tournament is ongoing. This year, he is full go and ready to start the season healthy and looking to contribute. He says he wants this experience to be one where he not only achieves a goal, but where the team as a whole bonds and comes together in their pursuit of greatness.
“The whole experience as a group, I’m excited. There's going to be weird things that happen in travel, or while you're traveling into different countries and whatnot, and that builds a part of the experience and the bond as this season goes together,” Hagglund explained. “At the beginning of the season, what you're building every year is different. I think with this group, I'm excited about the group that we have and building towards something. Ultimately the goal is to win trophies this year, and I'm excited to start that with our first match here coming up in the Dominican Republic.”
The Concacaf Champions Cup journey starts with a trip to the Dominican Republic, where O&M FC, finalists in the 2025 Concacaf Caribbean Cup, await them before returning to TQL Stadium on February 25 for the return and deciding leg of the series. The Wednesday night tilt at home not only represents one of the first opportunities to see FC Cincinnati at home this season, but also the chance for FCC to punch their ticket to the later rounds of the tournament.
“It's a new year with a relatively consistent group with some new additions, but it's a new year. Even with the progress that I think we've made…it gets real, and what happens on the 18th and then the quick turnaround on the 21st, so we'll see what it looks like,” FC Cincinnati Head Coach Pat Noonan said of the beginning of the season. “But I know we're not at the level that we expect to be at, you know, two months down the road, four months down the road, you know, at the end of the season. So we have a long way to go with this group.
For tickets to FC Cincinnati’s home matches in the Concacaf Champions Cup, including the upcoming match with O&M FC, as well as all FCC matches, visit https://www.fccincinnati.com/tickets/.