Nick Hagglund and Paul Walters will now have a third local son to represent the Queen City, as Kyle Smith has been announced as the newest member of The Orange and Blue. The 33-year-old defender, La Salle High School Alum, and 10-year veteran returns to Cincinnati on a one-year contract (with an option through June 2027) and brings over 300 professional appearances to the locker room with positional versatility.
In a return home to Cincinnati, Smith fulfills a dream a decade in the making and joins FC Cincinnati after trying out for the squad in 2016 – the club’s inaugural season. The Cincy native now has the opportunity to play in front of his home city, his friends and family at TQL Stadium as a veteran, and provide The Orange and Blue a “swiss army knife” in terms of utility on the roster.
He also now has the opportunity to celebrate with his parents at TQL Stadium, both of whom are FC Cincinnati season ticket holders, but this time will be able to do so in FCC Orange and Blue, not the purple of Orlando City, his previous club. His parents have attended countless FCC matches and cheered on the hometown team, but once a year, when Smith would return to Cincy and play at TQL Stadium with his Florida club, they would don purple.
Smith says he’s glad they will get the opportunity to add to the wardrobe of FCC gear they already have.
“I've been wanting to play for this club for a long time,” Smith said with a laugh and a smile on a Zoom call with local media Wednesday afternoon. “So yeah, it'll be fun to see them in the stands wearing Orange and Blue rather than purple.
“It’s very exciting. I know my parents and my family miss me, so they're very happy that I'm back, and they're very happy that they can watch me play every week now. So yeah, it's going to be fun to get to play in front of my family at TQL Stadium.”
“(FC Cincinnati) have been the best team in the league for, I would say, the past three years, four years...they've always been at the top of the table. I want to win at the end of the day. So I would say that the main reason I wanted to come here was because of their winning culture and being at the top of the table,” Smith added as to what attracted him to FC Cincinnati, and ultimately why he chose to sign with FCC, beyond the hometown connection. “Then also the stadium, the fans. It's always packed out, and it's a great atmosphere. I just really wanted to play for this club.”
Kyle Smith is a prime example of a person pursuing their dreams and running with every opportunity given to them, and while his MLS bona fides are now well defined, that wasn’t always the case.
The early days of Smith’s career are well documented at this point. The La Salle High School standout attended Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, and played Division III soccer there before graduating and starting his professional career in accounting. While doing so, he played for the Cincinnati Dutch Lions of the Premier Development League, and when a trial with the USL’s Louisville City came about, he took his chance and ran with it.
Smith had gone to a tryout the year before with Louisville City but was not selected to advance with the club that year. The following year, 2016, Smith tried out for both FCC and Louisville City but advanced with Louisville and took his shot. He was first brought back for a second tryout with a smaller group, then invited to preseason, and ultimately signed a deal with Louisville. His first professional contract.
“It was my dream. I was working in accounting at the time at the College of Medicine, and I was playing amateur soccer for the Cincinnati Dutch Lions,” Smith said, remembering the experience. “It's just like an open trial. So you pay $200, and anybody can come and try out. I didn't make Louisville in 2015, so then I tried out for Cincinnati and Louisville in 2016 (and it’s the) same thing. There's like, hundreds of hundreds of guys there, all trying to make the team. So it's very hard to stand out, because they might be looking for like one person out of 200, 300 people.”
Now the rest is history. Smith made 103 appearances with Louisville, caught the eye of Orlando City SC, signed his first MLS contract in 2018, and went on to make 216 appearances with Orlando, helping them win the 2022 U.S. Open Cup in the process.
From accounting at the College of Medicine to sold-out nights at TQL Stadium, Kyle Smith has “beaten the odds,” and done so through grinding and being a true professional.
“It was my dream to become a soccer player. During that time, I worked extremely hard to get in the best shape possible and make that goal a reality,” Smith said of the experience. “It feels amazing, like full circle. Now, 10 years later, I'm at FC Cincinnati, so it all worked out.”
At Orlando, he earned the somewhat obvious nicknames of “The Accountant” and “The Tax Man,” both for his professional background and workman-like approach to the game. Former head coach Oscar Pareja referred to him as “El Soldado” or “The Soldier" for his openness to doing whatever is best for the team. He’s most commonly deployed as a full back on the right side, but has been used as both a center back and a defensive midfielder when needed, doing so willingly, effectively and giving it his all.
“We’re thrilled to bring Kyle back home to Cincinnati,” FC Cincinnati General Manager Chris Albright said in the same press release. “He’s an experienced player, an exceptional teammate, and a winner. We’re proud to welcome him to the club.”
On the field, Smith describes his game as being versatile and high-energy or effort. He gives 100 percent every time he’s on the field and wants to be a team player, so he will do whatever is asked of him for the team. He also says that he tries to keep things simple and within the team plan, because ultimately he just wants to help the team win. “Wherever the team needs me, I'll step up in that sort of role,” he says.
FC Cincinnati now have multiple members of the Cincinnati community in the defensive core, and while they don’t know each other all that well, this won’t be the first time Kyle Smith and Nick Hagglund have played together. Smith is, or rather was, a year ahead of Hagglund in Cincinnati's youth soccer ranks, but Hagglund often played a year up. The pair’s paths crossed fairly frequently as they played against each other, but on one occasion, Smith remembers that when the two were “really little,” Hagglund guest-played for Smith’s team.
And what does Smith remember from that experience? “I just remember him being a really good player,” he said, smiling.
So the next time the two Cincinnati defenders play together will be the second time when looking at the lifelong record book, and if goalkeeper Paul Walters happens to be in the mix, they may be able to make it a trio.
But until then, Kyle Smith is once again “All For Cincy” and back in his hometown, playing for his home team.
FC Cincinnati add Homegrown Chávez out of the Academy
In addition to the veteran Smith, FC Cincinnati announced the signing of Ademar Chávez to a Homegrown Player contract through the 2029 season with an option for 2030. The 16-year-old midfielder was a 2025 MLS NEXT All-Star and scored two goals for FC Cincinnati 2 in MLS NEXT Pro last season, all in his first year with the club.
Chávez had been frequently called up to train with the first team this year and had also trained with Portuguese side S.L. Benfica in 2025. He signed an MLS NEXT Pro contract with FC Cincinnati 2 in November.
The midfielder was also one of two academy players to join the first team in preseason training last January in Clearwater, Florida. Chávez featured briefly in a preseason friendly for FC Cincinnati, coming on in the final 10 minutes of a 4-1 win over the Philadelphia Union in February.
“Ademar is a very talented, young player,” Chris Albright, FC Cincinnati General Manager, said in a press release. “He’s shown great growth within our academy and has stood out at the MLS NEXT Pro level. We’re proud of the work that he’s put in to get to this point, and we’re excited to watch him continue to develop.”
As an Academy player, Chávez made seven starts and 12 appearances for FCC 2 last season, scoring twice and being an instrumental part of the club's late-season surge to the playoffs – starting the final four games of the season. He was also named to the MLS NEXT Pro Team of the Matchweek and MLS NEXT Rising Star of the Week for Matchweek 30. Chávez has also been selected for youth national team call-ups with both the United States and Mexico.
After joining the club in 2024, the Bakersfield, California native is now the ninth FC Cincinnati Academy product to sign a first-team contract, and the second to do so after first signing an MLS NEXT Pro contract.
