Headline: D.C. United Ends Season on a Low Note Again as Playoff Drought Continues
WASHINGTON — All around Major League Soccer, from Montreal to Miami and Seattle to San Diego, Saturday marked Decision Day — the final chapter in an 8½-month season.
While three playoff spots were on the line, teams with guaranteed positions aimed to enhance their standings. The day was filled with urgency, scoreboard-checking, and playoff strategies.
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However, at Audi Field, Decision Day resembled more of a Day of Frustration.
For the seventh consecutive year, D.C. United, once a flagship team in a growing league, finds itself without playoff prospects — a nearly unbelievable state of affairs in a league that distributes postseason spots as readily as handouts on a city street.
Only Toronto FC’s eight-year struggle, beginning with its 2007 expansion campaign, has persisted longer.
United’s fate was sealed ten days prior to Decision Day, leaving the last game against another struggling team, New York City FC, which secured a 1-0 victory with a late goal.
While 2026 was an exceptional year for New York, it was just another typical season in the nation’s capital. D.C. United wrote another disheartening chapter under an ownership group led by Jason Levien and Steve Kaplan, which has marginalized the club not only in a thriving league but also in the local sports scene.
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Although the public-address announcer proudly introduces the team as “your four-time MLS Cup champions,” the phrase feels distant. United’s last title, won in 2004, came when the league had only ten teams — one-third the size of its current structure. Since then, 13 clubs have claimed the trophy.
Less than two miles north of Audi Field, the U.S. Capitol experienced a historic political shift with a ruling party ousted from office. However, local soccer supporters have not enjoyed similar fortune regarding those in charge at Audi Field.
Under the current management …
United has not won a playoff match in 11 years and hasn’t reached the conference finals in 14.
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It has been twelve years since the team achieved a season victory in at least half of its 34 matches.
The only recent trophy in United’s cabinet was the U.S. Open Cup in 2013, which occurred during a dismal season with only three wins.
D.C. has cycled through four head coaches since Ben Olsen left at the end of 2020 and now is on its second head of soccer operations in just four years. The current director, Erkut Sogut — known for representing former German star Mesut Özil — was hired last fall despite lacking prior experience with a team.
Another goal conceded, another season to forget. Keisuke Kurokawa’s frustration summed up D.C. United’s latest disappointing chapter.
(Scott Taetsch via Getty Images)
United continues to be one of three MLS organizations without a developmental team linking its youth academy to the first team. Plans to construct a complex in Baltimore for an MLS Next Pro project have stumbled. Meanwhile, United’s owners have initiated a professional volleyball team.
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Player development has declined: United has no players included in the current U.S. under-23, under-20, or under-17 national teams.
The team’s training facility, located in the far Virginia suburbs, is among the smallest in MLS, and much of the minimal space is leased to the Washington Spirit, a National Women’s Soccer League squad.
In a display of audacity, United is pursuing $300 million in public funding to expand capacity and install a roof over the venue, which opened its doors just eight years ago, partly with taxpayer dollars. The aim is to draw more events to the site, seemingly having little to do with MLS aspirations.
The term “Decision Day” (or, in D.C.’s case, “Days”) is not lost on the organization: It faces key choices regarding a lackluster roster and coach Rene Weiler, who has a costly contract but a record of 8-18-16 since his arrival in July 2025.
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In Weiler’s defense, injuries plagued his squad throughout the season. His two Designated Players, forwards Tai Baribo and Louis Munteanu, missed nine and 13 matches, respectively. (Together, they accounted for 22 of the team’s 39 goals.)
On Saturday, apart from that duo, goalkeeper Sean Johnson, center back Lucas Bartlett, and several others were absent, leaving United with only six players on the bench, three short of the maximum allowed.
“It’s not that I don’t believe in the quality of my squad, but it has to be deeper — more players on a very good level because it’s tough to compete weekly with the other opponents, and that is something that we have to try to make better for the future,” Weiler noted.
Fans also have decisions to make regarding whether to keep supporting a club that has fallen into disarray under an ownership group that does not adequately invest in various aspects of the organization while misallocating funds in others.
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In 2018, the team appeared to have a bright future when Audi Field replaced the aging RFK Stadium and star player Wayne Rooney played for the club in the first of his two seasons. That now feels like a lifetime ago.
Since 2020, United’s standing in the Supporters’ Shield race, a term for the overall standings, has been as follows:
24th, 16th, 28th, 23rd, 21st, 30th, and 28th.
Having been in a position to end its playoff drought this fall, United instead finished the season with six consecutive losses and a record of 1-8-1.
The club only recorded a few true sellouts in 16 home matches at Audi Field, which has approximately 19,200 seats and ranks as one of the smallest venues in MLS. (D.C. also attracted over 72,000 fans for its home game against Inter Miami in Baltimore last spring, though many attendees came primarily to see Lionel Messi.)
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The Spirit, who contend for the NWSL title, achieved six sellouts during their 15 regular-season matches at Audi Field.
On Saturday, United announced a sellout, yet many seats remained empty on a chilly autumn day.
Levien and his partners acquired United in the summer of 2012; the team completed the regular season in third place in the Supporters’ Shield standings before being eliminated in the Eastern Conference finals by the Houston Dynamo. It was, indeed, a hopeful beginning for the group.
The following year, United finished at the bottom of MLS — the first of three dismal seasons across 13 years.
Excitement returned with the opening of Audi Field, presenting a revenue source that was absent at the dilapidated RFK. The signing of Rooney and the construction of a talented roster generated enthusiasm and success.
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Yet even Rooney could not elevate United past the first round of the playoffs, and after less than two years, he made his return home. He later became head coach in Washington in 2022, but it appeared more like the owners wanted to make a splash rather than hire a top-tier coach. His tenure ended after just 15 months.
This season started with some optimism — one of the nine playoff spots in the conference seemed achievable — but quickly deteriorated.
Saturday’s match encapsulated the entire season: a shallow roster, a commendable effort, insufficient offensive quality, and ultimately a 1-0 defeat that capped off a 7-15-12 season. NYC’s game-winning goal came in the 87th minute during a three-on-two counterattack from the midfield circle.
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As fans departed early, feeling the chill or possibly weary from a string of disappointing seasons, they expressed their discontent quietly, a stark contrast to the banner sprawled behind the north goal in the supporters’ section: “We Deserve Better.”
Indeed.
