Orlando City

2025 Orlando City Season in Review: Rodrigo Schlegel

The Argentine center back once again found himself in a starting role far more often than fans probably expected.

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6 months ago

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Image courtesy of Orlando City SC / Jeremy Reper

Orlando City signed center back Rodrigo Schlegel on loan from Racing Club on Dec. 30, 2019. The Argentine defender signed him to a new permanent deal on Jan. 19, 2022 and then re-signed him again a year later on Jan. 25, 2023 on a deal through that season with option years for 2024 and 2025. The club picked up his 2024 option and the 27-year-old native of Remedios de Escalada, Argentina ended up a regular in the starting XI during the team’s strong playoff push in the second half of the season. He turned in his best season in a purple kit a year ago and Orlando City picked up his 2025 option year after the 2024 season.

At 28 years old, Schlegel is in his prime years as a center back, and a continuation of the progress he made the last two years would have been welcome. He again found himself as a regular starter almost from the jump, filling in for Robin Jansson on opening day against Philadelphia when the captain suffered a knock in pregame warmups, followed by David Brekalo suffering a shoulder injury. Brekalo then slotted in at left back to provide solidity there, and from then on, Schlegel was essentially the starting right center back for the rest of the season.

Let’s take a look back at the Argentine’s sixth season in Orlando.

Statistical Breakdown

Schlegel played in all four competitions with the Lions in 2025 — the regular season, playoffs, U.S. Open Cup, and Leagues Cup. He appeared in 31 of Orlando City’s 34 games during the regular season (all starts), playing 2,686 minutes. All of those were new career highs. He did not contribute to a goal in the regular season and still sits on two career goals and no assists. Schlegel attempted 17 shots, putting just five on frame. He passed at a strong 90% rate but provided only one key pass, no accurate crosses, and 35 successful long balls. In his own end, he contributed 45 tackles, 31 interceptions, 24 blocked shots, and a team-high 176 clearances. The defender committed 37 fouls, drew 27 on the opposition, and racked up 10 yellow cards while getting sent off once.

In the only Orlando City playoff game of 2025, Schlegel started and played 76 minutes without a goal contribution or a shot attempt. He completed 94% of his 45 passes without a key pass or a cross, connecting on two long balls. Schlegel contributed three tackles, two interceptions, a block, and five clearances against the Chicago Fire that night. He committed two fouls, drew three on the Fire, and of course was shown a yellow card.

Schlegel also participated in both of Orlando City’s U.S. Open Cup matches in 2025 (both starts) and played 152 minutes in the competition. He did not tally a goal contribution or put his lone shot attempt on goal. Schlegel completed 115 of his 124 passes for a stellar 92.7% completion rate with one key pass, six complete long balls on 11 attempts (54.5%), and no cross attempts. The veteran defender logged six tackles, three interceptions, and three clearances in the tournament. He committed five fouls, suffered four, and was surprisingly not booked in either match.

In 2025 Leagues Cup play, Schlegel started and went the distance in all six of Orlando’s games, playing 540 minutes. He scored his only goal of the season in the tournament-opening 1-1 draw against Pumas on July 30, but did not register an assist, putting two of his five shots on target in the competition. The center back completed 239 of his 264 passes for a 90.5% success rate with 70.4% accuracy on long balls and one key pass, but he did not attempt a cross in the tournament. Defensively, Schlegel contributed 13 tackles, three interceptions, three blocks, and 26 clearances. He committed 11 fouls, drew eight on his opponents, and received three yellow cards but was not sent off.

Best Game

Schlegel’s highest rating in an individual game was 7 out of 10, which he accomplished six times in 2025, so there wasn’t a clear-cut top performance, although there were several solid ones. It’s tempting to take the game in which he scored his lone goal of the season — a powerful and perfectly placed header in Leagues Cup. I mean, check this out:

Instead, I’m going to focus on one of his best defensive performances of the season, and one of the aforementioned matches in which we rated him a 7 out of 10 — the 1-0 road win at Colorado on June 14, which our Sean Rollins said Schlegel “was a monster in this game.”

Schlegel started and went the distance at center back, leading the Lions with 86 touches. He did not contribute to Martin Ojeda’s winning goal in the 24th minute, but he managed to put his only shot attempt on target that night, forcing a good save from Nicholas Hansen. He also completed 88% of his passes that night, finishing second only to central defense partner Jansson (93%) among all players from both teams, although he did not contribute a key pass and connected on only one of his five long balls. Where the Argentine shone was in his own defensive third, where he did not record a tackle, but he did finish with one interception, two blocks, and an incredible 21 clearances, with 12 of those coming off his head. He committed two fouls and was booked in the match, but he one three of his six aerial duels and helped Orlando City earn a road shutout in one of the most difficult environments in MLS.

2025 Final Grade

Schlegel received a composite rating of 6 out of 10 from The Mane Land staff for his season-long performance. This is the same score he received from us back in 2020, which was his first season with the club, and equals his lowest single-season rating in his six years with the Lions. His 6/10 rating is a full point lower than he received from us in 2024 and in 2023. It’s half a point lower than the 6.5 we gave him in 2022 and in 2021. Part of the reason for his drop was the overall dip in quality of the entire team defense. Everyone suffered a bit for that. But he also played inconsistently. He’d look the part of a top tier MLS starter one week, only to follow that with a couple of poor-to-meh performances. He was also part of a couple of maddeningly poor goals that deflected into Orlando’s own net.

Schlegel continued to have moments of madness, such as the penalty he gave up to Montreal, allowing the Canadian side to salvage a draw on what turned out to be its only shot on target of the match. He was also sent off against the Red Bulls and is nearly a guarantee of a yellow card in any given match. In six seasons, he still has not curbed his tendency to be overly aggressive, getting caught up the pitch to exacerbate transition opportunities and putting his teammates in a position to take a yellow card to make up for him not being in position. As such, his season rating is in line with his average grade in our player grade pieces for the individual matches (6.02), which was one of the lowest averages among Orlando City’s regular starters.

2026 Outlook

Unless there’s an automatically triggered option year we don’t know about, Schlegel is out of contract as of this writing. The 28-year-old is in his prime years and will have interested suitors, but it’s likely up to Orlando City whether he returns or not. Schlegel is well-liked by his teammates and coaching staff and seems to be a good fit for Oscar Pareja’s culture. He was previously one of the better bench center backs in the league, but as a long-term starter, the Lions are in flux with who to put next to Jansson — that is assuming Jansson’s contract option is picked up, which might not be a foregone conclusion after the Beefy Swede seemingly lost a step this year. Brekalo has picked up periodic knocks and has yet to claim the right center back position as his own on a permanent basis. One would have to think Brekalo isn’t the best solution at left back moving forward, so the Slovenian international will likely get a long look as Jansson’s partner again in preseason camp. And all of the center back decisions might hinge on whether Alex Freeman returns in 2026 or transfers out, because he gives the club a unique weapon at right back that essentially lets Pareja play a three-man back line.

Orlando City is at a crossroads and must decide whether to rebuild the center back position now entirely, continue with Jansson and Schlegel (or hope Brekalo rises to the challenge and takes the right CB spot), or split the difference by keeping one of Schlegel or Jansson and letting the other go, requiring a new signing before next season. Schlegel is still a solid backup center back choice, but he comes with a host of concerns as a regular starter. He made a base salary of $500,000 and total compensation of nearly $610,000 in 2025. That’s just under what Brekalo makes and well short of Jansson’s salary.

It will be interesting to see how the Lions approach central defense in the off-season and it might be the biggest area of concern in the buildup to 2026.

Previous Season in Review Articles (Date Posted)

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