Stumptown AC, formerly Stumptown Athletic, is an American professional soccer team that plays in the

National Independent Soccer Association The National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States. The league is in the third tier of American soccer and began play in 2019. NISA initially used a fall-to-spring season format with a ...

(NISA). The club is based in

Matthews, North Carolina Matthews is a town in southeastern Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, United States. It is a suburb of Charlotte. The population was 27,198 according to the 2010 Census. History In the early 19th century, the new settlement that would become Ma ...

, a suburb of

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont (United States), Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Meckl ...

History

Following an initial bid in late 2017, the team was first announced by the National Independent Soccer Association on October 23, 2018 with plans to begin play in the inaugural 2019–20 season. Originally referred to in league press releases simply as "Charlotte", the name Stumptown Athletic was officially unveiled in June 2019. The name came from an early nickname for Matthews derived from the fact that farmers cut down so many trees to clear land that the town was left full of

tree stump After a tree has been cut and felled, the stump or tree stump is usually a small remaining portion of the trunk with the roots still in the ground. Stumps may show the age-defining rings of a tree. The study of these rings is known as dendrochrono ...

s. The team was originally owned by Christopher Clarke of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, a lawyer specializing in

wealth management Wealth management (WM) or wealth management advisory (WMA) is an investment advisory service that provides financial management and wealth advisory services to a wide array of clients ranging from affluent to high-net-worth (HNW) and ultra-high- ...

, and Casey Carr, a former

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

player with the

DePaul Blue Demons The DePaul Blue Demons are the athletic teams that represent DePaul University, located in Chicago, Illinois. The Blue Demons participate in NCAA Division I and are a member of the Big East Conference. DePaul’s Athletic Director is DeWayne ...

and an entrepreneur based out of Mecklenburg County. Carr also served as the club's president and GM. On July 21, 2019 the club appointed

Mark Steffens Mark Luther Steffens (born June 9, 1953 in Huntington, New York, United States) is an American soccer coach. Playing career A native of Huntington, New York and also raised in Syosset, New York, Steffens attended The King's College in New York ...

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

. Steffens previously coached the

Charlotte Eagles The Charlotte Eagles are an American professional soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina, United States. Founded in 1991, the team plays in USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The team plays its home games at ...

and served as an assistant for the

Charlotte Lady Eagles Charlotte Lady Eagles is an American women's soccer team, founded in 2000. Between 2002 and 2015 the Lady Eagles were a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and Canada, and a memb ...

. In August, Stumptown announced former

Jamaica national football team The Jamaica national football team, nicknamed the "Reggae Boyz", represents Jamaica in international football. The team's first match was against Haiti in 1925. The squad is under the supervising body of the Jamaica Football Federation (JFF ...

player

Michael Binns Michael George Binns (born 12 August 1988) is a Jamaican footballer who most recently played for Stumptown Athletic in the National Independent Soccer Association and the Jamaica national football team. Career International goals :''Scores ...

and Jared Odenbeck as their first signings. During the Fall 2019 showcase, Stumptown competed within the East Coast Conference and finished second in their group. In the championship game the team fell to

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

, 3–0. After two matches in the Spring 2020 season, NISA announced a suspension of play due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. Eventually, the entire Spring Season was cancelled outright. Following a hiatus during the Fall 2020 season, the team's original front office dissolved the club and it was reformed under the new name Stumptown AC on March 3, 2021. Soccer executive Fred Matthes and former

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 ...

assistant coach

Rod Underwood Rod Underwood (born in New Orleans, United States) is an American former soccer player and currently head coach and sporting director for Chattanooga FC in the National Independent Soccer Association. Playing career Underwood began playing soccer ...

were announced as the new team president and head coach, respectively. The club's supporters' group is the QC Royals, which was founded in 2015.

Stadium

In 2021, the team announced it would play exclusively at the

Sportsplex at Matthews The Sportsplex at Matthews is a large sports complex and park in Matthews, North Carolina, southeast of Charlotte, featuring 12 full-sized soccer fields anchored by a 2,300-seat stadium. The stadium currently seats 5,000 as it has been expanded ...

and has played all of its home games there since.

Players and staff

Current roster

Technical staff

Logo history

Stumptown Athletic logo.png, Stumptown Athletic
(2019–2020) Stumptown AC logo blue.svg, Stumptown AC
(2021–)

Year-by-year

References

External links

* 2018 establishments in North Carolina Association football clubs established in 2018 Soccer clubs in North Carolina Sports teams in Charlotte, North Carolina National Independent Soccer Association teams {{NorthCarolina-footyclub-stub