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The San Jose Earthquakes are 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 Jose, California San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popul ...
. The Earthquakes compete as a member club of the Western Conference of
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 ...
(MLS). Originally as the San Jose Clash, the franchise began play in
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
as one of the charter members of the league. The Earthquakes took part in the first game in MLS history, defeating
D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...
1–0. The Earthquakes have won two
MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...
titles (2001, 2003) and two Supporters' Shields (2005, 2012). In 2002, the team played in its first CONCACAF Champions Cup (now called the
CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...
), making it to the quarterfinals. The team holds a fierce rivalry with the
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 ...
known as the '' California Clásico''. In 2005, the then-owner of the Earthquakes, Anschutz Entertainment Group, announced plans of the team relocating to Houston due to failing efforts to secure a
soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...
in San Jose. The organization in Houston would be considered an expansion team by the league, eventually becoming the
Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...
, which began play in 2006. The Earthquakes returned after a two-year hiatus, resuming play in 2008. Since 2015, the Earthquakes have played their home games at PayPal Park (named Avaya Stadium from 2015 to 2019 and Earthquakes Stadium in 2020). The team previously played its home games at Buck Shaw Stadium on the
Santa Clara University Santa Clara University is a private Jesuit university in Santa Clara, California. Established in 1851, Santa Clara University is the oldest operating institution of higher learning in California. The university's campus surrounds the historic Mis ...
campus in
Santa Clara, California Santa Clara (; Spanish for " Saint Clare") is a city in Santa Clara County, California. The city's population was 127,647 at the 2020 census, making it the eighth-most populous city in the Bay Area. Located in the southern Bay Area, the cit ...
from 2008 to 2014.


History


Founding and early years (1994–1999)

In 1994, Daniel Van Voorhis, former owner of the
American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. It ...
's
San Jose Hawks San Francisco Bay Blackhawks were a professional soccer team which came into existence in 1989 as a team in the Western Soccer League (WSL). The Blackhawks spent time in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL) and the United States Interreg ...
, successfully led a San Jose bidding group that was awarded one of Major League Soccer's inaugural teams. At that time, he handed over all existing Hawks player contracts, front-office resources and the rights to play in
San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...
's Spartan Stadium to MLS in exchange for Type C stock in the league. He also became the franchise's investor-operator until outside concerns forced him to divest himself of these positions prior to the league's launch and accept a buyout from the league, leaving the franchise league-owned for several years. Meanwhile, a direct connection to the earlier Earthquakes came in the person of Peter Bridgwater, named as general manager of the MLS team. Although Bridgwater still owned the rights to the Earthquakes name and logo, the team became known as the Clash at the urging of Nike, a major investor in MLS. On December 7, 1995, Bridgwater hired
Laurie Calloway Laurence John Calloway (born 17 June 1945) is an English retired footballer who played as defender, spending thirteen years in the English leagues and five years in the North American Soccer League. Since retiring from playing professionally, ...
as the team's first coach, providing a second direct connection with the NASL Earthquakes, as well as a connection with the Hawks. On January 23, 1996, the Clash acquired US national team star
Eric Wynalda Eric Boswell Wynalda (born June 9, 1969) is an American soccer coach, television commentator, and retired player. He was formerly an analyst and color commentator for soccer coverage on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Previously, he served as head coach ...
, despite the fact that Wynalda and Calloway did not get along during their time together with the Hawks. The Clash's connections to the Blackhawks continued when the club made the first trade in MLS history, sending
Rhett Harty Rhett Stowe Harty (born March 8, 1970 in Pasadena, California) is an American former soccer defender who spent one season in the Western Soccer League, one in the Continental Indoor Soccer League, one in the USISL and three with the MetroStar ...
to the MetroStars for Troy Dayak. San Jose was an integral part of the launching of MLS, hosting the league's inaugural game at Spartan Stadium before a crowd of 31,683 on April 6, 1996. The crowd did not go away disappointed as San Jose won its first game on the first goal in MLS history from
Eric Wynalda Eric Boswell Wynalda (born June 9, 1969) is an American soccer coach, television commentator, and retired player. He was formerly an analyst and color commentator for soccer coverage on Fox Sports 1 and ESPN. Previously, he served as head coach ...
, defeating
D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...
1–0. One month later, the club made history again, as they hosted the Los Angeles Galaxy in a match that drew 31,728 fans to Spartan Stadium, setting the record for attendance at a sporting event in the city of San Jose. But Wynalda and Calloway were soon at each other's throats again, eventually leading to a locker room brawl between Wynalda and John Doyle. The skirmish reached memorable proportions when Wynalda hired an airplane to tow a banner demanding Calloway's firing. Although the Clash made the postseason in the inaugural MLS season in 1996, and Doyle earned recognition as the best MLS defender, the team floundered in 1997. By mid-season the team was sinking fast and Bridgwater fired Calloway and replaced him with Brian Quinn. The Clash finished 1997 at the bottom of the Western Conference standings with a 12–20 record. Things were no better in 1998, when the team finished 13–19 and well out of playoff contention. During the 1999 pre-season, the saga of player-coach antagonism continued when Richard Gough left the team after an argument with Quinn. By the end of 1999, Quinn was done and the team released him to hire
Lothar Osiander Lothar Osiander (born November 8, 1939) is a German association football, soccer coach who has served as head coach to the United States men's national soccer team, U.S. national and Olympic teams as well as the Atlanta Ruckus, Los Angeles Galax ...
.


Return of the Earthquakes (1999–2005)

The franchise's official name changed from the Clash to the Earthquakes on October 27, 1999. After missing four consecutive post-seasons with three different coaches, the Earthquakes hired head coach
Frank Yallop Frank Walter Yallop (born 4 April 1964) is a British-Canadian professional soccer coach. Yallop is currently the head coach and sporting director of USL Championship side Monterey Bay FC. He played 13 years in England for Ipswich, including the ...
days before the
2001 MLS SuperDraft The 2001 Major League Soccer SuperDraft was held on February 5, 2001, at the Signature Grand in Davie, Florida. Player selection Any player whose name is marked with an * was contracted under the Project-40 program. Round 1 Round 1 trade ...
. Yallop's personnel changes and deft coaching with the help of assistant coach Dominic Kinnear and goalkeeper coach Tim Hanley, along with the allocation of star forward
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 ...
on loan from Bayer Leverkusen, quickly turned around the Earthquakes' on-field fortunes, spurring the biggest regular season turnaround in league history (from 29 points in 2000 to 45 points in 2001) and leading the team to a 2–1 MLS Cup 2001 overtime victory over the archrival Los Angeles Galaxy. The Quakes followed with two consecutive runners-up finishes for the MLS
Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...
and a 4–2 MLS Cup 2003 win over the Chicago Fire. Prior to reaching the 2003 final, the Earthquakes had rallied from four goals down to beat the Galaxy, 5–4 on aggregate, in a first-round playoff that many MLS watchers described as the greatest in league history. Following the season, Yallop returned to his native Canada to coach the Canadian men's national soccer team being named to the post on December 16. Assistant coach Kinnear was then promoted to head coach, and former San Jose player John Doyle was named as his assistant. Having won two MLS Cup titles in three years, the Earthquakes were poised for greater success both on and off the field. However, in January 2004, general manager Johnny Moore, whose roots with the club dated back to his days as a player for the NASL Earthquakes, resigned after AEG and MLS considered allowing the team to be rebranded as ''San Jose America'' (with ownership to transfer to the owners of Mexico's
Club América Club de Fútbol América S.A. de C.V., commonly known as Club América or simply América, is a professional football club based in Mexico City. Nicknamed ''Las Águilas'' (The Eagles), it competes in Liga MX, the top tier of Mexican football ...
). Earthquake fans were similarly outraged at the proposed rebranding, coming just months after the MLS Cup. Former Los Angeles Galaxy defender Alexi Lalas was named as Moore's replacement. Under Lalas' management, the club planned a move to
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
. Meanwhile, when the Quakes' star player,
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 ...
, played briefly in Germany, Lalas traded away his rights, enabling Lalas' former team, the Galaxy, to acquire him. On the field, Kinnear led the team to two more playoff appearances, including an MLS
Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...
win in 2005.


Hiatus and return (2006–2008)

Following the conclusion of the 2005 season, on December 15, the then owner of the San Jose Earthquakes, Anschutz Entertainment Group, announced that the team was moving to Houston for the 2006 season because of the failure of efforts to secure a
soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...
for the team in San Jose. However, MLS Commissioner Don Garber said that the Earthquakes' name, colors, logo,
wordmark __notoc__ A wordmark, word mark, or logotype, is usually a distinct text-only typographic treatment of the name of a company, institution, or product name used for purposes of identification and branding. Examples can be found in the graphic iden ...
, history and competitive records would not be transferred, similar to the
Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...
deal A deal, or deals may refer to: Places United States * Deal, New Jersey, a borough * Deal, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * Deal Lake, New Jersey Elsewhere * Deal Island (Tasmania), Australia * Deal, Kent, a town in England * Deal, ...
in the
National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...
. The San Jose franchise was officially put on hiatus while the players, head coach Dominic Kinnear and some of his coaching staff were moved to
Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...
, where they became, first, ''Houston 1836'', then ''
Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...
''. The Houston Dynamo is technically considered an expansion team by MLS just as the
Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...
is by the NFL. On May 24, 2006, an agreement was reached between Major League Soccer and the principal owners of the
Oakland Athletics The Oakland Athletics (often referred to as the A's) are an American professional baseball team based in Oakland, California. The Athletics compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division. The te ...
baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...
team,
Lewis Wolff Lewis N. Wolff (born December 13, 1935) is an American real estate developer. Wolff had been co-chairman of the Board of Sunstone Investors, Inc. from October 2004 to April 2014. Wolff owned sports franchises, serving currently as the co-owner of ...
and John Fisher, granting them a three-year exclusive option to develop a soccer-specific stadium and bring an expansion franchise to the
San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
. In September 2006, after nearly nine months of inactivity (displaying only Commissioner Garber's December 2005 letter of condolence to Earthquakes fans over the team's relocation), the team's website was revived to display updates on the progress of starting up the expansion San Jose Earthquakes franchise and to allow fans to sign up for the ''Earthquakes Soccer, LLC'' e-newsletter. On July 18, 2007, Commissioner Don Garber announced that the San Jose Earthquakes would resume play starting in the 2008 season after Lew Wolff exercised his option to purchase the new expansion team. While functionally being the 14th franchise to join MLS, the team retained all records, logos, colors and titles of the 1996–2005 franchise and is a continuation of that franchise. Michael Crowley, also Oakland A's president at the time, led the relaunched franchise and served as president until 2010. In October 2007 the Earthquakes announced they would be moving their offices from the Fairmont Hotel in downtown San Jose to an office park across the street from their temporary home, Buck Shaw Stadium, and across the Caltrain tracks from the location of the former FMC site. On November 6, 2007, the team announced that former Earthquakes coach
Frank Yallop Frank Walter Yallop (born 4 April 1964) is a British-Canadian professional soccer coach. Yallop is currently the head coach and sporting director of USL Championship side Monterey Bay FC. He played 13 years in England for Ipswich, including the ...
was returning to the team as head coach. According to ESPN.com, the Earthquakes compensated Yallop's previous employer, the Los Angeles Galaxy, with a third-round pick in the 2008
MLS SuperDraft The MLS SuperDraft is an annual college draft for teams of Major League Soccer in the United States and Canada. It takes place in January and is used by teams to select players who have graduated from college or otherwise been signed by the le ...
.


Return to MLS

In 2008, England's Darren Huckerby, the MLS Newcomer of the Year and Ireland's Ronnie O'Brien, who made 28 appearances for the Earthquakes, helped anchor the offense, combining for 10 goals and 10 assists. Both played a key part of the team's nine-game unbeaten streak that saw San Jose push towards a playoff berth. They also failed to qualify for the U.S Open Cup, losing to
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 ...
4–0 in the first round of qualifying. On January 27, 2009, Amway Global signed a three-year deal with the Earthquakes to become the team's official jersey sponsor. The club made an historic trade on June 9, 2009, when they acquired Chris Wondolowski from Houston. The Quakes missed out on the playoffs for a second consecutive season in 2009 but looked to build on a solid second half of the year, which saw them go 4–4–4 following the All-Star Break. The Earthquakes finished in 14th place and failed to qualify for the playoffs. The Earthquakes also failed to qualify for the U.S. Open Cup, losing to New York Red Bulls on April 29, 2–1. In 2010, the San Jose Earthquakes qualified for the playoffs as the West's No. 6 seed with 46 points. In the 2010 MLS playoffs, they were matched up with the No. 1 seeded New York Red Bulls. After losing the first game by a score of 1–0, the Earthquakes defeated the Red Bulls in the second game by a score of 3–1 to win the aggregate, 3–2, and upset New York. In the single-elimination semi-final match against the Colorado Rapids, at Colorado, the Quakes suffered a 1–0 defeat. In 2011, the San Jose Earthquakes missed the playoffs after they finished seventh in the west and fourteenth in all of MLS.


The Goonies (2012–2014)

In 2012, the San Jose Earthquakes had the best start in franchise history. The team established a habit of scoring late goals to tie or win games. The first was a match against Real Salt Lake on April 21, 2012, scoring 2 goals in stoppage time to win 3–1. The next week, a stoppage time goal produced a win against the Philadelphia Union. Two more games resulted in ties with late goals, both scored by Alan Gordon. On May 23, 2012, against the L.A. Galaxy, the Quakes scored 3 times in 18 minutes to win 3–2. After this game striker
Steven Lenhart Steven Lenhart (born August 28, 1986) is a former American soccer player. Career College and amateur Lenhart grew up in Yorba Linda, California, and attended Esperanza High School. He attended Point Loma Nazarene University for one year befor ...
declared "Goonies never say die!" (a reference to the movie ''
The Goonies ''The Goonies'' is a 1985 American adventure comedy film co-produced and directed by Richard Donner from a screenplay by Chris Columbus, based on a story by Steven Spielberg. In the film, kids who live in the "Goon Docks" neighborhood of Astori ...
''), and this was made into the rally cry of the team. The Quakes ended the 2012 regular season with 66 points and 72 goals, both team records, with 17 of those points created by goals scored in the 84th minute or later. The team clinched the Supporter's Shield, its first major trophy since their return to San Jose, and qualified for their first CONCACAF Champion's League tournament as a franchise in 2013. They returned to the playoffs for the first time since their 2010 season and faced two games against L.A. Galaxy. In their first playoff game, the Quakes scored a stoppage time goal to take the away leg 1–0, but were knocked out of the playoffs following a 3–1 loss at home (3–2 on aggregate), their only loss at Buck Shaw Stadium for the season. In 2013, the Quakes began the year facing adversity with numerous players recovering from injury. With added depth in preparation for the upcoming CONCACAF Champions' League, they began the task of duplicating the success of 2012. While the style of scoring late goals were still present in games against New York, Portland and Montreal, the team struggled to find success and quickly found themselves at the bottom of the Western Conference. The slow start of the team led to the departure of coach Frank Yallop and
Mark Watson Mark Andrew Watson (born 13 February 1980) is a British comedian and novelist. Early life Watson was born in Bristol to a Welsh mother and English father. He has younger twin sisters and a brother, Paul. He attended Bristol Grammar School, wh ...
was named interim coach. On June 29, 2013, the Quakes played the L.A. Galaxy in the California Clásico. Despite being down 2–0 and having Victor Bernardez ejected, the Quakes staged another comeback, scoring twice in stoppage time to win 3–2, becoming the first MLS team to do so. On August 7, 2013, the Earthquakes debuted in the
2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League The 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 49th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North ...
for the first time since their return to MLS. They lost the away game to the Montreal Impact 1–0. On October 23, 2013, the Earthquakes won group five on goal differential with a win at home against Heredia, and they moved on to the knockout stage of the tournament. Despite a league best record in games played after June, the Quakes failed to qualify for the 2013 playoffs, losing the final spot to Colorado on a goal differential tiebreaker. The final home game of the season, a 2–0 win against FC Dallas, saw the final minutes of professional soccer for Ramiro Corrales, who had announced his retirement. Corrales was the last remaining active player who played in the inaugural season of MLS. The Quakes in their 2014 campaign began, playing in the quarterfinals against Toluca in a two-game series in the
2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League The 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 49th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North ...
. Scoring a goal in stoppage time in the first game, the Quakes went to Mexico 1–1 on aggregate. In the second game, the game tied in regulation. The Quakes faced Toluca in Overtime where neither team could score against the other and the game went on to penalties. The Earthquakes lost 5–4 against Toluca in penalties and were eliminated. San Jose ended the 2014 MLS Season with the club's worst ever record, winning only 6 matches, and suffering a 15-match winless streak. That streak surpassed the Quakes' previous record of 13 in 2011, and matched the second worst in league history.


Return of Dominic Kinnear (2015–2017)

The Earthquakes welcomed back Dominic Kinnear to the club as coach after a nine-year tenure in Houston. The franchise's long-awaited stadium, Avaya Stadium, was the first professional
soccer-specific stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...
in the
Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
when it opened on March 22. The 2015 season was a marked improvement over the previous season, but the Earthquakes still failed to reach the playoffs despite a late surge. Chris Wondolowski became only the ninth player in MLS history to score 100 goals with a penalty in a 1–1 draw against Orlando. On August 29, 2016, the Earthquakes parted ways with longtime general manager John Doyle. Earthquakes President
Dave Kaval David A. Kaval (born October 28, 1975) is the seventh and current president of the Oakland Athletics of Major League Baseball. He previously served as president of Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes and founded the Golden Baseball Le ...
stated that he felt the Earthquakes "needed a fresh approach". Technical director Chris Leitch was appointed as interim GM.


The Fioranelli era (2017–2021)

Following the firing of John Doyle, it was announced on January 5, 2017, that
Jesse Fioranelli Jesse Fioranelli (born 21 November 1979) is a Swiss / Italian football manager. He is a member of the technical staff of manager Stefano Pioli at Serie A club AC Milan. Prior to this role, he was the General Manager of San Jose Earthquakes in ML ...
had been hired as general manager. He joined San Jose from
A.S. Roma ' (''Rome Sport Association''), commonly referred to as Roma (), is a professional football club based in Rome, Italy. Founded by a merger in 1927, Roma has participated in the top tier of Italian football for all of its existence, except for ...
and had previously also worked at Roma's cross-city rival
S.S. Lazio Società Sportiva Lazio (; ; ''Lazio Sport Club''), commonly referred to as Lazio, is an Italian professional sports club based in Rome, most known for its football activity. The society, founded in 1900, plays in the Serie A and have spent ...
. Fioranelli made clear early on that he would be prioritizing youth development, international scouting, and generally creating a new identity for San Jose that was younger, more dynamic, and more attacking, intentions which were reflected by his off-season acquisitions of
Jahmir Hyka Jahmir Hyka (born 8 March 1988) is an Albanian professional footballer who last played as a left midfielder for KF Teuta Durrës. A Dinamo Tirana product, Hyka started his professional career in Norway at Rosenborg where did not make a league a ...
,
Florian Jungwirth Florian Jungwirth (born 27 January 1989) is a German professional former footballer who played as a defender or midfielder. Club career 1860 Munich Jungwirth began his career as a defender with his hometown club TSV Eintracht Karlsfeld whe ...
, Marco Ureña,
Harold Cummings Harold Oshkaly Cummings Segura (born 1 March 1992) is a Panamanian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Club Always Ready and the Panama national football team. Club career Árabe Unido In 2009, he signed for Liga Panameña ...
, and
Danny Hoesen Daniel "Danny" Hoesen (born 15 January 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Fortuna Sittard After short stints at local amateur clubs Hoesen enrolled in the Fortuna Sittard youth academy. He was promoted ...
using Targeted Allocation Money. He also expressed the necessity of the team reaching the playoffs in 2017, as it had not done so since 2012. Illustrating the seriousness of his commitment to improving San Jose, within one week in April Fioranelli made two key additions to the technical staff with the hiring of Alex Covelo as Director of Methodology and Bruno Costa as Head of Scouting. Dave Kaval stepped down from his role as president on June 1, to be replaced by former
Aston Villa F.C. Aston Villa Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their ho ...
chief executive and
Arsenal F.C. Arsenal Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is a professional football club based in Islington, London, England. Arsenal plays in the Premier League, the top flight of English football. The club has won 13 league titles (inclu ...
chief commercial officer Tom Fox. On June 22, 2017, San Jose announced Fioranelli's first Designated Player signing, Georgian attacking midfielder Vako, who would join San Jose from
SBV Vitesse SBV Vitesse Arnhem (''Stichting Betaald Voetbal Vitesse Arnhem''), widely known as Vitesse () or internationally as well Vitesse Arnhem, is a Dutch professional association football, football club located in the municipality of Arnhem. Establish ...
. Fioranelli took his ambitions for San Jose a step further just several days later, when he announced on June 25, 2017, that Dominic Kinnear had been fired, and would be replaced immediately and permanently by
Chris Leitch Chris Leitch (born April 1, 1979 in Pickerington, Ohio) is a retired American soccer player who is currently the general manager and a former head coach for the San Jose Earthquakes. Career College Leitch played college soccer at the Univer ...
, the club's technical director and former interim general manager. Assistant coach John Spencer was also let go, and was replaced by Covelo. The timing of the firing came as somewhat of a surprise, as it was announced hours after San Jose defeated
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 ...
2–1 at home. Fioranelli said of the firing that, coming off of a win, it was not reactionary, and rather he had "in the last two to three months...matured a gut feeling as to where he club stands, and that his respect for Kinnear "would not have allowed imto want to go for another three months knowing
hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...
would have parted ways at the end of the season". In his first interview as head coach, Leitch reiterated Fioranelli's previously stated goals, saying that "the goal of the team...is omake the playoffs". His first outing as head coach on June 28, 2017, was successful, seeing the Earthquakes achieve their first-ever victory over an MLS side in the
U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...
with a 2–1 victory against
Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...
that would advance them to the USOC quarter finals for the first time since 2012. Leitch's first MLS match as head coach was a 2–1 win over the
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 ...
at Stanford Stadium on July 1, in which Chris Wondolowski scored the equalizing goal off of an assist from goalkeeper David Bingham and substitute
Shea Salinas Robert O'Shea "Shea" Salinas (born June 24, 1986) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a winger. Career Youth and college After attending Grapevine High School in Grapevine, Texas, Salinas played college soccer at F ...
scored the winner in the 93rd minute. The team experienced its first loss under Leitch three days later on July 4 at
Bobby Dodd Stadium Bobby Dodd Stadium at Historic Grant Field is the football stadium located at the corner of North Avenue at Techwood Drive on the campus of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. It has been home to the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets foo ...
, in a 4–2 loss to Atlanta United FC following red cards to both
Kofi Sarkodie Kofi Kwarteng Frempong Sarkodie (born March 22, 1991) is an American soccer player. Career Youth, College and Amateur After graduating from the IMG Soccer Academy in 2008, Sarkodie attended the University of Akron. Sarkodie started in all ...
and
Victor Bernardez The name Victor or Viktor may refer to: * Victor (name), including a list of people with the given name, mononym, or surname Arts and entertainment Film * ''Victor'' (1951 film), a French drama film * ''Victor'' (1993 film), a French shor ...
; however, this match also saw Tommy Thompson score his first league goal and Chris Wondolowski break Ramiro Corrales' record for career starts at San Jose with his 229th start, as well as tie the league record for most goals scored away at 63. On July 7, 2017, a multi-year collaboration between the Earthquakes and the
German Football Association The German Football Association (german: Deutscher Fußball-Bund ; DFB ) is the governing body of football in Germany. A founding member of both FIFA and UEFA, the DFB has jurisdiction for the German football league system and is in charge of t ...
was announced, "focused on knowledge exchange, game development and machine learning". On July 10, 2017, the Earthquakes defeated the Galaxy 3–2 at home, following a brace from Chris Wondolowski and
Danny Hoesen Daniel "Danny" Hoesen (born 15 January 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Fortuna Sittard After short stints at local amateur clubs Hoesen enrolled in the Fortuna Sittard youth academy. He was promoted ...
's second goal of the tournament, to advance to the semifinals of the
U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...
for the first time since 2004 and for only the second time in club history. Wondolowski wore the number 38 in this match in honor of teammate Matheus Silva, who nearly drowned the previous week. New signing Vako was introduced at the club for the first time during halftime. Vako made his club debut four days later as a 63rd minute substitution in San Jose's 4–1 friendly defeat of
Eintracht Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt e.V. () is a professional sports club based in Frankfurt, Hesse, Germany. It is best known for its football club, which was founded on 8 March 1899. The team is currently playing in the Bundesliga, the top tier of the Germa ...
, and shortly afterwards scored in his MLS debut as a halftime substitute against the
New York Red Bulls The New York Red Bulls are an American professional soccer club based in the New York metropolitan area. The Red Bulls compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The club was established in October 1994 and be ...
at Red Bull Arena on July 19. The Earthquakes announced a second new partnership aimed at pursuing the implementation of
artificial intelligence Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animals and humans. Example tasks in which this is done include speech re ...
and
machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of inquiry devoted to understanding and building methods that 'learn', that is, methods that leverage data to improve performance on some set of tasks. It is seen as a part of artificial intelligence. Machine ...
on July 21 with Los Angeles-based company Second Spectrum, Inc., the first of its kind in the league and inspired by the company's partnerships with the
NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
and specifically the
Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...
. Per this agreement, a new system was installed at Avaya Stadium to track players during matches and gather data on tactics and performance, to be delivered to players' mobile devices directly after games. The signing of Swiss defender
François Affolter François Affolter (born 13 March 1991) is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defender for Biel-Bienne in the Swiss Promotion League. He was part of the Swiss team at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Career Young Boys Born in Biel/Bienne ...
from
FC Luzern Fussball-Club Luzern (), or simply abbreviated to FCL, is a Swiss sports club based in Lucerne (german: Luzern). It is best known for its professional football team, which plays in the Super League, the top tier of the Swiss football league syste ...
was announced later the same day. San Jose lost in the Open Cup semifinals to
Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...
, for the second time in franchise history, in sudden death penalties on August 9. On August 19, Wondolowski became the first player in MLS history to score ten or more goals in eight consecutive seasons, following his successful penalty kick in the dying moments of a 2–2 home draw against the
Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...
, when
Shea Salinas Robert O'Shea "Shea" Salinas (born June 24, 1986) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a winger. Career Youth and college After attending Grapevine High School in Grapevine, Texas, Salinas played college soccer at F ...
was tripped in the box by Joshua Yaro. San Jose qualified for the
2017 MLS Cup Playoffs The 2017 MLS Cup Playoffs (branded as the 2017 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for sponsorship reasons) began on October 25, and ended on December 9 with MLS Cup 2017, the 22nd league championship match for MLS. This is the 22nd version of the MLS Cup P ...
, the club's first playoff appearance since 2012, following a 3–2 win at home on October 22 over
Minnesota United FC Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American Socc ...
in which
Danny Hoesen Daniel "Danny" Hoesen (born 15 January 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a forward. Club career Fortuna Sittard After short stints at local amateur clubs Hoesen enrolled in the Fortuna Sittard youth academy. He was promoted ...
and Chris Wondolowski each recorded a goal and an assist, and substitute Marco Ureña scored the stoppage time winner. This sent the team on to play a knockout round match on the road against
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...
on October 25. However, the team was defeated 5–0. On November 24, 2017,
Mikael Stahre Mikael Lennart Tage Stahre (; born 5 July 1975) is a Swedish football manager who is currently head coach of Allsvenskan club IFK Göteborg. Management career Stahre was appointed as AIK's manager on 10 November 2008 immediately following the ...
, formerly of BK Häcken, was announced as the team's new head coach. Leitch returned to his previous role as the club's technical director. San Jose began to make roster moves not long after with contract options being declined for players, most notably for defender
Víctor Bernárdez Víctor Salvador Bernárdez Blanco (; born 24 May 1982), also known as Muma, is a Honduran former footballer who most recently played as a defender for Oakland Roots SC. Early life Bernárdez was raised in La Ceiba, living with his mother, ...
and goalkeeper David Bingham who spent six and seven years with the Earthquakes organization respectively. San Jose traded Bingham's MLS rights to their rival Los Angeles Galaxy on December 18. December also brought additions to the roster, reflecting different aspects of San Jose's leadership and management. On December 1, 2017, Joel Qwiberg was signed from IF Brommapojkarna where he had helped to lead the team to two consecutive promotions, reaching Sweden's topic league. The next signing of the off-season was homegrown goalkeeper
JT Marcinkowski James Thomas "JT" Marcinkowski (born May 9, 1997) is an American professional soccer player who plays as a goalkeeper for Major League Soccer club San Jose Earthquakes. Career College and amateur Marcinkowski played for the Georgetown Hoyas fo ...
, who had finished his 3rd year at Georgetown. Just over a week later, San Jose announced in a joint press conference with their
USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...
affiliate Reno 1868 that they had signed three players from the team: Luis Felipe,
Chris Wehan Christopher Wehan (born January 29, 1994) is an American professional association football, soccer player who plays as an attacking midfielder for New Mexico United in the USL Championship. Career Amateur and college Wehan spent five years pl ...
, and
Jimmy Ockford James William Ockford (born June 10, 1992) is an American soccer player who plays for Colorado Springs Switchbacks in the USL Championship. Career College and amateur Ockford began his college career at Mount St. Mary's University where he p ...
. Reno's club president elaborated on what the signings meant for both organizations, stating "Today's news delivers on that promise to compete in Reno while developing the future of San Jose." The next day San Jose continued on their developmental based signings with defender Jacob Akanyirige announced as signed straight from their academy at fifteen years old, San Jose's youngest ever player and the eighth youngest player in MLS history. On December 20, the first Designated Player and second Swedish signing under Stahre's tenure was officially brought to San Jose. Magnus Eriksson joined from
Djurgårdens IF Djurgårdens Idrottsförening, commonly known simply as Djurgårdens IF, Djurgården (), and (especially locally) Djurgår'n (), Dif or DIF – is a Swedish sports association with several sections, located in Stockholm. Name The club is named ...
where he co-led the
Allsvenskan Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football lea ...
as top scorer in the 2017 season. Stahre was dismissed by the club before the end of his first year in charge, a season in which the team earned just four wins. On October 8, 2018, the club announced that they had hired reigning
CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football,, ; french: Confédération de football d'Amérique du Nord, d'Amérique centrale et des Caraïbes, . Dutch uses the English name. abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typese ...
coach of the year
Matias Almeyda Matias is a form of the given name Matthew. In German-speaking Europe it is most often written as Matthias. It appears in this form in Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Alternate spellings are: Mathias, Mattias, Mattis, Mats and Matti. Matia ...
, who would take charge for the 2019 season. On May 18, 2019, Wondolowski scored four goals against Chicago Fire. With his second goal, he set the league's all-time scoring record. The team had a negative record and missed the playoffs by four points. In 2020, the Earthquakes had a draw and a loss in their first two regular season games before the season was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. When the season resumed with the MLS is Back Tournament, the Earthquakes were drawn into Group B with
FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference in Major League Soccer (MLS). The franchise be ...
(later replaced by the Chicago Fire),
Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...
, and
Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Marc ...
. They drew with Seattle and defeated both Chicago and Vancouver, the latter with a thrilling comeback from a 3–1 deficit, to win the group and advance to the round of 16. On April 18, 2022, the Earthquakes and Matias Almeyda agreed to part ways. Alex Covelo, the head coach of the newly established
San Jose Earthquakes II San Jose Earthquakes II is an American professional soccer team that is located in San Jose, California. It is the reserve team of San Jose Earthquakes and participates in MLS Next Pro. History On December 6, 2021, San Jose Earthquakes were na ...
side, stepped in as his interim replacement. Covelo was joined by an assistant coaching staff consisting of former San Jose player Chris Wondolowski, former assistant manager and interim manager Steve Ralston, and Earthquakes II assistant Luciano Fusco.


Crest and shirt

Since their inception, the Earthquakes have played in a color scheme featuring blue and black as dominant colors, usually with white highlights. The original San Jose Clash logo featured a stylized
scorpion Scorpions are predatory arachnids of the order Scorpiones. They have eight legs, and are easily recognized by a pair of grasping pincers and a narrow, segmented tail, often carried in a characteristic forward curve over the back and always end ...
in black and red with a white 'clash' wordmark. When they rebranded to the Earthquakes in 2000, the team badge featured an inverted triangular shield containing a soccer ball invoking the rising sun used in the logo for the City of San Jose, a stylized 'Earthquakes' wordmark, and a color palette of blue, black, white and silver. The three points of the triangular shield represented the three largest communities of the
Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...
( San Jose,
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
and
Oakland Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third largest city overall in the Bay A ...
). The team rebranded again on January 30, 2014, to a new crest and uniform. While still featuring blue and black, as well as a new chevron design that invokes the geologic theme of the team's name, the new design also featured the year 1974 in red; this is an explicit reference of lineage to the previous NASL incarnation of the Earthquakes that had founded that year. On February 17, 2017, San Jose released its new home kit at a jersey release party at
San Pedro Square San Pedro Square is a historic neighborhood of San Jose, California, located in northern Downtown San Jose. One of San Jose's oldest districts, San Pedro Square today is a popular dining and entertainment destination for Downtown. History The o ...
. The new kit is black, a callback to the black Goonies kits of the historic 2012 season, and features the blue slipstrike design from the crest on the front. Also included is a red neck tape, referring again to the team's NASL history, "SJ 74" in blue on the bottom left corner, and the words "UNITY", "DEVOTION", and "HERITAGE" written in white across the blue border on the right sleeve. On February 11, 2018, the Earthquakes released their new away kit, the Navy SEAL Foundation Jersey, and announced that 5% of each jersey sale would be donated to the Foundation, becoming the first club in MLS history to donate part of its jersey revenue to a
nonprofit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
. The jersey release party was held near the site of the
USS Hornet Museum The USS ''Hornet'' Museum is a museum ship, located on the southernmost pier of the former Naval Air Station Alameda in Alameda, California, US. The museum is composed of the aircraft carrier , exhibits from the NASA Apollo Moon exploration m ...
and the kit itself presented by a retired SEAL alongside squad members Tommy Thompson, Joel Qwiberg, and, offshore in a military rescue boat, Nick Lima and Jackson Yueill.


Uniform history

;Home ;Away


Stadium

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...
: *
Negoesco Stadium Negoesco Stadium is a 3,000 seat soccer stadium located in San Francisco, on the campus of University of San Francisco. The facility was named in honour of USF soccer coach Steve Negoesco. The stadium is also used by USF students and staff for ...
:
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
(July 24, 2001) vs
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 ...
* Cagan Stadium: Stanford, California (2011–2012) * Kezar Stadium:
San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...
(2012, 2014) On January 13, 2007, the '' San Jose Mercury News'' reported that the city of San Jose,
San Jose State University San José State University (San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university in San Jose, California. Established in 1857, SJSU is the oldest public university on the West Coast and the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) sys ...
and the Earthquakes owners were in negotiations to build a
soccer stadium Soccer-specific stadium is a term used mainly in the United States and Canada to refer to a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-pu ...
just east of the Earthquakes' previous home, Spartan Stadium. The new facility, to have 22,000 permanent seats but be expandable to a capacity of 30,000 for single games, would be privately built by Lewis Wolff and John Fisher, the primary owners of the Earthquakes, with San Jose State providing the needed land. Additionally, the team and the university would build community soccer fields across Senter Road in
Kelley Park Kelley Park is a city park in San Jose, California, United States. Location and facilities Kelley Park is bounded by Story Road (on the northwest), Senter Road (on the southwest), Roberts Street (on the northeast), and Yerba Buena High School an ...
using San Jose municipal bond money that had been approved years earlier for the purpose but never spent. The plan was for the new version of the San Jose Earthquakes to play in Spartan Stadium during the 2008 MLS season, then move into the new stadium in 2009. Plans for the stadium collapsed on April 19 of that year after the Earthquakes and SJSU could not come to an agreement on revenue sharing.


PayPal Park

On May 8, the city of San Jose and Earthquakes Soccer, LLC confirmed that their new primary focus was on a site near
San Jose International Airport Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport , commonly known simply as San Jose International Airport, is a city-owned public airport in San Jose, California, United States. It is named after San Jose native Norman Mineta, former United Sta ...
on the site of the former FMC plant. The new site was owned by the city, which was exploring either leasing it to Earthquakes Soccer, LLC or selling it outright. The site is adjacent to not only the airport but the planned BART extension to Santa Clara and the existing Santa Clara Caltrain station, and near both Interstate 880 and
U.S. Route 101 U.S. Route 101, or U.S. Highway 101 (US 101), is a north–south United States Numbered Highway that runs through the states of California, Oregon, and Washington, on the West Coast of the United States. It is also known as (The Royal Roa ...
. On June 12, 2007, the San Jose City Council voted unanimously to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding to explore construction of a new stadium to bring MLS back to San Jose and adopted a resolution authorizing the city manager to enter into an Exclusive Right to Negotiate agreement with Wolff and his partners regarding the potential development of the former FMC site. The first payment on the new stadium land of $3 million was made in June 2008. The preliminary designs were released to the public on September 19, 2009.
Earthquakes Stadium PayPal Park (formerly Earthquakes Stadium and Avaya Stadium) is a soccer-specific stadium in San Jose, California, United States, and is the home of Major League Soccer's San Jose Earthquakes. The stadium is located on the Airport West site t ...
was slated to be a three-sided European style stadium with 18,000 permanent seats and a grass berm at the open end. On March 16, 2010, the San Jose city council voted 9–0 to rezone the Airport West property to allow for development of the new Earthquakes Stadium. The San Jose Earthquakes franchise made history when 6,256 people participated in groundbreaking for the new stadium. This set a world record by
Guinness World Records ''Guinness World Records'', known from its inception in 1955 until 1999 as ''The Guinness Book of Records'' and in previous United States editions as ''The Guinness Book of World Records'', is a reference book published annually, listing world ...
as the largest ever crowd to participate in a groundbreaking ceremony. The construction was completed in early 2015 and hosted its first event, a friendly, pre-season match against LA Galaxy, on February 28, 2015. The stadium's official opening took place on March 22, 2015, when the Earthquakes hosted Chicago Fire for their first home game of the 2015 MLS regular season. Fatai Alashe scored the first official, regular-season goal at Avaya in the fifth minute of the 2–1 victory.


Club culture


Rivalries

The California Clásico is a rivalry between two
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 ...
teams, the
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 the San Jose Earthquakes, which existed from
1996 File:1996 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: A Centennial Olympic Park bombing, bomb explodes at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, set off by a radical Anti-abortion violence, anti-abortionist; The center fuel tank explodes on TWA Flight 8 ...
to
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
and was resumed in
2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...
. It is considered to be one of the oldest rivalries in American soccer. The rivalry originated from the historical
Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...
vs.
Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...
sporting and cultural rivalries, as well as from the relative proximity of the cities (about 360 miles apart) which allows rival fans to attend each other's games. While there have been several players to play for both teams beforehand, the rivalry intensified after the Anschutz Entertainment Group (owner of the Los Angeles Galaxy) took sole ownership of the San Jose Earthquakes in December 2002. The rivalry reached its peak from 2001 to 2005, during which time the Earthquakes and the Galaxy combined to win four
MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...
titles in a five-year period. Both clubs reached MLS Cup 2001, with San Jose posting a 2–1 overtime victory on goals by
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 ...
and Dwayne DeRosario. The Heritage Cup with
Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...
was begun in the
2009 MLS season The 2009 Major League Soccer season was the 14th season of Major League Soccer. The season began on March 19 and ended with MLS Cup 2009 on November 22 at Qwest Field in Seattle. Expansion team Seattle Sounders FC debuted as the league's 1 ...
by the respective supporters' groups. Any present or future MLS teams that carry on the names of their NASL predecessors are eligible for the Cup, but supporters of the other eligible MLS teams (
Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at P ...
and
Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...
) have chosen not to participate. San Jose and Seattle have had a rivalry since the NASL. However, it did not completely resurface during the 2009 season with fans of both teams viewing other clubs as bigger rivals. That season, the first MLS meeting of the teams was not considered for the competition due to the schedule consisting of two games in Seattle and only one in San Jose. Seattle won the initial meeting at home 2–0 and the second 2–1. The Earthquakes won the inaugural cup on
goals scored Goal difference, goal differential or points difference is a form of tiebreaker used to rank sport teams which finish on equal points in a league competition. Either "goal difference" or "points difference" is used, depending on whether matches a ...
after a 4–0 home victory on August 2, 2009.


Support

Among the supporters' groups affiliated with the Earthquakes are the San Jose Ultras, Club Quake, Soccer Silicon Valley, The Casbah, The Faultline, and Epicentro74. In stadium, the South end is occupied by the San Jose Ultras and the North end is occupied by the Seismic Union(The Faultline and Epicentro74). An Earthquakes fan was arrested for assaulting a Portland Timbers fan after taunting the group in April 2013. The 1906 Ultras responded via
Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
: "arrests issue addressed" and to be "moving beyond the issue" ahead of a travel ban that was lifted by Major League Soccer just days prior. Punk musician,
Lars Frederiksen Lars Erik Frederiksen (born Lars Erik Dapello, August 30, 1971) is an American musician and record producer best known as a guitarist and vocalist for the punk rock band Rancid, as well as the frontman of Lars Frederiksen and the Bastards and ...
is a supporter of the Earthquakes. Along with his band, The Old Firm Casuals, he wrote the new anthem and theme song, "Never Say Die", for the club, which was performed as part of the team's rebranding ceremony on January 30, 2014. The song features backing vocals by various team members. Frederiksen said of the team that they are the most "punk rock" team in the MLS.


Mascots

* José Clash (1996–1999) * Rikter the CyberDog (2000–2002) * Q (2004–2005), (2008–present) There was no mascot in 2003. On April 26, 2010, Q was one of three mascots featured on
KNTV KNTV (channel 11), branded as NBC Bay Area, is a television station licensed to San Jose, California, United States, serving as the San Francisco Bay Area's NBC network outlet. It is owned and operated by the network's NBC Owned Television Sta ...
, along with
San Jose Sharks The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division in the Western Conference, and are owned by San Jose Sports & Entertainm ...
mascot S.J. Sharkie and San Jose Giants mascot "Gigante".


Revenue and profitability

At the beginning of 2013, the Quakes had 5,000 season ticket holders, and although revenues had been increasing, the Quakes stadium did not allow them to generate sufficient revenues to be profitable.Sports Business Journal, MLS club presidents on the season ahead, March 4, 2013, http://m.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2013/03/04/In-Depth/Presidents.aspx Quakes management predicted in 2013 that season ticket sales would double once they move into their new stadium, and the Quakes would become profitable at that time. Management also stated that they are "pursuing independent revenue streams that will provide the team with real and lasting financial freedom."A New Day for the 'Quakes – As Stadium Nears Completion, 'Big Plans' Revealed, September 13, 2014, https://www.amway.com/Registration With the completion of their new soccer-specific Avaya Stadium, in early 2015 the Earthquakes reached their cap of 12,000 season tickets sold.


Sponsorship


Broadcasting

San Jose Earthquakes games are broadcast by either
NBC Sports Bay Area NBC Sports Bay Area (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS Bay Area) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between NBCUniversal and the San Francisco Giants, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. Headquart ...
or
NBC Sports California NBC Sports California (sometimes abbreviated as NBCS California) is an American regional sports network owned by the NBC Sports Group unit of NBCUniversal, and operates as an affiliate of NBC Sports Regional Networks. The channel broadcasts regio ...
with Anthony Passarelli on play-by-play,
Chris Dangerfield Christopher George Dangerfield (born 9 August 1955) is an English former footballer who spent most of his career in the United States. He began his career in England before playing ten seasons in the North American Soccer League and at least ...
on color, and sideline reporter
Danielle Slaton Danielle Victoria Slaton (born June 10, 1980) is an American retired professional soccer player. She is currently a soccer analyst for the San Jose Earthquakes, Fox Sports and the Pac-12 Network. A five-year member of the United States women' ...
. On the radio, all Earthquakes games are broadcast in English on 1050 KNBR and in Spanish on 1370 KZSF. Announcer Ted Ramey works as the primary English-language radio play-by-play announcer along with radio color analyst and former Earthquakes goalie Joe Cannon, while Carlos Cesar Rivera serves as the Spanish-language radio play-by-play announcer. The Spanish-language radio broadcast is carried via
SAP Sap is a fluid transported in xylem cells (vessel elements or tracheids) or phloem sieve tube elements of a plant. These cells transport water and nutrients throughout the plant. Sap is distinct from latex, resin, or cell sap; it is a separa ...
on Earthquakes regional television broadcasts.


Players and staff


Roster


Team management


Honors


Team

*
MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...
** Champions (2):
2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
,
2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...
*
Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 19 ...
** Champions (2):
2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...
,
2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
* Individual Club Awards **
MLS Fair Play Award The Fair Play Award in Major League Soccer was the award that was given to an individual player and a team who presented best overall sportsmanlike behavior in addition to receiving one of the lowest numbers of yellow Yellow is the color be ...
: 2001, 2010


Player


Record


Year-by-year

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by the Quakes. For the full season-by-season history, see List of San Jose Earthquakes seasons. 1. Avg. Attendance include statistics from league matches only.
2. Top Goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in League,
MLS Cup Playoffs The MLS Cup Playoffs is the annual postseason elimination tournament of Major League Soccer. The final match of the tournament is the MLS Cup, the league's championship game. Under the current format adopted for the 2019 season, 14 teams qualif ...
,
U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...
, MLS is Back Tournament,
CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...
,
FIFA Club World Cup The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...
, and other competitive continental matches.


International tournaments

*
2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 2002 CONCACAF Champions' Cup, also known as the 2002 FC Champions Cup, was the 37th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Cham ...
:: First Round v. Club Deportivo Olimpia – 1:0, 3:1 (Earthquakes advanced 4:1 on aggregate) :: Quarter-Finals v. C.F. Pachuca – 0:3, 1:0 (Pachuca advanced 3:1 on aggregate) * 2003
La Manga Cup La Manga Cup is a winter football tournament played in La Manga Club, La Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia, Spain). Usual participants are clubs from countries with a summer football season: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Ukraine Uk ...
:: Group stage v.
Rosenborg BK Rosenborg Ballklub, commonly referred to simply as Rosenborg () or RBK, is a Norwegian professional football club from Trondheim that plays in Eliteserien. The club has won a record 26 league titles, a shared record 12 Norwegian Football Cup ti ...
– 0:2 :: Group stage v. FC Rubin Kazan – 1:1 :: Group stage v. Viking FK – 1:3 :: Seventh place match v. Lyn Oslo – 3:1 *
2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 2003 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 38th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It was won by Club Toluca aft ...
:: First Round v.
C.S.D. Municipal Club Social y Deportivo Municipal, also known as Municipal or ''Los Rojos'' (the Reds), is a Guatemalan football club based in Guatemala City. They compete in the Liga Nacional, the top tier of Guatemalan football, and play their home matches ...
– 2:4, 2:1 (Municipal advanced 5:4 on aggregate) * 2004
La Manga Cup La Manga Cup is a winter football tournament played in La Manga Club, La Manga del Mar Menor (Murcia, Spain). Usual participants are clubs from countries with a summer football season: Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Russia, Ukraine Uk ...
:: Group stage v.
GIF Sundsvall Gymnastik- och Idrottsföreningen Sundsvall, more commonly known as GIF Sundsvall (), Giffarna or simply Sundsvall, is a Swedish professional football club based in Sundsvall. The club is affiliated with Medelpads Fotbollförbund and plays its h ...
– 3:1 :: Group stage v. Stabæk Fotball – 2:1 :: Semi-finals v. Viking FK – 1:1 (Viking Stavanger advanced 5:3 on penalties) :: Third place match v.
FC Dynamo Kyiv Football Club Dynamo Kyiv (, ) is a Ukrainian professional football club based in Kyiv. Founded in 1927 as a Kyivan football team of republican branch of the bigger Soviet Dynamo Sports Society, the club as a separate business entity was offici ...
– 1:1 (Earthquakes won 6:5 on penalties) *
2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup The 2004 CONCACAF Champions' Cup was the 39th edition of the annual international club football competition held in the CONCACAF region (North America, Central America and the Caribbean), the CONCACAF Champions' Cup. It was won by Alajuelense aft ...
:: Quarter-Finals v.
L.D. Alajuelense Liga Deportiva Alajuelense (LDA, ), commonly known as Alajuelense and nicknamed La Liga (), is a Costa Rican multisport club based in the borough of El Llano, Alajuela, Alajuela province. Although they compete in a number of different sports, Ala ...
– 0:3, 1:0 (Alajuelense advanced 3:1 on aggregate) *
2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League The 2013–14 CONCACAF Champions League was the 6th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 49th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of North ...
:: Group stage v. Montreal Impact – 0:1 :: Group stage v. Heredia Jaguares de Peten – 0:1 :: Group stage v. Montreal Impact – 3:0 :: Group stage v. Heredia Jaguares de Peten – 1:0 :: Quarterfinals v.
Deportivo Toluca F.C. Deportivo Toluca Fútbol Club S.A. de C.V. (), commonly known as Club Deportivo Toluca, is a Mexican football club, playing in the Primera División de México, the top-flight of Mexican football. Toluca's stadium, Estadio Nemesio Díez Riega ...
– 1:1, 1:1 (Toluca advanced 5:4 on penalties)


Player records


Career records

Statistics below are for all-time leaders. Statistics are for regular season only. Bold indicates active players.


Single-season records


Average attendance

Notes: * Data from 2006 to 2007 not shown due to the team's hiatus. * A dash means that the team missed the playoffs that year. * The years marked with an asterisk show the seasons in which average attendance exceeded the regular home stadium's capacity. Attendance exceeded capacity because the Earthquakes played select matches at larger stadiums throughout the Bay Area. * ''NHG'': Refers to the team not having played at home during the playoffs. * Green and red shading show the team's highest and lowest season attendances respectively. * All-time attendance: / (''Regular season / Play-offs'')


Leadership and players


Hall of Fame

Players * John Doyle (inducted 2005) * Ronald Cerritos (inducted 2010) * Troy Dayak (inducted 2011) * Paul Child (inducted 2012) *
Momčilo Gavrić Momčilo Gavrić ( sr-Cyrl, Момчило Гаврић; 1 May 1906 – 28 April 1993) was the youngest Serbian soldier, he became a soldier at the age of eight.
(inducted 2013) * Johnny Moore (inducted 2014) * Ramiro Corrales (inducted 2015) * Joe Cannon (inducted 2017) *
Chris Dangerfield Christopher George Dangerfield (born 9 August 1955) is an English former footballer who spent most of his career in the United States. He began his career in England before playing ten seasons in the North American Soccer League and at least ...
(inducted 2018) *
Jon Busch Jon Busch (born August 18, 1976) is an American professional soccer coach and former player, who played as a goalkeeper. Busch is currently the goalkeeping coach for USL Championship club Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC. He is best remembered for h ...
(inducted 2018) *
Richard Mulrooney Richard Mulrooney (born November 3, 1976) is an American former soccer player. He is the current men's soccer coach at the University of Memphis. Career College Mulrooney played four years of college soccer at Creighton University, where he re ...
(inducted 2019) Builders * Milan Mandarić (inducted 2012) *
Peter Bridgwater Peter Bridgwater (March 7, 1935 – June 21, 2005) was the first president of the San Jose Clash—later known as the San Jose Earthquakes— Major League Soccer franchise. Prior to arriving in the Bay Area, Bridgwater was an executive of the ...
(inducted 2013) Staff * Dave Obenour (inducted 2019) * Frank Yallop (inducted 2022)


Team captains


Head coaches


General managers


Ownership

*
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 ...
(1996–98) * Kraft Sports Group (1999–00) * Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (2001) * Silicon Valley Sports & Entertainment (Operations) / Anschutz Entertainment Group (Investment) (2002) * Anschutz Entertainment Group (2003–05) * Earthquakes Soccer, LLC (2007–)


See also

* San Jose Earthquakes (1974–88) *
2007 MLS Expansion Draft The 2007 MLS Expansion Draft was held on November 21, 2007, and is a special draft for the Major League Soccer expansion team San Jose Earthquakes. They made 10 selections from a pool of players from current MLS clubs. Format * Only one player may ...
*
List of San Jose Earthquakes rosters San Jose Earthquakes are an American soccer club founded in 1994 as the San Jose Clash after the city of San Jose, California, San Jose was awarded an inaugural Major League Soccer (MLS) franchise. San Jose began playing competitive soccer in the ...


References


External links

* {{Portal bar, Association football, United States Association football clubs established in 1974 E 1974 establishments in California Phoenix clubs (association football) Major League Soccer teams