Atlanta Soccer Tonight, 12.30: Closing 2025, Building Toward 2026 FULL SHOW

·44 min·4 clips

U.S. Soccer plants its flag in Georgia, transforming Atlanta from an afterthought to the national picture.

This episode of Atlanta Soccer Tonight is a year-end retrospective and preview hosted by Jason Longshore. Longshore, a prominent Atlanta soccer analyst, reflects on 2025 and looks ahead to the pivotal year of 2026 for soccer in the city and country. He characterizes 2025 as a transitional, foundational year for Atlanta soccer, marked by the near-completion of the U.S. Soccer Federation's national training center in Fayette County. Longshore highlights the strength of high school soccer across Georgia as a critical pipeline for lifelong fans and notes Atlanta United's difficult 2025 season despite significant financial investment. The city's global soccer standing was demonstrated by hosting Club World Cup matches featuring teams like Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. Looking to 2026, he anticipates the World Cup's lasting impact on Atlanta, similar to the 1996 Olympics, and the return of coach Tata Martino to Atlanta United. The official announcement of an Atlanta NWSL team, set to begin play in 2028, is framed as completing the city's professional soccer landscape. Longshore argues that Inter Miami's success validates ambitious spending in MLS but notes that spending alone, as with Atlanta United in 2025, does not guarantee trophies. He states MLS will shift to a fall-to-spring calendar in 2027 to better align with the global game. The episode also covers Atlanta United's signing of 21-year-old Argentine defender Thomas Jacob from Necaxa and the record transfer of Georgia-developed player Olivia Garcia to the NWSL's Denver Summit. Longshore cites a study ranking MLS as the world's sixth most-watched soccer league and discusses the new NWSL "High Impact Player Rule," which has drawn concern from the players' association. The host expresses strong optimism for Atlanta United's fresh start under Tata Martino and the transformative potential of the NWSL team for women's soccer in the region. He emphasizes that 2026 is a starting point for long-term growth, not a make-or-break moment for the sport's popularity. The tone is analytical and conversational, blending personal reflection with league-wide and local news analysis. This episode is ideal for Atlanta-area soccer fans interested in the city's evolving soccer ecosystem and MLS enthusiasts tracking the league's growth. Listeners seeking only game-specific analysis or international soccer headlines might find the broader, year-in-review focus less engaging.

As heard by us

A broad year-end soccer hour that places Atlanta's next chapter in the wider game.

Atlanta Soccer Tonight ends 2025 with a wide, useful sweep of the game. It moves from AFCON to the Premier League title picture, then back to MLS, NWSL, and Atlanta's own place in all of it.

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Why you'd press play

For a year-end soccer check-in that moves from Atlanta to the rest of the game.

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