The Chattanooga Football Club’s roster for its first season as a professional team continues to take shape ahead of next month’s National Independent Soccer Association debut, with the club announcing two more additions Wednesday, both of them names familiar to CFC fans.
Speedy striker Joao Costa from Brazil returns for a third season after starting 19 of 25 games he played last year, when he scored 11 goals and had three assists. Now seventh on the all-time goals list for CFC, which debuted in 2009, he won the “golden boot” as the overall leading scorer during the National Premier Soccer League Members Cup last fall.
“I am very grateful to be part of this historic moment that CFC is going through,” Costa said in a release announcing his signing. “I am very happy with my first professional contract and even happier for being with CFC, a team for which I have a lot of affection and respect.”
First-year CFC head coach Peter Fuller said the team is “pleased and fortunate to have Joao returning to us” for the transition to pro competition.
Also coming back is defender Jordan Dunstan from Canada, who first played for CFC in 2014. In addition to his contributions on the back line, Dunstan had two goals and two assists last season.