Kellyn it in Poland - Acosta w Polsce na Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna

Oh that's like the ideal mid-season situation... he's got just over 2 weeks to get moved/settled and begin gelling with the team

 

A few of the stat sites also say they have a trio of friendlies coming up. Probably too soon to play in the two this weekend, but they're scheduled to play a Serbian club on January 23rd.

 

"From Plano to Poland: Kellyn Acosta at Pogon Szczecin"

i also submit "Szczecin style kick: Kellyn Acosta at Pogon Szczecin" although i dont know if Szczecin is pronounced even close to 'Szechuan'

edit: "Plano to Pogon" is tempting, but "Pogon" isn't a place... I think it's close to the word "racing" in "racing de Santander" since google translate says that "poscig" is "chase" or "pursuit"? Wikipedia says that the club's full name is Pogoń Szczecin Spółka Akcyjna which translates to "Pogoń Szczecin Joint Stock Company" lol

 

It’s kind of like shtetch-een.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Pl-Szczecin-2.ogg

 

so "Getting Szczecin" (stuck in) is on the menu then...

 

As predicted, Kellyn didn't immediately suit up to play in a friendly the day after he signed (it ended 0:0). Unfortunately, their last round of friendlies got canceled due to bad weather, so we'll have to wait until league play resumes this weekend to see him in action.

BUT, if you've ever wondered what Kellyn Acosta would sing at karaoke, it's "I Wanna Dance With Somebody" by Whitney Houston (his bit starts ~2:00):

Allez lez blues, allez!  😎

Tradycyjne karaoke na zakończenie obozu. Zobaczcie i posłuchajcie jak wyglądał nasz ostatni wieczór w #BELEK2026 🎤 pic.twitter.com/PliXCSWAHD

— Pogoń Szczecin (@PogonSzczecin) January 25, 2026

 

Pogon were back in action this weekend, but lost 2-1.

Acosta did not dress. I'm guessing he's still getting back to match fitness after an off-season, as he appears to be training with the team:

Siema, panowie! 👋 pic.twitter.com/jh72zpOoE2

— Pogoń Szczecin (@PogonSzczecin) January 30, 2026

 

getting closer to a debut... played in a friendly yesterday:

Kellyn Acosta zalicza dziś nieoficjalny debiut w barwach Pogoni Szczecin w sparingu z Chojniczanką.@PogonSportNet pic.twitter.com/AyX1QdjntH

— Dominik Markiewicz (@Markiewicz__Dom) February 9, 2026

 

Debuted on Sunday - started, played 76 minutes, and picked up a yellow in a 1-0 win.

Promotion time!

Kellyn Acosta at Pogoń Szczecin

@TheFalseNine
@bungadiri
@dark knight

 

I mean I'm a sucker for Polish ladies as well but I don't know if I'd wanna play in the league long-term. Is the club making him the face of the team or something?

 

Birthplace of Catherine the Great, too.

 

I think its more that Kellyn has often expressed a desire to play in Europe, but is now at the end of his career (30), and this is probably the best offer (meaning reasonable playtime AND a reasonable salary) he could get. Plus, as ArsenalMetro pointed out earlier in the thread, the Ekstraklasa is a league on the rise, and Szczecin is a team on the rise, which could lead to UEFA competitions.

My only evidence for this is that he left Chicago by mutual agreement, not sale or contract expiry.

 

Various members of the media were quite happy with Kellyn's debut

 

Better late than never

 

30 is plenty young! He’s still got a good 4 years in him.

 

The Polish league has instituted a new MLS quota.

 

If Kellyn actually played for Chicago last year, he probably would have stayed. But he only made 6 starts and 14 sub appearances for 651 minutes. His last start came in June.

Obviously, Berhalter rated Acosta in his prime and even brought him to the World Cup. Acosta was arguably the best player at the 2021 Gold Cup. But when even Berhalter can't find use for Acosta anymore at the club level, Acosta needed to go elsewhere else to get minutes.

If he continued another year at Chicago not playing, he likely wouldn't even have Ekstraklassa opportunities. He would probably have to then go to Sweden or Norway for his best chance at non-second-tier minutes.

It's pretty simple. His options within MLS were drying up quickly and the Ekstraklassa offered him the next best chance to continue to play first-team minutes in a top-tier somewhere.

Everyone talks about younger players getting sold abroad - and that will still be the main pathway abroad. But there are going to be older American players moving abroad because MLS minutes are drying up and lower levels in Europe are more enticing than USL (especially if players still don't have families).

We saw it when Christian Ramirez moved to Scotland for a few seasons (and did well initially) or when Joe Gyau & Joe Corona moved to Sweden. It is going to happen more regularly.

 

W takim składzie rozpoczniemy walkę o trzy punkty w Zabrzu! ⚓#GÓRPOG pic.twitter.com/ZMQLn8U9hu

— Pogoń Szczecin (@PogonSzczecin) February 21, 2026

Started and went 90' in a big 0-1 away win against Górnik Zabrze, who started the weekend in 2nd place.