We haven’t said much – pretty much nothing to be honest – about the goings-on at Birmingham Legion since just before Christmas. At that time Mark Briggs was still the head coach and very little had been done to beef up the squad. In fact, no new signings had been made and the depth chart was looking very thin.
Well, with a little over a week left until the 2026 season starts, we have a much better – but not absolutely definitive – idea of how this year’s team is going to shake out.
I’m going to go out on a limb here: this is probably the best roster the Three Sparks has ever put together. The team has done it rather on the quiet as well; there are 6 new major signings (with maybe one or two more to come) and 4 of them are entirely new to the USL Championship. And one of those 4 is from the Canadian Premier League, which, let’s face it, is completely ignored by the soccer world at large. 2 are from MLS Next Pro, which is a valid development league but even so not really on the radar of the average fan.
The most recognizable name among the 6 is Romario Williams. The Jamaican is admittedly a tad on the aged side at 31, but he has been pretty much everywhere in MLS and the Championship since 2015 and is a proven goalscorer. At 6’0″ he’s surprisingly only an inch taller than fellow striker Ronaldo Damus but is built much powerfully. Adding him to Damus and Bofo Saucedo creates an interesting and multifaceted triumvirate up top.
The other MLS veteran is Bryce Washington, whom the team was able to snap up because he last played with North Carolina FC, which went into the dreaded hiatus at the end of the 2025 season. He’s been in the Championship since 2021 (with Atlanta United 2 and Loudoun United before NCFC) so is very much a known quantity. He was certainly going to end up somewhere in the USL ecosystem and as an Atlanta native this gets him as close to home as possible. From the Legion’s perspective, an extra centerback was a crucial component to add, especially with Ramiz Hamouda leaving at the end of May.
The 2 from MLSNP are both midfielders, another gaping hole the Legion needed to fill. Seth Antwi also fills the obligatory Ghana spot on the roster. He was previously with St. Louis City 2 for 2 years (also appearing twice for the MLS team) and is primarily a defensive mid. Gevork Diarbian is a more attacking midfielder who comes to the Magic City after two seasons with New England Revolution II. He is a Rhode Island native and somehow slipped Khano Smith’s notice.
Nico Brown, who has been with the team for a while and was just signed today, is another Jamaican – a national team player like Williams – was previously with Lexington SC but never played with them after they moved up to the Championship, instead being loaned out to Forward Madison for 2025 where he played 30 games. He is generally thought of as a winger, but the Legion is describing him more in terms of his defensive capabilities although recognizing his “tactical flexibility.” He is 27 and should be an interesting option.
That leaves the CPL entry. Jassem Koleilat was briefly with LAFC2 before spending the past two seasons with Forge FC (in Hamilton, Ontario) where the Czech set goalkeeping records last year, 11 clean sheets being one of them. He first got noticed while playing for the University of New Hampshire where he picked up various honors, including being named to the Mac Hermann Trophy short list. He also played a few games for Seacoast United of USL League Two while at UNH. He is most certainly an upgrade over Fernando Delgado, who is now with Monterey Bay FC. That’s not meant to demean Delgado, who has a big career ahead of him. Koleilat looks like the whole package.
The Legion may not be done with new signings yet. Temi Ereku may be in negotiations to return to the team. There are a couple of trialists as well: Daniel Gagliardi would be an additional shotstopper and Alhassan Alhassan (another Ghanaian) is a left winger previously with Chattanooga Red Wolves. The early rumors about Kadeem Cole (a Costa Rican midfielder with Nicaragua’s Real Esteli) apparently have merit but nothing has been confirmed. Yet another winger, Adam Aboohamidi, may still be trailing after open tryouts. The team is teasing more signings on social media so there are definitely names to be added yet; chances are they will come from this group.
Then there is the biggest change at the club. Mark Briggs’ sudden departure over the holidays did not result in a long search for a replacement head coach. That could have been potentially disastrous so close to a new season, and especially one in which the Three Sparks have really got to turn things around. Quickly installing Jay Heaps in the position was probably the only rational decision that could be made. I’ve been a Heaps skeptic in the past but this will give him the opportunity to prove me wrong. I’m already impressed by what the team has been doing and they do have 2 preseason wins (neither of which I was able to attend personally, albeit over lower league opponents.
It should also be noted that last season’s interregnum between Tommy Soehn and Mark Briggs was the most successful stretch in 2025, the team going 2-1-0 in all competitions and outscoring the opponents 6-3 in aggregate. Eric Avila was nominally the interim head coach but the reality was that Jay was in charge.
So, how is the Legion going to line up? Well, it’s likely that a 3-man back line will not survive the change in administration. Heaps tended to favor a 4-2-3-1 or sometimes a 4-3-3 in his previous head coaching stint (7 years with the New England Revolution) and I do not see that likely to change. Indeed, the additions to the squad look to have been made with those formations in mind. Right now this is what the depth chart probably looks like:
At this point the roster looks to have some solid depth that it was clearly lacking just a couple of weeks ago. There are only 3 positions here that do not have an obvious secondary option, although with Hamouda leaving that would go up to 4. And for international breaks at least 4 guys could be missing (Kavita and the team’s 3 Jamaicans, Vassell, Williams and Brown). With the World Cup, that means late September and early November only, but those are not exactly times you want to be short in the USL calendar. So those additional signings now (or after the Hamouda transactions generates some free cash) will be important.
Even so, this looks like a team that could definitely take a few opponents by surprise. Is it a top 4 finisher? I would have to say likely not but for sure it is built to get the Legion back to the playoffs. And that in a league where most of the teams have also been upgrading (with the possible exceptions of Louisville City, who don’t need to, and the two Eastern expansion teams, Brooklyn FC and Sporting Club Jacksonville, who haven’t been as aggressive in roster-building as they should).
Why do I think this? Well, the team has beefed up the defense and the attack, and Antwi as the defensive pivot in this setup is also an upgrade. What remains to be seen is whether Shashoua or Vassell can perform as the central attacking mid. Shashoua played only 8 games for the Legion last season while on loan from Minnesota United but that was enough to convince the Three Sparks to bring him on permanently after Minnesota released him. Vassell similarly played just 7 games after being signed late last season. Shashoua is almost certainly the starter over Vassell and will be a more energetic player in this role than the Legion has had in quite a while; since Bruno Lapa left in fact. Enzo Martinez may have been a fan favorite but was already flagging in that role in 2024 and was close to a hindrance in 2025.
Thus I am of the opinion that there are good reasons for optimism about the 2026 Birmingham Legion. They will be getting an early test though. The season opener on March 7th is against the Tampa Bay Rowdies, another team that was entirely embarrassed by its performance last year and has been working even harder to improve. And that is followed by a super-short turnaround with another of those midweek daytime games, 11am that Wednesday against Hartford Athletic. Strong results in both those games will be critical.
