San Diego Loyal Soccer Club is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

team based in San Diego, California. The team was founded by Warren Smith and

Landon Donovan Landon Timothy Donovan (born March 4, 1982) is an American former professional soccer player. Donovan is also the co-founder and vice-president of soccer operations for USL Championship side San Diego Loyal SC, and serves as strategic advisor fo ...

. San Diego Loyal made its debut in 2020 as an

expansion team An expansion team is a new team in a sports league, usually from a city that has not hosted a team in that league before, formed with the intention of satisfying the demand for a local team from a population in a new area. Sporting leagues also ...

in the USL Championship.

History

On June 20, 2019, San Diego was awarded an expansion team in the USL Championship to debut in 2020 or 2021. Warren Smith, one of the co-founders of

Sacramento Republic FC Sacramento Republic FC is an American professional soccer team based in Sacramento, California, that plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second level in US soccer. Co-founded by Warren Smith and Joe Wagoner in 2012, the ...

, was named the President of the new club. Former

USMNT 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 ha ...

LA Galaxy LA Galaxy, also known as the Los Angeles Galaxy, are an American professional soccer club based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Galaxy competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), as a member of the Western Conference. The club began pl ...

, and

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional soccer team based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise ...

player

, was named the Executive Vice President of Soccer Operations. He was named as the club's first manager on November 14. The team's name and crest were developed through fan engagement to reflect the interests of the city. On March 7, 2020, the team played their first competitive match, a 1–1 draw against Las Vegas Lights FC at their home stadium, Torero Stadium. The Loyal forfeited a league match against LA Galaxy II on September 25, 2020 following an alleged use of a racial slur by

Omar Ontiveros Omar Ontiveros (born May 15, 1995) is an American soccer player who most recently played for LA Galaxy II of the USL Championship. Career Ontiveros joined the under-20 side of Liga MX club Santos Laguna in November 2014, before heading to Lu ...

against Elijah Martin, one of the Loyal's Black players. The match had been played to a 1–1 draw and Ontiveros was later suspended for seven matches by the USL Championship. A week later, the team forfeited another match against Phoenix Rising FC by walking out after halftime following the alleged use of a homophobic slur against

Collin Martin Collin Martin (born November 9, 1994) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a midfielder for San Diego Loyal in the USL Championship. He has played for D.C. United and Minnesota United FC in Major League Soccer, and for Rich ...

, an openly gay player, by

Junior Flemmings Junior Flemmings (born 16 January 1996) is a Jamaican professional Association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger and Forward (association football), forward for club Toulouse FC, Toulouse and the Jamaica ...

. As a result of the two forfeits, the Loyal failed to qualify for the USL playoffs.

Stadium

The team signed a three-year letter of commitment to play at

Torero Stadium Torero Stadium is a 6,000-seat multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, located on the campus of the University of San Diego in San Diego, California. Opened in 1961, it serves as the home of the school's football and soccer ...

, with a series of one-year options for the following four years. The team will initially focus on building a fan base and brand at Torero, noting that the stadium could be expanded to a capacity of 8,000. Moreover, the team noted the possibility of sharing the prospective San Diego State University Snapdragon Stadium, at a 35,000 capacity, as a potential site for future years if they can cultivate the fan support.

Supporters

The two officially recognized supporter groups are The Locals Supporters Group and Chavos De Loyal.

Sponsorship

Players and staff

Roster

Management and staff

Team records

Year-by-year

1. Top Scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

Head coaches

* Includes USL Regular Season, USL Playoffs, U.S. Open Cup. Excludes friendlies.

External links

References

{{California sports USL Championship teams Association football clubs established in 2019 2019 establishments in California Sports in San Diego