Louisville City FC

Louisville City FC
Full name Louisville City Football Club
Nickname(s) Lou City , The Purples
Founded 2014 (2014)
Stadium Louisville Slugger Field
Louisville, Kentucky[1]
Stadium
capacity		 Soccer: 8,000 / 13,131 (maximum)
Head Coach James O'Connor
League USL
2016 2nd, Eastern Conference
Playoffs: Conference Finals
Website Club website

Louisville City FC is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The team plays in the United Soccer League, which is currently the second tier of the American soccer pyramid.

Louisville City FC principal owner Wayne Estopinal acquired the USL license previously held by Orlando City when the latter began play in Major League Soccer (MLS) as an expansion side in 2014.[2] Orlando City SC holds a minority ownership stake in Louisville City FC.

The team maintained the colors of the Orlando City franchise, and installed former Orlando City player-coach James O'Connor as its first manager.[3]

Home games are played at Louisville Slugger Field, a multi-use facility that serves as the primary home of the Louisville Bats, Triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds. Though Slugger Field officially seats 13,131 for baseball games, an attendance of 8,000 is considered a soccer sellout due to limited viewing in the stadium's current baseball diamond configuration.[4]

The pitcher's mound at Slugger Field was retrofitted with a retractable jack to allow a level playing surface for soccer games prior to the start of the inaugural season.[5]

History

In 2013, a group of soccer fans in Louisville formed a supporters group, The Coopers, to build support for professional soccer in Louisville.[6] The Coopers take their name from Louisville's bourbon distilling tradition, where coopers make barrels that are used to age bourbon and give it a distinct flavor.[7]

In January 2014, a potential local ownership group invited the owners of Orlando City Soccer Club to Louisville to meet with The Coopers. After the meeting, Orlando City owner Phil Rawlins noted that The Coopers were already a "great supporters group" and predicted that a professional team would be successful in Louisville.[8]

The Coopers occupy a supporter zone in sections 121-123 of Slugger Field behind the Preston Street goal.[9]

Beginning with the 2016 season, Orlando City SC ended its affiliation with LCFC and began operating the Orlando City B USL team. LCFC announced that while it has no immediate plans to seek an affiliation, it most likely will partner with an international franchise over an MLS one. Despite this move, Orlando City SC plans to maintain ties with Louisville.[10]

In April 2017, the ownership group announced that it had an option to purchase five adjacent parcels of land, totaling 40 acres (16 ha), in the Butchertown neighborhood just to the east of Slugger Field for a mixed-use project that would include a 10,000-seat soccer stadium. The plan calls for the stadium to be expandable to 20,000 seats, and the overall complex would also include offices, retail space, and a hotel. The stadium is currently projected to open in 2020, satisfying a USL mandate that all franchises play in soccer-specific stadiums by that time.[11]

Colors and badge

The team maintained the original colors of the Orlando City franchise; purple, gold and white. The first proposed team crest featured a golden Fleur-de-lis atop of a purple bourbon barrel. However, due to fan outcry this design was abandoned and a design contest was held to select a new crest.[12] The winning design consists of a purple Fleur-de-lis recessed into a golden bourbon barrel at the bottom with a partial skyline of the City of Louisville at the top. [13] The partial skyline includes Preston Pointe, Aegon Center, PNC Tower, and the Humana Building.

Sponsorship

Seasons Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor
2015–2016 Adidas Humana
2017–present General Electric

Players

Current roster

As of February 15, 2017[14]

No. Position Player Nation
1 Goalkeeper Ranjitsingh, GregGreg Ranjitsingh  Trinidad and Tobago
4 Defender Totsch, SeanSean Totsch  United States
6 Defender Morad, TarekTarek Morad  United States
7 Midfielder Kaye, Mark-AnthonyMark-Anthony Kaye  Canada
8 Midfielder Abend, GuyGuy Abend  Israel
9 Forward Lancaster, CameronCameron Lancaster  England
10 Forward Ownby, BrianBrian Ownby  United States
11 Midfielder McCabe, NiallNiall McCabe  Ireland
12 Forward Spencer, LukeLuke Spencer  United States
13 Goalkeeper Bledsoe, MicahMicah Bledsoe  United States
14 Forward Ilic, IlijaIlija Ilic  Serbia
15 Defender Reynolds, SeanSean Reynolds  United States
18 Defender Craig, PacoPaco Craig  England
19 Midfielder Jimenez, OscarOscar Jimenez  United States
22 Forward Davis IV, GeorgeGeorge Davis IV  United States
23 Midfielder Ballard, RichardRichard Ballard  United States
24 Midfielder Smith, KyleKyle Smith  United States
28 Goalkeeper Dobrowolski, TimTim Dobrowolski  United States
36 Midfielder DelPiccolo, PaoloPaolo DelPiccolo  United States
80 Midfielder Williams, DevonDevon Williams  Jamaica

Staff

Coaching staff

Daniel Byrd and James O'Connor at an away game in 2017

Team records

All information in this section as of October 19, 2016

Year-by-year

Season United Soccer League Play-offs US Open Cup Top Scorer
P W L D GF GA Pts Pos Player Goals
2015 28 14 8 6 55 34 48 2nd, Eastern Conference Conference Finals 4R United States Matthew Fondy 22 (USL Record)
2016 30 17 4 9 52 27 60 2nd, Eastern Conference Conference Finals 3R United States Chandler Hoffman 14

Head coaches

All Time Louisville City FC Coaching Statistics^
Coach Nationality Start End Games Win Loss Draw Winning %
James O'Connor  Ireland 2014 Present 68 37 16 15 54.4%

^ Includes USL regular season, USL Playoffs, U.S. Open Cup. Excludes friendlies.

Attendance average

Season Regular Season Playoffs Total Average
2015 6,765 8,517 6,882
2016 7,218 6,024 7,078

U.S. Open Cup

On May 13, 2015, Louisville City FC competed in the second round of the 102nd Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, versus Lansing United, a member of the fourth tier NPSL. Lou City beat Lansing United 1-0 on an own goal.[16] On May 27, 2015, Louisville City defeated Indy Eleven of the second-tier NASL 2-0 in added time to advance to the fourth round, where they would lose 1-0 AET to MLS side Chicago Fire, its first ever match against an MLS side.[17]

Honors

League honors

See also

References

  1. ↑ Leonard, Connie (June 3, 2014). "Scheduling problems fixed for pro soccer at Slugger Field". WorldNow and WAVE TV. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  2. ↑ Lintner, Jonathan (June 3, 2014). "Louisville pro soccer club to be unveiled Wednesday". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved June 3, 2014.
  3. ↑ http://www.orlandosentinel.com/sports/soccer/blog/os-orlando-city-usl-franchise-transfer-louisville-20140603,0,476606.post
  4. ↑ Lintner, Jonathan (March 27, 2015). "Supporters ready for first Louisville City game". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved August 20, 2015.
  5. ↑ Lintner, Jonathan (February 26, 2015). "Retractable mound saves Louisville City FC". The Courier-Journal. Retrieved June 11, 2015.
  6. ↑ Main, Dalton (January 8, 2014). "Louisville could soon host pro soccer team". Louisville, KY: WDRB. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  7. ↑ "About The Coopers". Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  8. ↑ Main, Dalton (January 14, 2014). "Louisville soccer fans rally around possible pro team". Louisville, KY: WDRB. Retrieved February 15, 2015.
  9. ↑ "Louisville City FC - Season Tickets". Louisville City Football Club. Retrieved February 13, 2015.
  10. ↑ Tenorio, Paul (June 30, 2015). "Orlando City to own, operate USL franchise in 2016". Orlando Sentinel.
  11. ↑ Green, Marcus (April 11, 2017). "Louisville City FC seeks to build new stadium in Butchertown". Louisville, KY: WDRB. Retrieved April 17, 2017.
  12. ↑ Vit, Armin (June 24, 2014). "A Sinking Barrel". UnderConsideration. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  13. ↑ Lintner, Jonathan (June 22, 2014). "Louisville City FC unveils 'abstract' new logo". Louisville, KY: Courier-Journal. Retrieved July 9, 2017.
  14. ↑ "Roster Louisville City Football Club". Louisville City Football Club. Retrieved January 11, 2017.
  15. 1 2 "Byrd & Sutu join coaching staff". Louisville City FC. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  16. ↑ "Louisville City FC vs. Lansing United - 2015 U.S. Open Cup - Second Round". www.ussoccer.com. Retrieved 2015-05-21.
  17. ↑ "USL Squads Dominate U.S. Open Cup Third Round as Dream Runs End for Nearly All Amateur Clubs". U.S. Soccer. May 28, 2015. Retrieved 2015-06-11.
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