St Louis CITY2 Reveals Roster Ahead of Second MLS NEXT Pro Season

Max Schneider joins 11 players who return from last year’s team

Ahead of the MLS NEXT Pro season kicking off later this month, St Louis CITY2 Head Coach Bobby Murphy is announcing the roster in what will be the team’s second stint in MLS NEXT Pro play. In last season’s inaugural season for both CITY2 and MLS NEXT Pro, CITY2 took the league by storm, winning the Western Conference and just missing out on an MLS NEXT Pro Cup championship after falling to Columbus Crew 2 in the final.

With six players who contributed to the team’s deep playoff run last season being promoted to the first-team roster, CITY2 added a few new faces along with some familiar ones to build out the roster ahead of the first match.

“Last year, we talked about wanting CITY2 to lay a foundation for the first team, which I think has been a huge advantage for us,” said St. Louis CITY SC Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel. “We already had six players earn promotions to the first team, and so the goal now is to continue building this professional pipeline and helping our young players develop.”

CITY2 will be bolstered by midfielder Max Schneider who has been loaned to the team from St. Louis CITY SC, the club’s MLS affiliate. MLS SuperDraft selection John Klein and returning players Ezra Armstrong, Wan Kuzain, AJ Palazzolo, Dida Armstrong, Sergio Rivas along with last year’s young core of Fritz Volmar, Aaron Heard and Josh Maher will look to contribute immensely throughout the season. Former Queens Park Rangers midfielder and free agent Faysal Bettache will join the team pending receipt of his International Transfer Certificate (ITC) and P-1 Visa.

Like the roster, the CITY2 coaching staff has also seen major changes ahead of the new season. Head Coach Bobby Murphy will be at the helm and will be joined by assistant coach Chris Duvall, goalkeeper coach Tim Kelly and performance coach Sam Black. To read more about the 2023 CITY2 coaching staff, click here.

“We are looking forward to fielding a younger but competitive team this season,” said CITY2 head coach Bobby Murphy. “We have a good group of exciting young talent on the roster across the board, and our coaching staff is filled with excellent people whose main priority is helping the players become the best they can be. We want to continue developing and providing opportunities for players to learn the club’s soccer philosophy and hopefully we can see more players make the transition to the first team.”