Make no mistake, Charlotte FC’s Kristijan Kahlina is the best goalkeeper in MLS
I have always felt admiration — and a touch of sympathy — for any goalkeeper at any level of soccer. What a position to have to play, knowing that any error you make over 90-plus minutes could cost your team the game.
Charlotte FC goalkeeper Kristijan Kahlina explained this concept well when we talked Wednesday, three days before the team’s home opener. “When you make a mistake, most often they will score,” Kahlina said. “And everybody will point at you and say that you’re guilty.”
Goal scorers are celebrated. Goalkeepers are vilified. Even Kahlina — the best goalkeeper in Major League soccer, with the hardware to prove it — isn’t immune. As Kahlina also put it: “Our position is a little bit creepy.”
But man, is Kahlina ever good at it. The Croatian was named the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year in 2024, becoming the first Charlotte FC player to earn an individual year-end award from the league. He was the best player on a Charlotte team that was surprisingly good and made the postseason, keyed by a defense that came up with 12 shutouts.
And per some advanced soccer stats that I don’t quite understand although they’ve been completely explained to me, Kahlina’s season ranked as the second-best individual goalkeeping season in MLS since 2013.
In other words, much like a balky traffic light, Kahlina stops a lot of things you would think he has no business stopping. He is the last line of defense — the player you must count on when all else has failed — and it’s been that way pretty much for Charlotte FC’s entire existence.
Kahlina started along with the team in 2022, and now at 32 he is starting once again for a fourth-year Charlotte FC team that will face Atlanta United at 2:15 p.m. Saturday in Bank of America Stadium before a home crowd of close to 50,000 fans.
There is a certain breed of athlete that can take the sort of pressure that comes with needing to be nearly perfect every time out. As Zoran Krneta, Charlotte FC’s general manager said: “The other players up front can make many mistakes. Not goalkeepers.”
Kahlina, though, was practically born into this job. At age 8, in Croatia, his sick father was temporarily laid up in bed. To pass the time, he and his son played an indoor game with a Nerf-type ball — the father would try to throw the ball past Kristijan and through the open doorway.
Kristijan, diving all over the place much like he still does 24 years later, was good at blocking the ball. Really good. So good that his father decided he had a future goalkeeper on his hands.
“He went to the library and took out a book about goalkeepers,” Kahlina said.
Not too long after that, Kahlina was going to a soccer academy. He would eventually work his way up through leagues in Croatia and Bulgaria before Charlotte FC discovered him. He’s never played any other position, and he’s embraced everything about it.
Kahlina even enjoys penalty kicks, he said, because the potential for a goalkeeper to do something good or even game-winning can be high if you’re confident in your ability.
“You have this small chance to save this ball, but when you save it, it’s a really nice feeling,” Kahlina said.
Watch Kahlina closely the next time you see Charlotte FC. He’s good with both his feet and his hands. He’s decisive. He’s fearless. When he does let in a goal, he offers up a brief look of disgust, talks to a teammate or two, and then goes on about the business of not letting in another. Much like an NFL cornerback, he has to have fast reflexes and a short memory.
“Model professional,” Krneta said. “Quiet off the pitch. And very loud on it, which I like.”
Part of the reason I like to watch good goalkeepers so much in general, and Kahlina in particular, has to do with a touch of personal experience.
Once, when I was 11 or 12, I had to sub in as the goalkeeper on a youth soccer team in place of a guy who conveniently had a family vacation just when it was time to play the local powerhouse. Am I still a little bitter about this supposed vacation? Yes.
In a brutal 90 minutes, I got peppered with dozens of shots, allowed 10 goals and, thankfully, saw my keeper days quickly come to an end in youth soccer. I didn’t want to play the position and you can be sure no coach wanted me to play it again, either.
I told Kahlina this story. He looked sympathetically at me. Or perhaps that’s what I wanted to see. But recalling it did make me ask him if he remembered how many goals he allowed in his worst game
“Seven,” he said instantly.
Kahlina remembered the level of play, the situation, his age, his teammates — everything.
Kahlina has a wife and daughter, and they live together in uptown Charlotte. They go to every home game. “My daughter attended her first when she was 10 days old,” he said proudly.
Now in his fourth year in the Queen City, Kahlina has grown accustomed to the city’s rhythms. He has his own rhythms before each Charlotte FC match too — a nap, a walk and a pregame workout all fitted into the routine.
What’s left for him?
Kahlina wants Charlotte FC to go further in its fourth season, for he believes this is the most talented club the team has had. And he has always had a dream of playing for the Croatian national team — that one hasn’t been realized yet. “If that call comes, it comes,” Kahlina said.
For now, though, he’s readying himself for Saturday’s home opener. Kahlina has a new contract, playing for a strong team in a city he has adopted. Life is good. So in a world of imperfections, he’ll trot out on the pitch again, trying to be perfect.
This story was originally published February 27, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
