# 2023 Columbus Crew season

The 2023 Columbus Crew season was the club's twenty-eighth season of existence and their twenty-eighth consecutive season in Major League Soccer, the top flight of soccer in the United States. The first match of the season was on February 25 against the Philadelphia Union. It was the first season under head coach Wilfried Nancy.
The Crew won the MLS Cup against Los Angeles FC, their third league championship and second since 2020.

## Roster

    As of September 5, 2023
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 2 | DF | USA | Philip Quinton |
| 3 | DF | USA | Josh Williams |
| 4 | DF | FRA | Rudy Camacho |
| 6 | MF | USA | Darlington Nagbe |
| 7 | DF | USA | Julian Gressel |
| 8 | MF | USA | Aidan Morris |
| 9 | FW | COL | Cucho Hernández |
| 10 | FW | URU | Diego Rossi |
| 12 | DF | ECU | Gustavo Vallecilla (on loan from Colorado Rapids) |
| 13 | FW | TRI | Kevin Molino |
| 14 | MF | GHA | Yaw Yeboah |
| 16 | MF | USA | Isaiah Parente |
| 17 | FW | USA | Christian Ramirez |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | DF | DEN | Malte Amundsen |
| 19 | FW | CAN | Jacen Russell-Rowe |
| 20 | FW | ROU | Alexandru Mățan |
| 21 | DF | UKR | Yevhen Cheberko |
| 23 | DF | ALG | Mohamed Farsi |
| 24 | GK | USA | Evan Bush |
| 25 | MF | USA | Sean Zawadzki |
| 27 | FW | USA | Maximilian Arfsten |
| 28 | GK | USA | Patrick Schulte |
| 30 | MF | USA | Will Sands |
| 31 | DF | CPV | Steven Moreira |
| 32 | GK | USA | Brady Scott |
| 94 | DF | COL | Jimmy Medranda |

### Out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 22 | DF | USA | Keegan Hughes (at FC Tulsa until November 12, 2023) |
| 33 | DF | USA | Jake Morris (at Loudoun United FC until November 12, 2023) |

## Competitive
### MLS
#### Standings
##### Eastern Conference

MLS Eastern Conference table (2023) :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | FC Cincinnati | 34 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 57 | 39 | +18 | 69 | Qualification for round one and the CONCACAF Champions Cup round one |
| 2 | Orlando City SC | 34 | 18 | 7 | 9 | 55 | 39 | +16 | 63 | Qualification for round one |
| 3 | Columbus Crew | 34 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 67 | 46 | +21 | 57 | Qualification for round one |
| 4 | Philadelphia Union | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 57 | 41 | +16 | 55 | Qualification for round one |
| 5 | New England Revolution | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 58 | 46 | +12 | 55 | Qualification for round one |

##### Overall table

Overall MLS standings table :
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | FC Cincinnati (S) | 34 | 20 | 5 | 9 | 57 | 39 | +18 | 69 | Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round One |
| 2 | Orlando City SC | 34 | 18 | 7 | 9 | 55 | 39 | +16 | 63 | Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round One |
| 3 | Columbus Crew (C) | 34 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 67 | 46 | +21 | 57 | Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round of 16 |
| 4 | St. Louis City SC | 34 | 17 | 12 | 5 | 62 | 45 | +17 | 56 | Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round One |
| 5 | Philadelphia Union | 34 | 15 | 9 | 10 | 57 | 41 | +16 | 55 | Qualification for the CONCACAF Champions Cup Round One |
* ↑ As 2023 MLS Supporters' Shield champions
* ↑ As highest-ranked club in 2023 MLS Supporters' Shield not already qualified
* ↑ As 2023 MLS Cup champions
* ↑ As 2023 Western Conference regular season champions
* ↑ As 2023 Leagues Cup third place

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
| Pld | Pts | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD |
| 34 | 57 | 16 | 9 | 9 | 67 | 46 | +21 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 41 | 14 | +27 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 26 | 32 | −6 |
Source: MLS standings Pld = Matches played; Pts = Points; W = Matches won; T = Matches tied; L = Matches lost; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; GD = Goal difference

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Stadium | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H |
| Result | L | W | D | L | W | W | W | D | L | L | D | W | L | L | W | W | W | D | W | W | D | D | L | W | W | L | W | L | W | D | D | W | D | W |

#### Match results
### Leagues Cup
#### Group stage: Central 1

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | PW | PL | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | CLB | CAM | STL |
| 1 | Columbus Crew | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | +4 | 6 | Advance to knockout stage | — | — | 2–1 |
| 2 | América | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | +1 | 3 | Advance to knockout stage | 1–4 | — | 4–0 |
| 3 | St. Louis City SC | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 6 | −5 | 0 | | — | — | — |

#### Knockout stage
## Transfers
### In

| Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date |
| DF | Jimmy Medranda | Seattle Sounders FC | Free agent, contract runs through 2023 with an option for 2024 | December 23, 2022 |
| DF | Keegan Hughes | Stanford Cardinal | Homegrown player, contract runs through 2024 with options through 2026 | January 11, 2023 |
| FW | Christian Ramirez | Aberdeen F.C. | Transfer for an undisclosed fee, contract runs through 2024 with an option for 2025 | January 19, 2023 |
| DF | Philip Quinton | Columbus Crew 2 | Signed from MLS Next Pro team, contract runs through 2023 with options through 2026 | February 8, 2023 |
| FW | Maximilian Arfsten | San Jose Earthquakes II | Signed via the SuperDraft, contract runs through 2024 with options for 2025 and 2026 | February 21, 2023 |
| DF | Malte Amundsen | New York City FC | Trade for $400,000 in general allocation money with a potential $100,000 in performance-based additions, contract runs through 2024 with an option for 2025 | April 25, 2023 |
| DF | Yevhen Cheberko | Osijek | Transfer for an undisclosed fee, contract runs through 2026 | June 9, 2023 |
| DF | Julian Gressel | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | Trade for $550,000 in general allocation money across the 2023 and 2024 seasons, including a conditional fee of $300,000 | July 21, 2023 |
| DF | Rudy Camacho | CF Montréal | Trade for $400,000 in general allocation money total, $200,000 in 2023 and $200,000 in 2024 | July 31, 2023 |
| FW | Diego Rossi | Fenerbahçe | Transfer for $5,630,000 with a $1,000,000 bonus fee and a 15% sell-on clause, contract runs through 2026 with an option for 2027 | August 2, 2023 |

### Loan in

| Pos. | Player | Loaned from | Length/Notes | Beginning | End | Source |
| DF | Gustavo Vallecilla | Colorado Rapids | $175,000 in General Allocation Money, on loan through 2023 season with option to purchase | March 3, 2023 | December 9, 2023 | |

### Out

| Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee/notes | Date |
| DF | Jalil Anibaba | Retired | Option declined | October 26, 2022 |
| FW | Erik Hurtado | San Antonio FC | Option declined | October 26, 2022 |
| MF | James Igbekeme | Real Zaragoza | Option declined, loan expired | October 26, 2022 |
| DF | Pedro Santos | D.C. United | Option declined | October 26, 2022 |
| MF | Derrick Etienne | Atlanta United FC | Option declined | October 26, 2022 |
| DF | Marlon Hairston | | Option declined | October 26, 2022 |
| DF | Perry Kitchen | Retired | Option declined | October 26, 2022 |
| MF | Artur | Houston Dynamo FC | Traded for $300,000 in General Allocation Money, and potentially an additional $50,000 if certain performance metrics are met | November 22, 2022 |
| DF | Jonathan Mensah | San Jose Earthquakes | Traded for $200,000 in General Allocation Money, and potentially an additional $300,000 if certain performance metrics are met | February 10, 2023 |
| GK | Eloy Room | Vitesse | Mutual consent termination | July 17, 2023 |
| DF | Miloš Degenek | Red Star Belgrade | Transfer for an undisclosed fee | July 24, 2023 |
| MF | Lucas Zelarayán | Al Fateh SC | Undisclosed | July 31, 2023 |
| MF | Luis Díaz | Colorado Rapids | Waived | September 5, 2023 |

### Loans out

| Pos. | Player | Loanee club | Length/Notes | Beginning | End | Source |
| DF | Jake Morris | Loudoun United | On loan through the end of the 2023 season | June 27, 2023 | November 12, 2023 | |
| DF | Keegan Hughes | FC Tulsa | On loan through the end of the 2023 season | August 4, 2023 | November 12, 2023 | |