Farewell to Darlington Nagbe, one of MLS's undisputed greats

An MLS lifer by choice

There are many things that make Nagbe special, from his intelligent midfield play to his unshakable sportsmanship, but few things stand out more than his commitment to MLS.

Born in Liberia as the son of a professional soccer player, Nagbe spent his childhood bouncing between European countries as his father was traded from club to club. When his family settled in Ohio during his teen years, Nagbe found that his professional dreams differed from those of his teammates. 

"As I got older and started thinking I might have enough talent to play professionally, I would hear other guys talk about how they dreamed of playing in Europe, and I just wasn’t interested in that," he wrote in the Players' Tribune. "I had done my time in Europe."

That decision had massive ripple effects across American soccer. Players of Nagbe's caliber didn't tend to stay put in MLS back then, but there he was, season after season, consistently raising the bar for midfielders in the league. It didn't take long for every team to want its own Nagbe...and these days, it's next to impossible to win the MLS Cup without an intelligent, game-reading player like him calling the shots from the center of the field.

A legacy of victory

Nagbe is one of the most decorated players in the history of American soccer. He kicked off his career by winning an NCAA championship with the University of Akron in 2010 before joining the Portland Timbers in 2011. After settling in Oregon, he won his first MLS Cup with Portland in 2015, then bounced east to help the then-nascent Atlanta United franchise win one three years later in 2018.

In 2020, Nagbe signed with the Columbus Crew and returned home to Ohio. He led the team to an MLS Cup that very season against a backdrop of COVID restrictions and dramatic ownership stages, then pushed it to another cup in 2023 despite a fierce challenge from Inter Miami and its new signing Lionel Messi.

The league changed dramatically over the course of Nagbe's career, but his ability to influence it never wavered.

One last job

Just one game remains for Nagbe and his Columbus side in the 2025 regular season. They'll close out their year at home against the New York Red Bulls, the team that knocked them out of the playoffs in 2024, on Saturday, Oct. 18.

But that won't be the end. Columbus suffered a rash of player injuries that tanked its form this fall, but it still managed to qualify for the postseason with room to spare. It's expected to kick off its MLS Cup journey in a wild-card game against the Chicago Fire on Wednesday, Oct. 22, though a strong result on the final day of the season may see it skip that game and qualify directly for the MLS Cup tournament.

Jolting the struggling Crew into a strong playoff performance is Nagbe's final job. If he pulls it off, it could be one of his most impressive—and a fitting way to bid farewell to the Ohio soccer community that raised him.