CJ Olney wins USL Championship fans’ choice young player award

CJ Olney Jr. added another line to a fast-rising first half on June 30, when he was voted the 2026 USL Championship Fans’ Choice Mid-Season Young Player of the Year after edging a four-player shortlist. The Brooklyn FC midfielder’s award capped a stretch that already included a Team of the Week bench selection on June 16, built on his performance against Louisville City FC.

The numbers behind the vote are as strong as the fan response. Olney finished the midseason point with one goal and four assists in 13 league appearances, 12 of them starts, across 1,062 minutes. His four assists were tied for third in the USL Championship at the midpoint, a sharp return for a 19-year-old in his first season in Brooklyn and his first extended run in a new league environment.

That is the part of the story Brooklyn FC will like most. Olney arrived on loan from the Philadelphia Union and has quickly become one of the club’s most dependable midfield creators in its inaugural USL Championship campaign. Brooklyn’s roster bio lists him as a native of Chicago and a YSC Academy graduate, while Philadelphia said he signed as a Homegrown on Aug. 6, 2024, after previously appearing in MLS NEXT Pro with Union II and making his first-team debut on June 22, 2024, against Charlotte FC.

He was already a proven producer before he reached Brooklyn. Philadelphia said Olney logged 61 appearances, 57 starts, 12 goals and 23 assists for Union II over three seasons, a résumé that helped explain why Brooklyn’s front office and coaching staff were willing to hand him meaningful responsibility so quickly. Marlon LeBlanc, who coached Olney at Union II, has seen the same traits translate in Brooklyn, where the midfielder has been able to affect games in the final third and handle the demands of a full professional schedule.

The fan vote matters for more than the trophy itself. USL Championship opened voting on June 25, with polls closing Monday at noon Eastern, and Olney’s selection shows that his work has resonated beyond Brooklyn’s support base. He has also represented the United States at the U-17 and U-19 youth national team levels, another marker of a player whose ceiling has long been visible.

Brooklyn now carries that recognition into its next match, a July 4 visit to Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC at 7 p.m. Eastern at Maimonides Park, streaming on ESPN+. The Riverhounds are listed as the defending USL champion, and Olney’s midseason award ensures he goes into that test with a bigger spotlight and a larger role in Brooklyn’s playoff push.