Saint Louis FC was 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 St. Louis,

Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...

. The team was founded in May 2014, and competed in the

USL Championship 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 ...

. The team played their matches at West Community Stadium, a venue inside the World Wide Technology Soccer Park.

History

SLSG Pro LLC (affiliated with St. Louis area youth club St. Louis Scott Gallagher) was awarded the USL Pro franchise on May 1, 2014. That same day, the club announced that they would play their home games at the 5,500 seat World Wide Technology Soccer Park in

Fenton, Missouri Fenton is a city in St. Louis County, Missouri, United States, and a suburb of St. Louis. The population was 4,022 at the 2010 census. History Due to its proximity to fertile land and the Meramec River, the Fenton area has been inhabited for ...

Dale Schilly Dale Schilly (born in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American soccer coach. He attended Rosary High School, which today is part of Trinity Catholic High School, and Florida International University. In addition to his coaching duties, Schilly is a ...

, the youth club director of SLSG, was named head coach. On June 2, 2014, it was announced that the team's name was Saint Louis Football Club. Former AC St. Louis player

Mike Ambersley Mike Ambersley (born February 14, 1983) is a retired American soccer player who recently played for Saint Louis FC in the United Soccer League. Career College and amateur Ambersley attended De Smet Jesuit High School where he was a NSCAA and ...

was the first player signed to the team on January 13, 2015. On January 16, 2015, the team announced their affiliation with the Chicago Fire 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 Cana ...

. St. Louis FC played their inaugural game on March 28, 2015, losing to Louisville City 2–0. Their first victory was against the

Tulsa Roughnecks Tulsa Roughnecks may refer to any of four distinct professional soccer teams: *Tulsa Roughnecks (1978–1984), the original top-flight team that played in the North American Soccer League from 1978 to 1984. *Tulsa Roughnecks (1993–2000), the team ...

on April 2, 2015, winning 2–0. Jeremie Lynch scored the team's first ever goal in the 42nd minute. Their home debut was a 1–1 draw against the Pittsburgh Riverhounds on April 11, 2015, before of a sellout crowd of 5,280. The team's first home win came against the Wilmington Hammerheads on May 9, 2015, with the winning goal by Sam Fink. On May 16, 2016, Saint Louis FC announced that they had acquired the

PDL PDL is an initialism for: Politics * Democratic Liberal Party (''Partidul Democrat Liberal''), a former political party in Romania *Labour Democratic Party (''Partito Democratico del Lavoro''), a former political party in Italy *Pole of Freedom ...

team

Springfield Synergy FC Saint Louis FC U23 were an American soccer team based in Fenton, Missouri, United States. Founded in 2006, the team played in the Premier Development League (PDL), now USL League Two, the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Heart ...

and renamed the team as Saint Louis FC U-23. On August 15, 2016, Saint Louis FC announced that Dale Schilly had been relieved of coaching duties; Tim Leonard was named as interim head coach. On October 12, 2016, Saint Louis FC introduced

Preki Predrag Radosavljević ( sr-Cyrl, Предраг Радосављевић; born June 24, 1963), better known by the nickname Preki (), is a Serbian-American former soccer player and coach. He is currently an assistant coach with Seattle Sound ...

as the new head coach. On February 15, 2017, Saint Louis FC and the Chicago Fire did not renew their affiliation for the 2017 season. On November 19, 2017, the club announced that

and the club were parting ways by mutual agreement. Anthony Pulis joined the team from

Orlando City B Orlando City B (or OCB for short) is an American soccer club that began play in 2016 and currently plays in MLS Next Pro. Owned by Orlando City SC and based at the Orlando City training facility in Kissimmee, the club plays its home games at Osce ...

to take over the role of head coach the next day. On August 25, 2020, citing the financial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic during 2020, it was announced that the 2020 season would be the final season of operation for the club.

Supporters

The official supporters group of Saint Louis FC was the St. Louligans. The St. Louligans were founded in 2010 when several local soccer fan groups joined forces at AC St. Louis home games. These small groups eventually decided to create a new group to unite them all, and the St. Louligans were born. They have provided strong support for a number of St. Louis area soccer teams, including AC St. Louis, Saint Louis Athletica, St. Louis Lions, and Illinois Piasa. Saint Louis FC worked closely with the St. Louligans to encourage their support, and on July 9, 2014, the club awarded the Louligans with the first Saint Louis FC season ticket. The group promised that for each home game, they would give a new fan the ticket as a way to encourage new fans to join the St. Louligans and support Saint Louis FC. Ahead of the inaugural 2015 season, the Louligans coordinated with the Coopers, supporters for Louisville City FC, to create the Kings' Cup rivalry competition between the two expansion teams. The rivalry was incredibly one-sided on the field in Louisville's favor, but the two SGs enjoy interacting with each other and traveling to each other's matches.

Colors and logo

The club conducted a fan vote to decide the team's crest. The logo chosen includes a fleur-de-lis, which acts as the focal point of the logo and pays tribute to Saint Louis' French heritage. Also included in the logo is a reference to the year the city was founded, 1764, and five lines to represent the club's five core values: unity, humility, passion, respect, and tradition.

Year-by-year

Head coaches

* Includes USL Regular season, USL Play-offs and Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

Player records

Statistics below show the all-time regular-season club leaders. Bold indicates active Saint Louis FC players. * All-time regular season record: 39–46–39 (''Through 2018 season'')

References

External links

* {{Soccer in St. Louis Association football clubs established in 2014 Association football clubs disestablished in 2020 FC Soccer clubs in Missouri 2014 establishments in Missouri Former USL Championship teams