The most exciting teenager in American soccer is heading to the All-Star Game. Red Bull New York forward Julian Hall was named to the 2026 MLS All-Star roster, a commissioner’s pick that caps a debut season already stuffed with league records.
Hall and the MLS All-Stars face the LIGA MX All-Stars at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte on Wednesday, July 29, at 8 p.m. ET, with coverage on Apple TV. At 18 years and 106 days old, the Manhattan native is the youngest player named to an MLS All-Star roster since Cade Cowell in 2021. He’s also just the third New York native to make an All-Star Game in club history, joining Mike Petke and Tyler Adams.
A Season of Firsts
The selection isn’t a courtesy. Hall has been one of the stories of the MLS season, piling up nine goals and four assists across 15 appearances.
He started fast, scoring his first career MLS brace in a 2-1 win over Orlando City SC on February 21 — becoming the eighth player aged 17 or younger to bag a brace in an MLS match and earning Player of Matchday 1. From there he kept rewriting the record book. Five goals in his first six matches made him the youngest player in MLS history to hit that mark, at 18 years and 11 days old.
The signature moment came on Matchday 13. Hall became the youngest player in league history to score a hat trick, at 18 years and 50 days, in a 3-2 win over the Columbus Crew on May 13. That earned him Player of Matchweek honors — his second of the season, a distinction he shares this year with only Lionel Messi.
Built in the Academy
Hall is homegrown in the truest sense. Before breaking through with the first team, he tore through the Red Bulls Academy, scoring 28 goals in 39 matches. He led the U-15 side to the club’s first-ever U-15 MLS NEXT Cup in 2023, scoring five goals in the tournament and taking MVP honors. That same year he won the Golden Boot at the Generation adidas Cup, netting five goals that included a brace against Chelsea’s U-15s.
The All-Stars, coached by Charlotte FC’s Dean Smith, come in having won three of the last four editions against LIGA MX. For a Red Bulls side that has watched Hall grow up in its system, seeing him on that stage at 18 is the payoff — and likely just the beginning.
