Andy Najar: Nashville's All-Star making triumphant MLS return | OneFootball

By Jon Arnold

AUSTIN, Texas – It looked to be over. Done. Roll the credits.

Andy Najar’s career started in 2010 with a Rookie of the Year season for D.C. United. He left MLS in 2024, having achieved plenty but never earning an All-Star nod or lifting MLS Cup.

But fans needed to stay in their seats. Najar had a post-credits scene planned and has made it worth watching, racking up 10 assists and adding a goal in 23 matches for red-hot Nashville SC. Now, at age 32, he’s enjoying his first All-Star experience, joining NSC teammates Hany Mukhtar and Sam Surridge on the roster that will face the LIGA MX All-Stars on Wednesday night.

Najar was aware that his move to his native Honduras was seen by many as the capper, so once Nashville offered him the opportunity, he wanted to show that he could still be among MLS’s best.

“I’ve had a long history with the league, and I’m now an experienced player who knows the league very well,” Najar told MLSsoccer.com after a training session this week. “I knew that to be able to be here at this game, at All-Star, I’d have to be able to stand out.”

Settling down in the Music City

He’s done just that, making the All-Star game for the first time in an MLS career that has spanned seven seasons with interruptions for Najar’s eight years in Anderlecht and last year’s move to Olimpia.

A key player in one of the most heavily supported – and critiqued – squads in the region, Najar helped the Tegucigalpa team to the 2024 Clausura title with a key late goal in a semifinal and clearly had more than enough left in the tank for an MLS return.

Najar’s family loves Nashville, and he and his teammates have found that B.J. Callaghan and his coaching staff care about the individual player as a person instead of just a cog in a footballing machine. That has him and the rest of the locker room dreaming big about what they might be able to achieve this year, with the good vibes currently flowing thanks to Nashville’s second-place slot in the Supporters’ Shield standings (14W-5L-5D; 47 points).

“The closeness they have with each one of the players to get the best out of each player influences things a lot,” Najar said. “I think it shows in every game that we’re trying to do things well.

“The team can do big things this year, and we hope the team keeps responding well for many years, but we have to enjoy the moment because it won’t always come together. We’ve got to take advantage of this and get a first title.”

Storied career

It would not only be a first MLS Cup for Najar and Nashville, but the first title for any pro team in the state of Tennessee, a motivating factor as the Boys in Gold continue to win over fans not only in the capital but throughout the region.

It would be another impressive line on a long resume Najar has put together during his 15 years as a professional. While many of those years were spent with Anderlecht, and the Olimpia move was a homecoming for the Honduras national team member, the winter return to the US also brought many comforting feelings.

“I’m very grateful for MLS. For me, being in MLS feels like I’m at home,” he said. “I was here for many years, and as a player it’s made me grow, as a person it’s helped me grow too.

“Today, to be able to represent the league in a very important game we have against the Mexican league is beautiful. I want to be able to enjoy it as much as possible, but also take the match seriously and keep working.”

In the thick of it

After soaking up the All-Star experience, the work will be about making sure Nashville remains in the top places in the Eastern Conference, even with Cincinnati still a point ahead, the Philadelphia Union level, and Columbus and Miami lurking.

Nashville heads to San Diego FC for a Friday tilt (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), when All-Star teammates like Hirving Lozano and Anders Dreyer will become rivals.

Whether it’s a second act, a third act, or something different, it’s clear from his 2025 season and the All-Star nod that Najar is still far from done adding to his long list of achievements.