Charlotte FC fan favorite Andre Shinyashiki signs multi-year extension with MLS club

Charlotte FC soccer fans have received the answer they were looking for: Forward Andre Shinyashiki has signed an extension with Charlotte FC.

His new contract locks him down through 2025 with a club option to keep him for 2026 — quelling one of the most pressing personnel questions facing the MLS expansion team as it heads into its first fall.

“I am super happy, very excited,” Shinyashiki said in an interview with The Observer. “This was my goal when I got here, so it’s good to have that done and to just focus on soccer now.”

In his short time with the club, the 25-year-old São Paulo, Brazil, native has become a favorite among the Queen City team’s fan base. That’s part of the reason why Shinyashiki’s future in Charlotte was a point of contention when his playing time dwindled earlier this month.

But according to CLTFC Sporting Director Zoran Krneta, there were “never any real discussions about not signing Andre.”

“This is something that we finished some time ago,” Krneta told The Observer.

Krneta said negotiations began about five weeks ago, right before the team’s first matchup with Toronto in July, adding, “The reason why this isn’t coming earlier is because I didn’t want to distract the team, because he’s not the only player who is uncertain about next season. So if you start doing one, then everybody comes, then everybody starts thinking not about playoffs but about their contracts.”

The 5-foot-9, 152-pound forward moved to the U.S. when he was 15, joining national soccer power Montverde Academy in Florida. He was recruited to the University of Colorado and then drafted fifth overall in 2019 MLS Draft by the Colorado Rapids, where he scored 21 goals in three-and-a-half seasons and earned 2019 Rookie of the Year honors.

Shinyashiki then was acquired by Charlotte from Colorado. In his first nine games in Charlotte, he scored four goals, including the game-winner against Inter Miami in his Queen City debut. He’s now notched six goals on the season, two behind team-leader Karol Swiderski — and has done so with an endearing and unique bravado.

Recently, though, that success hasn’t translated perfectly into playing time. Shinyashiki has started on the bench and only played 64 minutes in the last five matches — two wins and three losses that come at a critical juncture in Charlotte’s inaugural push for the playoffs.

When asked about Shinyashiki’s playing time after Charlotte’s loss to Orlando last week, head coach Christian Lattanzio said that his team is particularly deep at the forward position, and that Shinyashiki “knows he’s a player I really value” and that “his moments and his minutes will come.”

Shinyashiki, it appears, has bought into that message.

“You obviously want to be on the field every minute possible, but sometimes things don’t go your way,” he said. “And to me, I just put my head down, keep working, because my time is going to come. Obviously, it’s not great timing when you’re negotiating your contract and not playing, but at the end of the day, I feel like I had done good enough to show that I deserved to get an increase in my salary and things like that. And the club agreed.”

Shinyashiki is happy to stay in the city that has embraced him, he said.

“I think it’s pretty great how many people they have to take care of us, the vision that they have with where they want to go, the new facility and things like that,” Shinyashiki said of Charlotte FC. “I think that the fans are incredible. I’ve never seen 35,000-plus fans every game for any team. Maybe Atlanta is the only other team that could say they get that.

“The city of Charlotte has been really welcoming. And the people have really embraced me and treated me as one of their own.”

Shiyashiki isn’t the only goal-scorer who signed an extension with the team recently. Midfielder Brandt Bronico, a North Carolina native and Charlotte 49er alum, re-signed with the team through 2025 with an option for 2026, per the club.

2 quick questions with Andre Shinyashiki

Single-most important moment in your career?

“The draft, how it happened, and going to Colorado where I was still living in Denver, where it was my college town, I knew everybody there, I had a support system — I think going to Colorado when I went to Colorado was probably the most important thing to happen to me,” he said. “They were in need of a player like me. They were struggling and I could contribute immediately, and I could establish myself. And I feel like for a lot of young players, and attacking players especially, it is difficult to prove yourself your first year in the league.”

Best FIFA video game player on the team?

“Me,” he said with a laugh. He elaborated to defend his answer: “A lot of guys are going to disagree, but I’m definitely up there.” He said most of the team plays FIFA, that his favorite team to play with is PSG — and that he and Jan Sobocinski versus Karol Swiderski and Kamil Józwiak play 2-v-2 and have a bit of a healthy rivalry going.

This story was originally published August 25, 2022 at 9:02 AM.

Alex Zietlow

The Charlotte Observer

Alex Zietlow writes about the Carolina Panthers and the ways in which sports intersect with life for The Charlotte Observer, where he has been a reporter since August 2022. Zietlow’s work has been honored by the Pro Football Writers Association, the N.C. and S.C. Press Associations, as well as the Associated Press Sports Editors (APSE) group. He’s earned six APSE Top 10 distinctions for his coverage on a variety of topics, from billion-dollar stadium renovations to the small moments of triumph that helped a Panthers kicker defy the steepest odds in sports. Zietlow previously wrote for The Herald in Rock Hill (S.C.) from 2019-22. Support my work with a digital subscription