# 2022 Columbus Crew season

The 2022 Columbus Crew season was the club's twenty-seventh season of existence and their twenty-seventh consecutive season in Major League Soccer, the top flight of American soccer. The season covered the period from November 8, 2021 to the end of the 2022 season. It was the fourth and final season under head coach Caleb Porter.

## Roster

    As of August 9, 2022
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 |
| 1 | GK | CUW | Eloy Room |
| 2 | MF | USA | Perry Kitchen |
| 3 | DF | USA | Josh Williams |
| 4 | DF | GHA | Jonathan Mensah (captain) |
| 5 | DF | AUS | Miloš Degenek |
| 6 | MF | USA | Darlington Nagbe |
| 7 | MF | POR | Pedro Santos |
| 8 | MF | BRA | Artur |
| 9 | FW | COL | Cucho Hernández |
| 10 | MF | ARM | Lucas Zelarayán |
| 12 | MF | CRC | Luis Díaz |
| 13 | FW | TRI | Kevin Molino |
| 14 | MF | GHA | Yaw Yeboah |
| 16 | MF | USA | Isaiah Parente |
| 17 | DF | USA | Marlon Hairston |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 19 | FW | USA | Erik Hurtado |
| 21 | MF | USA | Aidan Morris |
| 22 | MF | HAI | Derrick Etienne |
| 23 | DF | USA | Jalil Anibaba |
| 24 | GK | USA | Evan Bush |
| 25 | MF | USA | Sean Zawadzki |
| 26 | MF | NGA | James Igbekeme (On loan from Real Zaragoza) |
| 28 | GK | USA | Patrick Schulte |
| 30 | MF | USA | Will Sands |
| 31 | DF | FRA | Steven Moreira |
| 32 | GK | USA | Brady Scott |
| 33 | DF | USA | Jake Morris |
| 39 | FW | CAN | Jacen Russell-Rowe |
| 41 | DF | ALG | Mohamed Farsi |

### 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 |
| 20 | MF | ROU | Alexandru Mățan (at FC Rapid București until December 31, 2022) |

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

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 6 | Inter Miami CF | 34 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 47 | 56 | −9 | 48 | Qualification for the first round |
| 7 | Orlando City SC | 34 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 44 | 53 | −9 | 48 | Qualification for the first round & 2023 CONCACAF Champions League |
| 8 | Columbus Crew | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 46 | 41 | +5 | 46 | |
| 9 | Charlotte FC | 34 | 13 | 18 | 3 | 44 | 52 | −8 | 42 | |
| 10 | New England Revolution | 34 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 47 | 50 | −3 | 42 | |
* ↑ as 2022 U.S. Open Cup champions

##### Overall table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | L | T | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 14 | Real Salt Lake | 34 | 12 | 11 | 11 | 43 | 45 | −2 | 47 | |
| 15 | Portland Timbers | 34 | 11 | 10 | 13 | 53 | 53 | 0 | 46 | |
| 16 | Columbus Crew | 34 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 46 | 41 | +5 | 46 | |
| 17 | Vancouver Whitecaps FC (V) | 34 | 12 | 15 | 7 | 40 | 57 | −17 | 43 | Qualification for the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League |
| 18 | Colorado Rapids | 34 | 11 | 13 | 10 | 46 | 57 | −11 | 43 | |
* ↑ Canadian clubs cannot qualify for the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League through the MLS regular season or playoffs.
* ↑ As 2022 Canadian Championship winners (CAN1)

#### 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 | 46 | 10 | 8 | 16 | 46 | 41 | +5 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 22 | 15 | +7 | 3 | 4 | 10 | 24 | 26 | −2 |
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 | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | A | H | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | A | H | H | A |
| Result | W | D | W | D | L | L | L | D | W | D | L | L | W | D | D | W | D | W | D | W | D | D | L | W | D | D | D | W | D | D | L | D | W | L |

#### Match results

On November 22, 2021 the league announced the home openers for every club, with Columbus playing Vancouver Whitecaps FC at Lower.com Field. The full 2022 season was released on December 15, 2021.

### MLS Cup Playoffs

The Columbus Crew failed to qualify for the playoffs in this season.

### U.S. Open Cup

On July 20, 2021 US Soccer announced that the tournament would be cancelled for 2021 and would resume in 2022. The Crew was one of 17 MLS teams entering in the Third round of the tournament.

## Transfers
### In

| Pos. | Player | Transferred from | Fee/notes | Date |
| MF | Yaw Yeboah | Wisla Krakow | Utilizing Targeted Allocation Money, contract will run through the 2024 season with an option for 2025. | January 6, 2022 |
| GK | Sean Zawadzki | Georgetown University | Contract as a Homegrown Player through the 2023 season with options through 2025. | January 13, 2022 |
| GK | Brady Scott | Austin FC | Contract for 2022 with options for 2023 and 2024. Selected in Stage 2 of the 2021 MLS Re-Entry Draft. | January 13, 2022 |
| DF | Jalil Anibaba | Nashville SC | Signed via free Agency for the 2022 season with an option for 2023 | January 14, 2022 |
| DF | Jake Morris | Campbell University | Signed as a Homegrown Player through the 2023 season with options in 2024 and 2025. The Crew traded $50,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) for 2022 to Seattle Sounders FC in exchange for Morris’ MLS Homegrown Priority. | January 14, 2022 |
| DF | Will Sands | Georgetown University | Signed as a Homegrown Player through the 2023 season with options in 2024 and 2025. The Crew traded $50,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) for 2022 to New York City FC in exchange for Sands’ MLS Homegrown Priority. | January 21, 2022 |
| DF | Milos Degenek | Red Star Belgrade | Signed through the 2023 season with options for 2024 and 2025. | January 24, 2022 |
| FW | Jacen Russell-Rowe | Columbus Crew 2 | Signed as a Homegrown Player through the 2024 season with options in 2025 and 2026. The Crew traded $50,000 in General Allocation Money (GAM) for 2022 to Toronto FC in exchange for Russell-Rowe's MLS Homegrown Priority. | June 29, 2022 |
| FW | Cucho Hernández | Watford F.C. | Signed as a Young Designated Player through 2025 via a $10 million transfer fee. | July 7, 2022 |
| FW | Mohamed Farsi | Columbus Crew 2 | Signed as a Homegrown Player through the 2023 season with options in 2024 and 2025. | July 22, 2022 |

### Loan in

| Pos. | Player | Loaned from | Length/Notes | Beginning | End | Source |
| MF | James Igbekeme | Real Zaragoza | Loaned through the 2022 MLS season with an option to exercise a permanent transfer. | January 26, 2022 | | |

#### SuperDraft

The following players were selected by Columbus in the MLS SuperDraft.
| Pos. | Player | College | Notes | Date |
| GK | Patrick Schulte | Saint Louis | Generation Adidas player. Selected in the First Round. | January 11, 2022 |
| DF | Philip Quinton | Notre Dame | Selected in the First Round. Columbus acquired Real Salt Lake's first-round selection in exchange for $50,000 of General Allocation Money. Signed with Columbus Crew 2. | January 11, 2022 |
| DF | Jacob Erlandson | Bowling Green State | Selected in the second round. Signed with Columbus Crew 2. | January 11, 2022 |
| FW | Chris Donovan | Drexel | Selected in the Third Round. Signed with Philadelphia Union II. | January 11, 2022 |

### Out

| Pos. | Player | Transferred to | Fee/notes | Date |
| GK | Eric Dick | Minnesota United FC | Option declined. | December 1, 2021 |
| DF | Waylon Francis | CS Herediano | Option declined. | December 1, 2021 |
| DF | Saad Abdul-Salaam | San Antonio FC | Option declined. | December 1, 2021 |
| DF | Vito Wormgoor | Start | Option declined. | December 1, 2021 |
| FW | Bradley Wright-Phillips | Retired | Option declined. | December 1, 2021 |
| DF | Harrison Afful | Charlotte FC | Optioned declined, signed as a free agent by Charlotte FC. | December 17, 2021 |
| DF | Aboubacar Keita | Colorado Rapids | $300,000 in General Allocation Money and up to $150,000 in conditional GAM. | January 5, 2022 |
| DF | Milton Valenzuela | FC Lugano | Option declined. | January 30, 2022 |
| DF | Sebastian Berhalter | Vancouver Whitecaps FC | $50,000 in GAM for 2022 and up to $50,000 in conditional GAM if certain performance incentives are met. | February 4, 2022 |
| FW | Gyasi Zardes | Colorado Rapids | $1.4 million in 2022 GAM received, allocated as a guaranteed $300,000 and up to an additional $1.1M if multiple performance metrics are met while with the Rapids. | April 22, 2022 |
| FW | Miguel Berry | D.C. United | Guaranteed $125,000 in GAM from D.C. United in 2022, $100,000 in GAM in 2023, and up to an additional $100,000 in GAM if certain performance incentives are met. | July 20, 2022 |

### Loans out

| Pos. | Player | Loanee club | Length/Notes | Beginning | End | Source |
| MF | Alexandru Mățan | Rapid București | Loaned through the remainder of the 2022 MLS season with an option to exercise a permanent transfer. | August 9, 2022 | December 31, 2022 | |

## Kits

| Home | Away |
| Type | Shirt | Shorts | Socks |
| Home | White | Gold | Gold |
| Away | Black | Black | Black |