When Hannes Wolf bagged a brace in New York City FC’s thrilling 3-2 comeback win over the Columbus Crew on Wednesday night, he cemented himself as just the 10th player in club history to reach 10 goals in a single league campaign.
The Austrian now has 16 goals and assists in Major League Soccer in 2025, the highest league tally of his career. He’s even level with his Costa Rican partner in attack, Alonso Martínez. Yet, while Martínez receives most of the plaudits from pundits and attention from defenders, Wolf is often left out of the spotlight.
New York City FC | Goals by Season
| Player | Year | Goals | Mins | G/90 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | David Villa | 2016 | 23 | 2869 | 0.72 |
| 2 | David Villa | 2017 | 22 | 2556 | 0.77 |
| 3 | Taty Castellanos | 2021 | 19 | 2760 | 0.62 |
| 4 | David Villa | 2015 | 18 | 2514 | 0.64 |
| 5 | Alonso Martínez | 2024 | 16 | 1498 | 0.96 |
| 6 | Héber | 2019 | 15 | 1575 | 0.86 |
| Alonso Martínez | 2025 | 15 | 2245 | 0.60 | |
| 7 | David Villa | 2018 | 14 | 1754 | 0.72 |
| 9 | Taty Castellanos | 2022 | 13 | 1436 | 0.81 |
| 10 | Frank Lampard | 2016 | 12 | 1280 | 0.84 |
| Alexandru Mitriță | 2019 | 12 | 2172 | 0.50 | |
| Santiago Rodríguez | 2024 | 12 | 2799 | 0.39 | |
| 13 | Ismael Tajouri-Shradi | 2018 | 11 | 1547 | 0.64 |
| Taty Castellanos | 2019 | 11 | 2052 | 0.48 | |
| Hannes Wolf | 2025 | 11 | 2264 | 0.44 | |
| 16 | Jack Harrison | 2017 | 10 | 2757 | 0.33 |
But there’s a simple reason for this — he’s not a flashy player.
Yes, the Austrian has a flair for the dramatic, with late goals and impressive finishes, but he’s also a forward who often spends much of a game doing the dirty work that helps get his side over the line. He’s more than just a solid finisher inside the box; he’s an attacker who has logged more defensive contributions than nearly every other winger in the league.
Hudson River Blue Staff
Doing the dirty work
When clubs prepare to face New York City, it’s fair to say that the defensive preparations usually revolve around trying to find a way to limit Martínez’s impact on the match. And this is for good reason — the striker is lightning-quick and can dart into open channels of space in the blink of an eye. He’s a pest, often requiring multiple defenders to track his movement.
The same cannot be said for Wolf.
The Austrian is not a strong dribbler: His 35.4% completion rate ranks in just the 22nd percentile for successful dribbles among forwards in the league. And when he does attempt to drive towards his man, he’s dispossessed more often than not, ranking in the 8th percentile in the league, having been dispossessed 36 times this season.
That raises the question: What is Wolf’s impact on the game if he’s not getting past his man?
One answer: His defensive contributions.
The Austrian ranks as one of the best defenders of all forwards in the MLS. His 33 tackles are the tops in the league. Wolf has a whopping 121 ball recoveries and 19 interceptions in 2025, providing NYC with an additional edge when they lose possession, and putting him in the 98th and 97th percentile of all forwards, respectively.
Following his brace vs Columbus, Wolf explained that his defensive attributes are a natural part of his game. “I’ve always played for teams that run around a lot, it’s just the way I play,” he told Hudson River Blue.
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Hannes Wolf speaking on how defense is a natural part of his game | ©Mark Radigan and Hudson River Blue
It’s clear that this versatility and willingness to do whatever it takes to help the Pigeons get over the line is a massive boost to the squad, just ask Pascal Jansen.
The NYC head coach labeled Wolf as “an ultimate team player” after the Austrian’s brace vs the Crew, citing the different role he gave Wolf as a make-shift wingback out of possession, and how disciplined he was in defense while still managing to get on the score sheet.
Hudson River Blue Staff
More than a poacher
To return to the question above, “What is Wolf’s impact on the game?” Another answer is positioning. When Wolf isn’t tracking back and helping recover the ball for NYC, the Austrian puts himself in goal-scoring positions game after game.
Opposing defenders may not fear Wolf on the dribble, but he’s become a much more threatening figure in the box as the season progresses, with all 11 of his MLS goals in 2025 coming from inside the 18.
Shimmying past defenders and bending shots inside the post, fashioning volleys on the turn, or simply taking strikes on first time from close range, Wolf has shown the ability to find the net in more ways than one. It’s just the consistency of his strikes that makes this season seem less than groundbreaking.
Wolf has four braces in the MLS this season, the most in the squad. It’s an obviously strong stat that shows his ability to change games on his own, but the droughts between these periods of brilliance almost make it seem that he should have closer to 20 goals on the season than just eclipsing 10.
Hannes Wolf | Goals + Assists at New York City FC
Despite some inconsistencies, 2025 has been the best league campaign of Wolf’s career. With five games left in the regular season, Wolf already has more league goal contributions than any single season he played in Austria, Germany, or England.
His ability to find the back of the net has lifted the goalscoring burden off the shoulders of Martínez and given New York City a multi-dimensional attack, one that’s been instrumental in the club’s recent surge up the Eastern Conference standings.
Hannes Wolf | Goals + Assists by Season
A complete player on both sides of the ball
The Austrian isn’t dazzling fans with scintillating runs and intricate footwork, nor is he rifling the ball into the top corner from long range game-in and game-out.
That’s because he doesn’t have to.
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Hannes Wolf on his role within the New York City FC squad | ©Mark Radigan and Hudson River Blue
Wolf said as much following his brace vs Columbus on Wednesday night, saying, “all I want is just to help my team. Always. Some games I score, and some games [like tonight], I defended a lot. Whatever the team needs.”
New York City has scored 44 goals in the league this season, while conceding 35 on the other end. Wolf has been instrumental in both of those metrics. His 16 goal involvements gives him a direct role in 36.4% of the team’s goals. At the same time, he has the most tackles (1.9) and interceptions (0.8) per 90 of all NYC forwards.
These stats are a testament to the strong work rate and versatility that define Wolf’s impact as a player. With a salary floating around $1.5 million annually, the second-highest on the squad when the team payroll was disclosed in June (that likely is no longer be the case now that the club signed Nico Fernández to a Designated Player contract in July), the Austrian offers Pascal Jansen the ability to utilize a premium asset in a variety of different roles, allowing for much more tactical fluidity — a useful advantage in a league as tight as the MLS.
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Hannes Wolf’s thoughts following his brace vs Columbus | ©Mark Radigan and Hudson River Blue
Wolf credited insights into his attacking positioning from the coaching staff, prompting him to alter his game slightly, for his two-goal performance vs the Crew. This is indicative of his time in New York as a whole.
The Austrian has evolved immensely in the time since he arrived from Borussia Mönchengladbach in early 2024. The young, injury-prone winger who was looking to revitalize his once-promising career is blossoming into a nifty two-way player, whose drive to do whatever it takes to win on the pitch embodies that of the ambitions set out by the club.
Wolf is the epitome of a modern forward, a hard-working attacker who is nevertheless willing to sacrifice making a headline or highlight reel in order to get results on the pitch. To succeed in a league as competitive and tightly contested as the MLS, you need ultra-professional players like Wolf who are willing to do the hard work, and who put the team before themselves.
