Last updated on September 20, 2026
By: Megan Lawrence
Copy Editor
On October 1, 2025, Tennessee’s Nashville SC made history: it became the first professional sports team in the state ever to win a championship.
This remains the most impressive feat the team has accomplished so far, especially since the victory garnered statewide traction. While the win was historic and highly merited, it is just one example of the scoring power and success the team has seen ever since the beginning of the 2025 season.
Most notably, the current Major League Soccer season has seen Nashville SC go unbeaten through 12 home games.
The team’s first MLS season was in 2020, which saw delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to low attendance and a limited 23 games instead of the typical 34. Then, over the next few years, the team’s quality and end-of-season league placements slowly declined, with the club finishing 7th in 2021, 10th in 2022, and 12th in 2023.
Just two months into the 2024 season, Nashville saw its biggest change yet: the firing of long-time head coach Gary Smith, and the subsequent hiring of interim coach Rumba Munthali. When the season wrapped, the team finished at an all-time low of 25th out of the then-29 total teams in the league.
The club’s new head coach was announced on July 24 of that year, with B. J. Callaghan immediately stepping into the role. In the short time between then and October, it garnered a 3-1-5 record, scored 12 goals in 9 games, and capped off the year with 9 wins, 9 draws, and 16 losses. In its first full year with Callaghan, it went on a streak of 12 games unbeaten, consisting of 8 wins and 4 ties, from April to July of 2025. By the end, it was the club’s highest-scoring MLS season to date, with 20 more goals than the previous season’s record of 38.
Then, after years of struggling with consistency and scoring, Nashville led itself to the U.S. Open Cup Final, which ended in a 2-1 victory against Austin FC. Callaghan’s leadership made his players champions, and they lifted their first-ever cup.
The current team still contains members of its earliest roster, including Hany Mukhtar, Dan Lovitz, Alex Muyl, Jack Maher, and then-primary goalkeeper Joe Willis. But, in the past few years, its front office has gradually brought in star players such as Sam Surridge, Edvard Tagseth, Ahmed Qasem, Cristian Espinoza, and Shak Mohammed to beef up the scoring ability of the team.
These moves have officially paid off. Now, in the 2026 season, Nashville SC is reaching new heights for both the club and Major League Soccer.
Nashville SC, after starting its season in February, has gone unbeaten in 12 home games. Though ties are included in this, only one has factored into this 12-game streak: a 2-2 result against United D.C. on May 9.
From February 21 to May 23, Nashville SC won eight of its first twelve games. In that time, 11 different scorers managed 31 goals, with 24 of those being scored in just 7 home matches, averaging 3.4 per game.
With a win at Charlotte FC in mid-April, the team began a 9-game undefeated streak, accounting for 7 wins and 2 ties, before the World Cup break through June and until mid-July. When the season picked back up, two more wins were added to the streak, both of which were 1-0 results at home against Atlanta United FC and CF Montréal. When a loss ended the streak, a new one began immediately after with 6 games unbeaten. In that time, Nashville recorded a 2-2 draw on August 1, a four-game win streak from August 15 to 29, and a 0-0 draw to bookend the streak on September 4.
While the team has mostly excelled at home, it also boasts a decent record of 5 wins, 5 ties, and 3 losses in away games so far, earning 20 points in that time. The ongoing season now stands as its highest scoring yet with 50 goals. Although 13 different players on the roster have found the back of the net this year, two names stand out the most as being Nashville SC’s offensive superweapons.
The first of them is, of course, Hany Mukhtar, the franchise’s all-time leading scorer.
This season, as of September 12, Mukhtar has netted 10 goals and 7 assists across his 25 appearances. In those appearances, he has started in 22 and has been substituted for 3, making him a consistent face of the club. The forward has also had two multi-goal performances in 2026; one of these was a hat trick at home against Los Angeles FC, with Mukhtar’s goals being the only ones scored by Nashville in a 3-2 win.
This year’s other name was an unexpected signing in 2023: English striker Sam Surridge.
Before his $6.5 million, three-year contract in the MLS, the forward played in England’s Premier League for Nottingham Forest F.C. And, while Surridge’s scoring ability wasn’t particularly notable in the Premier League, he has found some new life in Nashville.
Since his signing, the forward has consistently been the team’s season-leading scorer, having netted 53 regular-season goals since his debut with the club. Back in 2024, Surridge was the second-ever player in franchise history to record a hat trick, with the first being Hany Mukhtar. Today, he still holds his goal-scoring reputation with 15 goals in 19 appearances this season. Surridge now has five multi-goal games this season, with one of those being a hat trick in March 21’s massive 5-0 win against Orlando City SC.
In total, Nashville has scored 50 goals, one of which was a recent own goal from Toronto FC, across all matches played. And it’s now on track to beat the aforementioned record of 58.
One of the standout performances of this season has come from starting goalkeeper Brian Schwake, who has served in every single regular season game so far. At home, the 25-year-old rookie has let in just 12 goals, averaging one goal allowed per game; through 13 away games, he’s allowed just 9. Along with this, Schwake has posted 11 shutouts in 25 games this season. Only four of those shutouts came at home, leaving Schwake as a major foreman for the team’s defensive success on the road. While netminder Joe Willis played all regular-season games in 2025, Schwake started all five U.S. Open Cup matches, including the Cup Final; in his first of these, he debuted with a shutout, becoming the first Nashville goaltender to do so in any game.
At this rate, the team is projected to end the season with at least 70 points, holding the potential to surpass the league record of 74. After Saturday’s 2-2 result, it has just nine games left with hopes to earn 27 more points on top of its current 54.
Nashville SC now confidently sits atop both the Eastern Conference and the league itself. And, if these performances continue, it is incredibly likely to win the Supporters’ Shield, the award given to the best overall team in the league at the end of the season.
The team just finished a three-game road trip but will return home on September 19. There, it will face Chicago Fire FC with the hopes of continuing this undefeated streak.
Nashville SC games, alongside all other MLS contests, can be streamed via an Apple TV subscription, and home games can be caught in-person at Geodis Park in downtown Nashville.
Photos courtesy of Braden Winfree, Vol State Community College Community Member.
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