The Black-and-Red Signs Baribo to a five-year Designated Player contract until 2029-2030\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 17, 2025) – D.C. United acquires dynamic Israeli International forward and MLS All-Star Tai Baribo in a cash-for-player trade from the Philadelphia Union in exchange for $4 million. \u00a0The Black-and-Red could send up to an additional $600,000 to Philadelphia if Baribo meets certain performance incentives. The club has signed Baribo to a multi-year Designated Player contract that will keep him with the Black-and-Red through the 2029-30 MLS season.\u00a0<\/p>\n
As the top scorer for last season\u2019s Supporters\u2019 Shield winners with an impressive 19 goals\u00a0across all competitions,\u00a0Baribo\u00a0brings proven\u00a0goal scoring ability\u00a0to D.C. United\u2019s lineup. The total transaction value of the trade, including player compensation, exceeds $15 million for D.C. United,\u00a0a clear investment in the club\u2019s future success.\u00a0\u00a0This\u00a0acquisition\u00a0reflects the\u00a0organization\u2019s\u00a0clear ambition\u00a0to\u00a0add a proven finisher\u00a0who\u00a0can\u00a0immediately\u00a0elevate\u00a0its\u00a0attacking threat.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“We\u00a0are very pleased\u00a0to bring in\u00a0a top player like\u00a0Tai\u00a0to bolster our\u00a0roster\u00a0heading into the 2026 MLS season,\u201d said\u00a0Dr.\u00a0Erkut\u00a0Sogut, D.C. United Managing Director of Soccer Operations. \u201cTai\u00a0is a clinical finisher\u00a0and\u00a0a proven goal scorer in the league, who\u00a0will\u00a0give us an edge in the final third. \u00a0Beyond goals, he understands how to create space\u00a0and is deadly in the air, making him a perfect fit for the identity we are building at the club. \u00a0We are thrilled to welcome him to the\u00a0nation’s\u00a0capital.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Baribo\u00a0joins D.C. United after\u00a0a stellar\u00a0three-season stint with\u00a0the Philadelphia Union,\u00a0where he\u00a0featured in\u00a067\u00a0matches,\u00a0netting\u00a035\u00a0goals and\u00a0adding\u00a0six\u00a0assists\u00a0across all competitions. \u00a0In his breakout 2025 campaign,\u00a0he propelled the Union to 66 points and an Eastern Conference Semifinal berth, contributing two goals and an assist in their playoff push.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Prior to coming to MLS, the forward\u00a0honed his skills at\u00a0Wolfsberger AC\u00a0in\u00a0Austria\u2019s\u00a0top flight\u00a0from 2021\u00a0to 2023.\u00a0\u00a0Joining on July 9, 2021, he made an immediate impact, appearing in 32 matches with 13 goals and two assists in his debut season. He powered the team to the 2021 Austrian Cup semifinals, scoring twice in three outings. In 2022-23,\u00a0Baribo\u00a0ranked third in the league with 16 goals and fourth in shots on target (35), while adding two goals and an assist in four UEFA Europa Conference League qualifiers. Overall, he tallied 37 goals and seven assists in 73 appearances for Wolfsberger\u00a0AC.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Israeli international started his career with Maccabi Petah Tikva youth academy in Israel before being promoted to the first team in 2018. \u00a0Baribo would make his professional debut on March 1, 2017 at just 19-years old.\u00a0\u00a0He would score his first professional goal the following season on May 6, 2018, in a 2-1 league playoff round win against FC Ashdod. \u00a0The forward would go on to spend five seasons with Maccabi Petah Tikva, appearing in 105 matches and scoring 23 goals with three assists.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Internationally,\u00a0Baribo\u00a0has represented\u00a0the Israeli National team\u00a0at the U-19 and U-21 level before making his senior national team debut on\u00a0March 25,\u00a02022,\u00a0in an international friendly against Germany. \u00a0His first goal for\u00a0Israel came in a 2-1 win over Albania on Sept. 24, 2022, in the UEFA Nations League\u00a0B. \u00a0The forward has four goals in 23 caps for Israel, featuring in UEFA European qualifiers,\u00a0World Cup\u00a0qualifiers,\u00a0UEFA Nations League, and\u00a0various\u00a0international friendlies.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Birthplace: Eilat, Israel\u00a0<\/p>\n
Birthdate: January 15, 1998\u00a0<\/p>\n
Status: Designated Player\u00a0<\/p>\n
Transaction:\u00a0D.C. United\u00a0acquires\u00a0dynamic Israeli International forward and MLS All-Star Tai\u00a0Baribo\u00a0in a cash-for-player trade from the Philadelphia Union in exchange for $4 million.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Black-and-Red Signs Baribo to a five-year Designated Player contract until 2029-2030\u00a0\u00a0 WASHINGTON, D.C. (Dec. 17, 2025) –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[564,139,69,71,70,5774,33935],"class_list":["post-63410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-featured","tag-news","tag-philadelphia","tag-philadelphia-headlines","tag-philadelphia-news","tag-press-releases","tag-roster-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}