CHARLOTTE, N.C. – The Charlotte Independence announced Tuesday the return of defenders Bilal Duckett and Henry Kalungi, along with midfielder Yann Ekra to the 2017 roster. All three players will remain with the Independence having previously signed multi-year contracts.

Duckett returns for his third season with the club after leading the team in minutes played in 2016. The club captain ranked ninth in outfield players in the USL with 2,577 minutes of action this past season as Duckett appeared in 29 of the side’s 30 regular-season contests.

“Anytime that you go through an offseason period, the more people you can bring back, the better,” Duckett said. “Especially coming off as strong of a season as we did, we felt like we laid a good foundation for the team moving forward.”

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Kalungi’s first full season with the Independence, after making 14 appearances as a mid-season addition in 2015, saw the veteran also perform strongly as Charlotte conceded only 29 goals in 30 regular season contests. Kalungi finished fourth on the side with 2,279 minutes of action, while earning only three yellow cards.

Ekra joined the Independence from the Harrisburg City Islanders last offseason, and made 20 appearances in a season that was slightly undermined by injury. The central midfielder has made 116 regular-season appearances in his USL career, and helped the City Islanders reach the 2014 USL Cup Final.