San Diego 1904 FC was an American professional soccer team based in

San Diego, California San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United Stat ...

, United States. In December 2021, the team was absorbed by

Albion San Diego Albion San Diego, formerly Albion SC Pros, is an American professional soccer team based in San Diego, California that currently plays in the National Independent Soccer Association, on the third tier of the United States soccer league system. ...

, which effectively took over 1904's membership 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).

History

The name 1904 was suggested by a fan, and refers to S and D, the nineteenth and fourth letters of the alphabet (also, the letters S and D resemble the numbers 9 and 0 in the club logo). Commenters on social media pointed out that the number could also be seen as a reference to a joke in the film '' Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy'' (in which Burgundy falsely asserts that San Diego was "discovered by the Germans in 1904"), leading journalists to suggest that reference may have been intentional. The club's founders include soccer players Demba Ba and

Eden Hazard Eden Michael Walter Hazard (born 7 January 1991) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a winger or attacking midfielder for La Liga club Real Madrid. Known for his creativity, dribbling, passing and vision, Hazard is considered o ...

. The club intended to build a soccer stadium in Oceanside, approximately north of downtown San Diego. The team was originally announced to make its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2018. However, due to the cancellation of the 2018 NASL season, the expansion team withdrew from the NASL and attempted to reach an agreement to join the

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

in 2019. On June 7, 2018, it was revealed that 1904 FC's exclusive negotiating window had elapsed without agreement in place to join USL. On September 6, 2018, the

(NISA), a planned Division III league, confirmed that San Diego 1904 FC was the league's first member club. NISA has applied to the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

(U.S. Soccer) for sanctioning as a Division III league to start play in 2019. The club played at 70,561-seat capacity

SDCCU Stadium San Diego Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium on the west coast of the United States, in San Diego, California. The stadium opened in 1967 as San Diego Stadium and was known as Jack Murphy Stadium from 1981 to 1997. From 1997 to 2017, the stadi ...

for the Fall 2019 NISA season. On August 29, 2019, Alexandre Gontran was announced as the club's first head coach. In the spring, the team announced it would move to Lincoln High School within the city. On July 28, 2020, the team announced it would go on hiatus for the Fall 2020 NISA season 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 identi ...

and un-sustainability that would come from playing behind closed doors. On September 2, NISA and the team both confirmed it would be returning for the Spring 2021 season. This continued into 2021 when the team was announced as one of nine participating teams in both the Spring season and NISA Legends Cup tournament. On July 7, it was announced that 1904 FC had withdrawn from the 2021 NISA Independent Cup, with the league citing that the club had opted for a "different route to prepare for the fall season". In December 2021, the team announced it would be taken over by

Stadiums

;

(2019) * Lincoln High School; San Diego, California (2020) * Chula Vista Elite Athlete Training Center; Chula Vista, California (2021)

Year-by-year

References

External links

* {{California sports Association football clubs established in 2017 2017 establishments in California Soccer clubs in San Diego Soccer clubs in California National Independent Soccer Association teams