International Soccer

Philadelphia Union to face Defence Force FC in Champions Cup first round

Published

1 month ago

December 10, 2025

The 2026 campaign for the Philadelphia Union will include a new opponent and a new away trip to Trinidad and Tobago club Defence Force FC, the Union’s round one opponent in the Concacaf Champions Cup.

The Union will visit the TT Premier League club for the first leg of the first round in February and return home to Subaru Park for the second leg.

Defence Force is the island nation’s most successful club, having won 20 national championships and has twice won Concacaf – in 1978 and 1985.

Defence Force earned the final spot in the 2026 edition of the cup via a third place finish in the Caribbean Cup so on paper it’s a favorable first round draw. But the road for the Union only gets tougher with the winner of Club America and CD Olimpia waiting in the second round and Inter Miami, Nashville SC or Forge FC in the quarterfinal.

Concacaf will announce the complete schedule for Round One and Round of 16 in the coming days.

The 2026 competition will be the Union’s fourth appearance. They qualified for the 2021, 2023 and 2024 competitions, falling to Club America and LAFC in the semifinals of the 2021 and 2023 competitions and in the Round of 16 to Pachuca in 2024.

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Matthew Ralph

Matthew Ralph is the managing editor of Philadelphia Soccer Now. He's covered soccer at all levels for a decade in the Philadelphia region and has also written for TheCup.us, NPSL, PrepSoccer and other publications. He lives with his wife and two young children in Broomall, Pa., but grew up in South Jersey and is originally from Kansas.