Nashville Soccer Club has traded forward Dominique Badji to the Colorado Rapids in exchange for up to $100,000 in General Allocation Money, an immediate $50,000 and an additional $50,000 if Badji meets certain performance-based metrics.

Badji, a 28-year-old international from Senegal, played 17 matches for Nashville SC with 12 starts while providing one goal and two assists. He was drafted by the Rapids in 2015 and played in Colorado for four years, making 91 appearances for the club and scoring 24 goals.

Nashville is currently in second place in the MLS Eastern Conference with 26 points and a record of 6-8-1 in their second season. They head to Canada on Sunday, Aug. 1 to take Toronto FC.

Nashville SC has signed Liga MX forward Aké Loba from Monterrey FC for $6.8 million, according to MLS.com, making it the biggest singing in club history. The club also traded $230,000 in General Allocation Money with the Portland Timbers for an international roster spot.

Loba, an Ivory Coast native, joins the club for the 2021 season and will be on the team through the 2023 campaign with an option to be extended through 2024 as a Designated Player.

“Aké is an exciting attacking prospect that offers the qualities that our team looks for in a striker, he is a constant goal threat and has the ability to create and finish in a number of different ways,” says Nashville SC General Manager Mike Jacobs. “We are excited to be able to add him to this group, and about what he represents for our club.”

Loba made his professional debut in the Société Omnisports de l’Armée of his country’s First Division before joining Universidad San Martín de Porres. Following his Peruvian debut as a 19-year-old, Loba made 32 appearances across all competitions, scoring 18 goals and registering six assists in the 2018 season. After a very successful campaign, Loba was loaned to Querétaro FC of Liga MX where he made 41 appearances, 11 goals, and two assists before moving to Monterrey. At the Mexican club, he registered 795 minutes while scoring seven goals in all competitions.

Loba will make his Nashville SC debut in front of a home crowd at Nissan Stadium on Thursday, July 8 as the team takes on Atlanta United FC.

Nashville SC’s Walker Zimmerman (United States), Alistair Johnston (Canada), and Aníbal Godoy (Panama) have been called up for this month’s CONCACAF Gold Cup.

All three players will join their respective squads after Nashville SC hosts Philadelphia Union on Saturday (July 3). Zimmerman and the six-time Gold Cup Champions USMNT will compete in Group B along with Johnston and Canada in Kansas City on July 11. Canada and Martinique will face off in the first match of the day, and both the USMNT and Canada will remain in Kansas City for the Group Stage.

Zimmerman enters the tournament with 14 international caps for the United States after playing 45 minutes in an international friendly against Costa Rica on June 10. The 2020 Major League Soccer Defender of the Year has played the full 90 minutes in six of his last eight matches with the USMNT, posting six shutouts with three of them during the 2019 CONCACAF Gold Cup. Johnston has been a mainstay for the Canada Soccer’s Men’s National Team since bursting on the scene after a sensational MLS rookie campaign in 2020. The 22-year-old defender earned his first international call-up in January 2021 and has now accumulated five caps, all of them wins.

International veteran Godoy will lead Panama in Group D alongside Honduras, Grenada, and Qatar in Houston. Panama will take on Qatar on July 13 and then travel to Orlando, Fla. to face off against Grenada on July 20. Godoy earned his 105^th international cap last night (June 30) as Panama faced Mexico in an international friendly at Nashville’s Nissan Stadium. In his last six appearances with Panama, they have amassed a 4W-1L-1D record with their most recent win being against Curaçao as part of the 2022 FIFA World Cup Qualifier for CONCACAF.

Nashville Soccer Club has revealed new renderings and details for the construction of its new training facility at Century Farms in Antioch. The club currently plans to break ground in the third quarter of 2021 and expects to have construction completed in late 2022.

“This is another great step forward for Nashville Soccer Club, on the back of the incredible progress made in completing our Youth Academy and the ongoing work on our outstanding new stadium, this is to some degree the final piece in the club’s infrastructure jigsaw,” says Nashville SC CEO Ian Ayre. “This practice facility will become the day-to-day workplace for our players and staff and will provide first class facilities for them to prepare for games day in, day out. It’s also important to say that we continue to feel proud to invite minority and disadvantaged businesses to be part of our journey both on our stadium construction and on this project where Moody Nolan and Pinnacle construction will play a key role in delivering this complex in the Antioch area, which is a key community for us and for soccer.  This commitment comes from the top down with our ownership and our club being completely committed to embracing local, minority and disadvantaged businesses and communities in all areas.”

Century Farms is a 300+ acre, mixed-use, master-planned development of great local and regional impact, located along Interstate 24 in Southeast Davidson County. In addition to the training facility, the development will feature a wide variety of major retail, office, multifamily, and entertainment spaces that can be accessed by Hickory Hollow Parkway at the Exit 60 interchange with easy access to both sides of I-24.

“We’re proud to be able to show people our early vision for the training complex,” says Brian Tibbs, managing partner and director of Nashville Operations for Moody Nolan. “We will definitely share more details as they become available, but I expect fans in the Southeast community will be encouraged with what they see so far. We are ready to bring this vision to life.”

The training facility will add to the portfolio of state-of-the-art facilities that Nashville SC is building in Music City along with the new Nashville SC Stadium and the club’s Academy Facility at Currey Ingram Academy. The Boys in Gold will continue training at Currey Ingram Academy while the training complex is under construction.

“We’ve reached an important milestone in this process, and we should be thankful of the work it’s taken to get to this point,” says Michael Carter, managing partner for Pinnacle Construction. “Now, our team is ready to hit the ground running and we couldn’t be more excited to do so. It’s time to get to work.”