The 2015 Orlando City SC season was the club's fifth season of existence in Orlando and first in Major League Soccer, 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 November 19, 2013, it was announced that Orlando City would be the next expansion franchise in Major League Soccer, the league's 21st team. The dissolution of

C.D. Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California. The club played from 2005 to 2014 in Major League Soccer (MLS) and was a subsidiary of Mexican club C.D. Gu ...

following the 2014 MLS season resulted in Orlando City instead being the league's 20th franchise. Following the completion of City's final season in USL Pro, the team released all but nine players from its roster. The remaining players, who would form the base of the 2015 roster, included Kaká, who was placed on loan with São Paulo FC in his native

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

following his signing in June 2014. On September 24, 2014, Orlando City manager

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 ...

and

New York City FC New York City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. The club is co-owned b ...

manager Jason Kreis took part in a draw to determine who would get top priorities in various selection mechanisms, including the

2014 MLS Expansion Draft The 2014 MLS Expansion Draft was a draft for the Major League Soccer expansion teams New York City FC and Orlando City SC that took place between November 19 and December 10, 2014. The first two rounds of the draft (which were known as the 2014 M ...

and the

2015 MLS SuperDraft The 2015 MLS SuperDraft was the sixteenth SuperDraft conducted by Major League Soccer. The SuperDraft is held each year in conjunction with the annual National Soccer Coaches Association of America convention. The 2015 convention was held Janua ...

. Orlando City won the draw, and Adrian Heath selected the top pick in the Expansion Draft first. He would also choose the top pick in the SuperDraft, top selection priority for USL Pro and NASL players (beyond Orlando City's own USL Pro players, which the team had right of first refusal to), and second-to-last (then #20, now #19) in lottery ranking. Orlando City will be #2 in

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT) represents the United States in men's international soccer competitions. The team is controlled by the United States Soccer Federation and is a member of FIFA and CONCACAF. The U.S. team h ...

player allocation ranking, #21 (now #20) in player discovery ranking, #21 (now #20) in re-entry draft ranking, and #2 in designated player ranking. On October 17, 2014, the team broke ground on their new soccer-specific stadium. Due to delays in sales tax subsidies from the Florida Legislature, the team decided to assume stadium financing themselves, and committed to pay back the City of Orlando for the land purchased and any other costs already incurred. Orlando City played the 2015 season, and will play the entire 2016 season, in the remodeled

Orlando Citrus Bowl 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, an ...

. For normal regular-season matches in 2015, Orlando City will open the sidelines and ends of the lower bowl only, except for the corners, along with the luxury suites. For the season opener on March 8 against

, however, the entire stadium was made available for sale. The team announced that the stadium's entire allotment of permanent seating was sold out on March 2. The team made 2,000

standing room only An event is described as standing-room only when it is so well-attended that all of the chairs in the venue are occupied, leaving only flat spaces of pavement or flooring for other attendees to stand, at least those spaces not restricted by occup ...

tickets available on March 4, and those sold out within 24 hours. On November 14, 2014, Orlando City was drawn for the seventh pick in the dispersal draft for Chivas USA players, but chose to pass on their pick. Manager

signed a contract extension on November 21, 2014 committing him to the club through to the end of the 2017 MLS season. Orlando City originally planned to train in late January in

, but eventually cancelled those plans in favor of training in Orlando. They will instead train at Sylvan Lake Park in Sanford. Orlando City opened the 2015 MLS season at the Citrus Bowl against the other expansion team for that season,

. The match ended in a 1–1 draw after Kaká scored an equalizer in the first minute of second half stoppage time. The attendance of 62,510 was the largest crowd to see a soccer match at the Citrus Bowl, the second-largest attendance ever for an MLS team's inaugural home match, and the ninth-largest crowd in MLS history for a standalone match.

Roster

: ''Last updated on August 6, 2015''

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 p ...

( UTC-04:00)''

Results summary

Results

Standings

Eastern Conference table Overall table

U.S. Open Cup

Orlando City entered the 2015 U.S. Open Cup with the rest of Major League Soccer in the fourth round.

Player 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

Disciplinary record

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 2015 draft was held on January 15, 2015. Orlando had five selections.

Transfers in

Loans in

Transfers out

Loans out

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 ...

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 i ...

will air locally on

WOFL WOFL (channel 35) is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, airing programming from the Fox network. It is owned and operated by the network's Fox Television Stations division alongside MyNetworkTV outlet WRBW (channel 65) ...

FOX Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush''). Twelve sp ...

35 or

WRBW WRBW (channel 65), branded on-air as Fox 35 Plus, is a television station in Orlando, Florida, United States, airing programming from MyNetworkTV. It is owned and operated by Fox Television Stations alongside Fox outlet WOFL (channel 35). Both ...

My65. The commentary team will be Jeff Radcliffe on play-by-play and

Kevin Hartman Kevin Eugene Hartman (born May 25, 1974) is an American former soccer player who played 17 seasons in Major League Soccer, being on the field for a record 37,260 minutes. Nicknamed ''El Gato'' (Spanish for "the cat") because of his agility, re ...

on color commentary, with Holly Bristow as sideline reporter. In addition, most matches not on the MLS national television package will be simulcast on

Fox Sports Florida Bally Sports Florida is an American regional sports network owned by Sinclair Broadcast Group, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local sports coverage in the state of Florida, with a focus on professional sport ...

Sun Sports Bally Sports Sun is an American regional sports network owned by Diamond Sports Group, a joint venture between Sinclair Broadcast Group and Entertainment Studios, and operates as an affiliate of Bally Sports. The channel broadcasts local cover ...

to fans outside the Orlando market. Some matches will be placed on tape delay to accommodate

Tampa Bay Rays The Tampa Bay Rays are an American professional baseball team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The Rays compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) East division. Since its inception, the team's home v ...

and

Florida Marlins The Miami Marlins are an American professional baseball team based in Miami. The Marlins compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) East division. The club's home ballpark is LoanDepot Park. The fran ...

baseball games. 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 Sergio Ruiz Torres, with color commentary by Israel Heredia. The Spanish radio feed will be used as the SAP Spanish feed on Fox Sports Florida and Sun Sports. Orlando City does not black out matches not on the MLS national television package on MLS Live, enabling local fans to watch matches live 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 n ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Orlando City Soccer Club, Season 2015 2015 Major League Soccer season 2015 American soccer clubs 2015 season 2015 in sports in Florida