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“A journey with both challenges and growth,� he wrote. “Unfortunately, I’ve spent a large part of the time sidelined due to injury, and I truly wish I could have been available more for the team and the fans. I loved every minute I was able to give everything for the club and I always wore the City Red with pride. However, being unable to contribute on the field has been tough, but has also made me appreciate the game even more.

“To the best fans in MLS: Thank you for all the love and support, both for me personally and for the team. Your passion means more than you know. Please keep supporting the team as you’re always doing. Also to my teammates, coaches, physios, and everyone working in and around the club — thank you for all the memories.

“Now, I’m looking forward to the next chapter, motivated and excited.

“Thank you for everything.�

Nilsson, 31, was one of the first signings by the team and with his experience in both the Germany Bundesliga and internationally with Sweden was expected to be a guiding force for a young team. But he played in only 33 MLS games out of 88 in his 2 1/2 seasons with the club and had played in only six games in 2025, though teammates still singled him out for his leadership and counsel. As the team signed other center backs because of the ongoing uncertainty about Nilsson’s availability, it became increasingly apparent that even if he was healthy to play again in 2025 — City SC has 10 games remaining — it would be tough to fit him into the lineup. Nilsson’s contract ran through the end of the 2026 season.

“He put everything into it,� said interim coach David Critchley, who never had a healthy Nilsson since taking over on May 27, “even though he had a difficult time with the injuries and what happened in his career, but he showed up every day and he was a professional and he tried to find ways to help these guys, even if he wasn’t involved. So we thank him first and foremost. These guys have been really supportive of him and had a little bit of sympathy with the situation as well. It’s always a tough one when you lose a player that’s so connected to the locker room. But unfortunately, that’s some of the brutalness of professional sports.�

Critchley said it was unlikely that Nilsson would have played again this season.

“It was a decision that I think that himself and the club made and for all parties,� Critchley said, “just for the health of him. I always think about it for these athletes as well, when they are going through so much pain as an injury, they need to be thinking about fatherhood and how they’re going to be in their 30s, 40s and 50s. So I think it was the right decision for both parties.�