Philadelphia Union
Carnell: FIFA registration ban a ‘minor issue’, additions to squad ‘close’

Philadelphia Union head coach Bradley Carnell had to deal with a luggage set back at Heathrow Airport in London on his first trip with his new team, but he struck an optimistic tone in his first press conference of the 2025 preseason from Marbella, Spain.
Carnell fielded questions about the FIFA player registration ban and how that will affect any incoming players to his squad, players being blocked from national team call-ups, the absence of Nelson Pierre on the trip and more in the Zoom press conference streamed live on YouTube.
“We’ve had a couple of obstacles in the first, I would say, 24 hours of getting here, but we’ve sorted that all out,” Carnell said, noting that the team’s luggage got stuck in London. “We’ve been up and running, and things have been looking really good…Today was a really great training session in the morning, I must say.”
Carnell called the recent news of the FIFA player registration ban a “minor issue,”
“It’s pretty close to being resolved from what I’m hearing and won’t impact us going forward over the next couple of weeks,” he said.
As for the roster with 37 days to go to the season opener in Orlando, Carnell said his focus is on the squad he has now.
Jack McGlynn is away at the USMNT camp and Nelson Pierre did not travel with the team but the rest of the team is in Spain along with Union II goalkeeper Mike Sheridan and Union II forwards Sal Olivas and Eddy Davis. Neil Pierre and Frankie Westfield, who have reportedly had their second team contracts convert to first team deals, are also on the trip.
“We are always looking, and I think there are definitely positions that are still open where we could feel we might need to explore the market, and I know we are close in certain positions,” Carnell said.
Sporting Director Ernst Tanner said previously that they would add players in every area of the field other than goalkeeping so expect at the very least another midfielder and forward to be added to the team.
Carnell didn’t give a clear answer on why Nelson Pierre didn’t make the travel roster other than to say this was the roster they decided on to make the trip.
“We’re very heavy on the 10 and the striker spots,” he said. “We just went through the roster as what would now be most beneficial to the group. And as of now, we felt that this is the current roster to go into camp with.”
The Union will play their first preseason match on Sunday. This is the fourth time the team has traveled out of the country for preseason but the first time since 2012 when they went to Costa Rica. They went to Greece in 2011 and Mexico in 2010.
“Slavia Prague is a week away from playing in their Europa League game next week,” said Carnell, who spent time in Marbella during his playing days. “There’s a lot of benefits to it.”