Former Cincinnati, Miami & Seattle Right Back Added to RSL Roster in Mid-August;
Two-Time U.S. World Cup Defender Also Played in Europe w/ Tottenham, Sunderland, Newcastle, Galatasaray
HERRIMAN, Utah (Monday, November 3, 2025) – Real Salt Lake today announced that it has signed DF DeAndre Yedlin to a two-year contract extension, guaranteeing the former Cincinnati, Miami and Seattle right back a home on the Wasatch Front through the 2026 and 2027 Major League Soccer seasons, with a Club option for the 2028 campaign.
RSL will announce other 2025 season-ending roster decisions on Thursday, Nov. 6.
“We were thrilled to welcome DeAndre to our Club a few months ago, and we look forward to his presence in our locker room for the coming seasons,” said RSL Sporting Director Kurt Schmid, who recently completed his fifth overall season with the Utah side. “DeAndre remains a player of tremendous quality, whose experience at the highest levels of the game is invaluable to our team. Beyond his obvious skills on the field, his leadership and professionalism has stabilized and strengthened our group, helping set the tone for everything we want to achieve. We’ve seen DeAndre’s impact felt immediately over the final portion of this season, and we’re excited about the role he will play in driving our future success as we prepare for 2026 and beyond.”
Since arriving at RSL in mid-August, Yedlin appeared in eight games – all starts – while appearing for the full 90 minutes in all but one match, subbing out late in the 88th minutes of RSL’s 3-1 Wild Card loss at Portland on Oct. 22. Yedlin scored one goal in his abbreviated season with RSL, the eventual game-winner in a 3-1 home win over Austin FC on Sept. 27, just his fifth goal in 226 MLS all-time MLS contests.
“RSL is now home for the foreseeable future, and I’m excited to build upon my time here over the last few months,” said Yedlin, whose family has fully relocated to Utah. “While our season just ended more prematurely than anyone wanted, I’m looking forward to coming to work everyday with a great group of people, to continue building the culture here on and off the field, and to help RSL compete for trophies in the upcoming seasons.”
Said Yedlin upon his arrival at RSL in mid-August: “I’ve played with two of the Club’s iconic people, Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman, and I was coached by Jason Kreis in Miami. I’ve known Kurt Schmid since my Seattle days, and Pablo Mastroeni’s reputation is excellent with his track record of success on and off the pitch. The culture they’ve built there is outstanding.”
“As a visitor, I always hated to travel there – it’s a tough place to play, at altitude, against a high-energy team. You know you’re gonna get a tough game, against a team that plays good football and is fun to watch. RSL has always had what it takes to compete. It was exciting to hear of their interest in me becoming part of the setup at RSL, and something my family and I needed to explore.”
A veteran of 226 career MLS matches with Seattle (2013/14), Inter Miami (2022-24) and Cincinnati (2024/25) prior to his 2025 RSL arrival, Yedlin has scored five career goals in the North American top-flight from his right back position. The three-time MLS All-Star (2013, 2014, 2022) also served as club Captain for Inter Miami’s 2023 Leagues Cup championship team, ceding the honor to Lionel Messi upon his late-season arrival. As a second-year professional, Yedlin also raised the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup with Seattle in 2014.
Yedlin also scored four times while playing 187 games of European football from early 2015 to January 2022. Yedlin’s European totals include 151 games in England with Newcastle – whom he helped gain promotion in the 2016/17 campaign – as well as Sunderland and Tottenham, prior to a 36-game career with Turkish power Galatasaray in 2021/22.
“My family is excited for the move, looking forward to living in the mountains, which will be a whole different world with the nature there,” added Yedlin, a voracious reader off the field, also exploring his artistic side with clothing design and pursuing environmental endeavors through his recyclable/vegan Sokito brand football boots. “I’m excited to get back to the West, as I’ve always felt at home in the mountains, my grandfather and I used to go hiking a lot when I was a child. I find them very calming and relaxing. My wife is from The Bronx, and she cannot wait.”
Born on July 9, 1993 as DeAndre Roselle Yedlin in Seattle, Wash., becoming Seattle Sounders FC’s first-ever homegrown signing, returning to his hometown after attending the University of Akron for two seasons (2011/12). Yedlin is a two-time FIFA World Cup selection (2014 & 2022), boasting 81 caps with the U.S. Men’s National Team over a decade-long span from 2014 to 2023.
Yedlin, who wore jersey No. 2 for RSL this season, joins nine other RSL players to own FIFA World Cup appearances on their career resume, with Eddie Pope (2006), Robbie Findley (2010), Nick Rimando (2014) and Kyle Beckerman (2014) also representing the United States. Former RSL midfielder Andy Williams (Jamaica, 1998), Douglas Sequiera (Costa Rica, 2006), Alvaro Saborio (Costa Rica, 2010/14), Carlos Salcedo (Mexico, 2018) and Bryan Oviedo (Costa Rica, 2018, 2022) also competed for their home nations in the globe’s largest event. Pope, Findley, Rimando, Beckerman and Oviedo each participated in the quadrennial event while an active member of RSL.
Only eight players in Real Salt Lake history have played more games in Europe than Yedlin – Alfredo Ortuño (511), Nedum Onuoha (354), fellow 2025 addition Johnny Russell (334), Damir Kreilach (277), Giuseppe Rossi (268), Bobby Wood (230), new teammate Diogo Gonçalves (220) and Everton Luiz (204).
TRANSACTION: Real Salt Lake extends DF DeAndre Yedlin‘s contract through the 2026 and 2027 Major League Soccer seasons
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