‘This is my destination.’ Global star Wilfried Zaha set for MLS debut with Charlotte FC
Wilfried Zaha has arrived with Charlotte FC.
The veteran forward is expected to be a key player for Charlotte, which opens its regular season at 10:30 p.m. Saturday against the Seattle Sounders at Lumen Field, and hopes to return to the MLS Cup playoffs for the third straight year.
When Zaha was conducting his research to determine his next soccer home, he’d watched YouTube videos of Charlotte FC matches before going to sleep. He felt confident he’d fit in with the Queen City franchise’s style of play before he’d even spoke with head coach Dean Smith or general manager Zoran Krneta.
In addition to being a strong defensive team, Zaha — who’s scored 68 goals in 305 Premier League appearances — was impressed with how Charlotte moved the ball on offense.
And he’s heard all about the team’s raucous fans who regularly file into Bank of America Stadium for soccer matches and have helped Charlotte post the second-best attendance in Major League Soccer.
“I’m not much of a talker — my thing is I try to lead by example,” Zaha said Wednesday in an introductory news conference. “I don’t tend to blab and blame and talk about how good I am or what I’m going to do, because you don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. The only way I can prove how good I am is on the pitch.”
‘I make my own history’
Zaha, 32, signed with Charlotte on Jan. 22, acquired on a loan from top Turkish club Galatasaray.
Born in the Ivory Coast, Zaha moved to England when he was 4. He played for Crystal Palace, where he helped the south London football club get promoted to the Premier League. He briefly suited up for Manchester United in 2013 and 2014 before returning to Crystal Palace for nearly another decade.
Charlotte FC brought Zaha to the United States following stints at Galatasaray and French Ligue 1 club Lyon, where he truly felt he had great opportunities for himself. Crystal Palace had always been his childhood club, and moving to Turkey to play for Galatasaray allowed him to make his mark in the Champions League.
His next chapter begins this weekend.
“Before bed, I was on YouTube just watching the Charlotte games,” Zaha said. “I was just seeing what the team’s like, positives and stuff like that. That’s what I did first, and then having the conversations just made sense to me. My thing is, with how my career has gone and places I’ve been — I went to Turkey, everyone’s like, ‘Why would you go there?’
“I don’t care what other people think. I just go where I feel like I want to go. And then I make my own history. That’s my mentality; I never follow anyone. Once I spoke to Dean (Smith) the manager and Zoran (Krneta) and a lot of the people inside, I knew that this is my destination.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2025 at 5:15 AM.
