The 2016 Orlando City SC season was the club's sixth season of existence in Orlando, and second season in
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
, the top-flight league in the
United States soccer league system
The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...
.
Background
On July 15, 2015, Orlando City opened an additional 4,000 seats for sale to potential season ticket holders, bringing the total available season tickets to 18,000. The extra allotment sold out on August 18, 2015. Season tickets are again sold out for the 2016 season.
On October 15, 2015, Orlando City announced that they would field an owned-and-operated team in the
United Soccer League
United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...
,
Orlando City B
Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at Osce ...
. The team began play in the
2016 season at
Eastern Florida State College
Eastern Florida State College, formerly Brevard Community College, is a public college in Brevard County, Florida. It is a member of the Florida College System and has campuses in Cocoa, Melbourne, Palm Bay, and Titusville, as well as a Virt ...
's
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
campus.
On January 13, 2016, Orlando City announced that they would play the entire 2016 season at
Camping World Stadium
Camping World Stadium is a stadium in Orlando, Florida, located in the West Lakes neighborhood of Downtown Orlando, west of new sports and entertainment facilities including the Amway Center, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, a ...
. They had hoped to move into
Orlando City Stadium
Exploria Stadium is a soccer-specific stadium in downtown Orlando, Florida. The stadium is located along West Church Street in the Parramore neighborhood west of Downtown Orlando. It is the home of Orlando City SC, which entered Major League So ...
in September but construction delays made that impossible. The team instead moved in 2017.
Roster
Competitions
Friendlies
Major League Soccer
:''All times in regular season on
Eastern Daylight Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small por ...
(
UTC−04:00) except where otherwise noted.''
It was announced on December 22, 2015, that, just like the
2015 season, Orlando City would open the campaign at home, this year against
Real Salt Lake
Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...
. The remainder of the schedule was released on January 7, 2016.
Results summary
Results
Standings
Eastern Conference table
Overall table
U.S. Open Cup
On May 21, 2016, Orlando City was drawn to face the winner of the third round match between
Jacksonville Armada FC
Jacksonville Armada FC is an American professional soccer team based in Jacksonville, Florida. They most recently played in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid, during the 2018 season while ...
, and the winner of the second round match between
The Villages SC
The Villages Soccer Club is an American soccer club from The Villages, Florida that plays in USL League Two
USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsore ...
and
Charleston Battery
The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...
. Although The Villages SC won the match on penalty shootout, they were subsequently disqualified for fielding an ineligible player. Jacksonville Armada ultimately won the third round matchup, setting up a match in Jacksonville against Orlando City, a rematch of their preseason match.
Squad statistics
Appearances
''Starting appearances are listed first, followed by substitute appearances after the + symbol where applicable.''
, -
! colspan=10 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Goalkeepers''
, -
! colspan=10 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Defenders''
, -
! colspan=10 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Midfielders''
, -
! colspan=10 style=background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center, ''Forwards''
, -
, colspan="10", ''Players away from the club on loan:''
, -
, colspan="10", ''Players who appeared for the club but left during the season:''
Goalscorers
Shutouts
Player movement
''
Per Major League Soccer and club policies, terms of the deals do not get disclosed.''
MLS SuperDraft picks
Draft picks are not automatically signed to the team roster. The
2016 draft was held on January 14, 2016. Orlando had four selections.
Transfers In
Loan in
Transfers out
Loan out
Notable Events
On April 26, 2016, Florida Citrus Sports announced that they had sold naming rights for the stadium to Camping World. Camping World would also be the presenting sponsor of the stadium's college football kickoff series for at least its first four years, through 2019.
Adrian Heath
Adrian Paul Heath (born 11 January 1961) is an English football manager and former player. He currently serves as head coach of Major League Soccer club Minnesota United FC. As a player, he is best known for his six seasons at Everton, where h ...
was sacked by Orlando City on July 7, 2016, following a 4–0 defeat against FC Dallas. Bobby Murphy was the interim head coach until the hiring of former NYCFC manager
Jason Kreis
Jason Clarence Kreis (born December 29, 1972) is an American soccer coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for MLS club Inter Miami CF and as head coach of the United States under-23 team. He coached Orlando City S ...
on July 19.
On October 2, the Lions were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs with a 1–0 loss at Montreal.
[results]
The season ended on October 23, in the final game at Camping World Stadium, with a 4–2 win against D.C. United.
Media
Any matches that are not featured in the MLS national television package on either
ESPN2
ESPN2 is an American multinational pay television network owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which owns a controlling 80% stake) and Hearst Communications (which owns the remaining 20%).
ESPN2 was initially fo ...
,
Fox Sports 1
Fox Sports 1 (FS1) is an American pay television channel owned by the Fox Sports Media Group, a unit of Fox Corporation. FS1 replaced the motorsports network Speed on August 17, 2013, at the same time that its companion channel Fox Sports 2 ...
or
UniMás
UniMás (, stylized as ''UNIMÁS'', and originally known as TeleFutura from its launch on January 14, 2002, to January 6, 2013) is an American Spanish free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. The network's programming, which is ...
will air locally on
WRDQ
WRDQ (channel 27) is an independent television station in Orlando, Florida, United States. It is owned Cox Media Group alongside ABC affiliate WFTV (channel 9). Both stations share studios on East South Street in downtown Orlando, while WRDQ's t ...
27. Jeff Radcliffe will call play-by-play, with
Lewis Neal providing color commentary. They will also air pregame and postgame shows for each match, and a weekly highlight show. They are working on affiliate agreements to air matches out-of-market.
On the radio, matches will air on
WTKS-FM
WTKS-FM (104.1 MHz) is a commercial radio station licensed to Cocoa Beach, Florida, and serving Central Florida and Greater Orlando. It broadcasts a hybrid hot talk and alternative rock radio format. The station is owned and operated by iHeart ...
"Real Radio 104.1" in English, with Tom Traxler and Adam Schick providing the call. When City is on a nationally televised match, Jeff Radcliffe will call the match on WTKS with Tom Traxler. Matches will also air on
WONQ
WONQ (1030 AM) is a radio station broadcasting a Spanish Variety format. Licensed to Oviedo, Florida, United States, it serves the Orlando area. The station is currently owned by Q Broadcasting Corporation. From 2019 until 2021, the station w ...
"La Grande 1030" in Spanish. The Spanish play-by-play announcer is Israel Herredia, with color commentary by Sergio Ruiz. The Spanish radio feed will be used as the SAP Spanish feed on Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports.
Orlando City will
black out matches not on the MLS national television package on MLS Live this season. Local fans will be unable to watch locally televised matches via
live stream
Livestreaming is streaming media simultaneously recorded and broadcast in real-time over the internet. It is often referred to simply as streaming. Non-live media such as video-on-demand, vlogs, and YouTube videos are technically streamed, but no ...
during the matches, though they will become available immediately upon completion.
See also
*
2016 in American soccer
*
2016 Major League Soccer season
The 2016 Major League Soccer season featured 20 total clubs (17 based in the United States, 3 based in Canada). The regular season began on March 6 and ended on October 23. The playoffs began on October 26 and ended on December 10. The defendin ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlando City Soccer Club, Season 2016
2016 Major League Soccer season
2016
File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses during the 2016 Nagorno-Karabakh ...
American soccer clubs 2016 season
2016 in sports in Florida