Orlando City SC (2010–2014)
Former American USL Pro soccer team / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Orlando City Soccer Club was an American professional soccer team based in Orlando, Florida, United States, that was the precursor to Orlando City SC. The team played in USL Pro, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid from 2010 to 2014, until discontinuing in favor of Orlando's entry to Major League Soccer (MLS), as an expansion franchise in 2015, by the same ownership group.
Full name | Orlando City Soccer Club | |||
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Nickname(s) | The Lions | |||
Founded | 2010 | |||
Dissolved | 2014; 10 years ago (2014) (MLS 2015) | |||
Stadium | Camping World Stadium Orlando, Florida | |||
Capacity | 19,500[1] | |||
Owners | Flavio Augusto da Silva, Phil Rawlins, John Bonner, & Brendan Flood | |||
Head Coach | Adrian Heath | |||
League | USL Pro | |||
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The team was founded in 2008 as the Austin Aztex FC before relocating to Orlando, Florida. It was one of the more successful lower-division teams in the United States in its stint in the USL.[2] The team played its home games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex for the 2014 season, after playing at Florida Citrus Bowl Stadium for three years.[3] The team's colors were red, purple, gold and white. Its head coach was Adrian Heath.
In 2013, the team's ownership announced that their MLS expansion bid had been accepted, and that the team would join MLS in 2015 as the league's 21st franchise.[2][4][5][6][7] The subsequent folding of Chivas USA resulted in Orlando City becoming the league's 20th franchise. At that time, the USL Pro franchise rights were transferred to Louisville City FC.[8]