How Nashville SC brought home the city’s first professional league trophy

Nashville SC won the 2026 Major League Soccer Supporters’ Shield — the annual award for the team with the best league record — on Saturday, Oct. 24 with its 2-0 win over CF Montréal.

This is Nashville SC’s first Supporters’ Shield, but it’s also the city of Nashville’s first league-based professional sports championship (and second trophy period after Nashville SC took home the U.S. Open Cup in 2025.) The city’s other two franchises, the NFL’s Tennessee Titans and the NHL’s Nashville Predators, have yet to win a championship in their respective leagues.

The Supporters’ Shield is one of MLS’ marquee trophies. It carries the same weight as the MLS Cup — the trophy given to the team that wins the postseason playoff tournament — and winning it speaks volumes about a team’s consistency, talent and grit.

Winning the Supporters’ Shield puts Nashville in the driving seat for the MLS postseason. Here, told through key results throughout the season, is the story of how Nashville pulled it off:

March 21: Nashville 5-0 Orlando City

Nashville started the 2026 MLS season in style: It pulled three wins and one draw from its opening four league games. But it was this bravura performance on Matchday 5 that made the rest of the league sit up and take notice: a cool, collected hammering of its Eastern Conference rival Orlando City.

English striker Sam Surridge got a hat trick in this match, and his importance to this 2026 Nashville team cannot be overstated. His combination play with former MLS MVP Hany Mukhtar and new arrival Cristian Espinoza is what lifted Nashville’s attack above its peer group in the Eastern Conference. Surridge is a truly intelligent goalscorer — selfless as a baseline but selfish when it counts — and this game was where he truly broke through.