RBNY Set To Sign USMNT Goalkeeper Ethan Horvath

According to Tom Bogert of The Athletic, Red Bull New York is set to sign 30-year-old American goalkeeper Ethan Horvath from Cardiff City. Looks like New York has found its starting goalkeeper for 2026 and beyond.

After much speculation and a promise from Head of Sport Julian de Guzman that the club would be looking for another goalkeeper, RBNY has landed a big fish in Horvath. The experienced goalkeeper should be expected to fill a big void in New York's goal after Carlos Coronel's departure at the end of 2025.

Horvath had been iced out of the squad at Cardiff City, who are top of EFL League One, after returning from a semi-successful loan spell at Sheffield Wednesday. After his loan at Wednesday ended on Jan. 3, he returned to Cardiff but was not in the plans of manager Brian Barry-Murphy.

Horvath has spent his entire professional career in Europe, turning pro in 2015 with Molde of the Norwegian Eliteserien under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer before joining Belgian giants Club Brugge for a five-year spell between 2016 and 2021. From there, the Highlands Ranch, Colorado native bounced around the English Championship, stopping at Nottingham Forest, Cardiff, Wednesday and most notably helping Luton Town earn a historic promotion to the Premier League in 2022-23.

Of his ten U.S. Men's National Team caps, Horvath is best remembered for his heroic performance as a substitute against Mexico in the 2021 CONCACAF Nations League Final, helping the Yanks to a 3-2 win with a penalty save on Andres Guardado in extra time. He also served as the primary backup to Matt Turner at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Should the move materialize, it will leave RBNY with five goalkeepers contracted to its first team for 2026, including John McCarthy, Aidan Stokes, Tobias Szewczyk and the injured AJ Marcucci. Szewczyk should be able to count as an off-roster homegrown and won't count to the first-team roster. The club may have to get creative about how they manage the growing roster ahead of the 2026 MLS season.

As for Horvath, the move represents a big career change, as he could be playing professional soccer in his home country for the very first time. Not only that, but being a starting goalkeeper once again could give him a chance to get back into the U.S. national team. Horvath hasn't featured for the USMNT since coming off the bench as a second half substitute in the U.S.'s second group stage match of the 2024 Copa America, under then-manager Gregg Berhalter. He was last called up to the national team for Mauricio Pochettino's first camp as head coach in October 2024.

The Eastern Conference of MLS is already loaded with USMNT caliber goalkeepers, including presumptive starter Matt Freese of NYCFC, Matt Turner of the New England Revolution, Patrick Schulte of the Columbus Crew and FC Cincinnati's Roman Celentano. Should Horvath come to New Jersey and shine as one of the league's top keepers, he could seriously make a claim for a spot with Pochettino's national team.