San Diego Zest FC is an American

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 in

San Diego 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 List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States. The club was founded in 2016 and is owned and operated by San Diego Sports Authority, a Japanese-owned sports management company. They compete as LA Galaxy SD Zest in

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

and play their home matches at James Madison High School's George Hoagland Stadium. The team colors are Orange and Navy.

History

The San Diego Zest FC was established in 2016 by a sports management company called San Diego Sports Authority, hereafter SDSA, located at San Diego, CA. The project was started in 2014 with aim of developing the local community soccer level and providing Japanese soccer players the path to pro in the U.S. On January 21, 2016, the

USL PDL USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

announced that it had awarded the franchise to San Diego Zest FC, starting with the 2016 season. "San Diego has for a long time been a target city for the USL PDL, we are very excited the outstanding leadership of the San Diego Sports Authority will be the group that brings the league to a great soccer city, and are looking forward to working with the club for many years to come.” said league director Todd Eason.

2016: Inaugural Season

* San Diego Zest FC had a very successful inaugural season campaign. They finished with an 8-1-5 record, which resulted in a 2nd-place finish in the Southwestern Division and clinching a berth into the USL PDL playoffs. They lost in a very close match to

FC Golden State Force FC Golden State Force is an American soccer team based in Whittier, California, United States that currently plays in USL League Two. The club currently plays at Rio Hondo College Rio Hondo College is a public community college in Whittie ...

2–3 in overtime. ZestFCMatchPhoto

* Zest FC was led by its two stars, UCLA's DF/MF Erik Holt, and Chico State's FW

Matthew Hurlow-Paonessa Matthew Hurlow-Paonessa (born July 17, 1994) is an American soccer player who played as a forward for Phoenix Rising FC in the USL. Career College & Amateur Hurlow-Paonessa played four years of college soccer at Chico State University betwee ...

. Holt was named to PDL's All-Western Conference team, scoring 2 goals and playing very well in the playoffs. Hurlow-Paonessa was a scoring phenomenon for Zest FC, scoring 9 goals and contributing an assist during his campaign. * Hurlow-Paonessa became the first player to sign with a professional soccer club in San Diego Zest FC's history, agreeing to his first professional contract with

Phoenix Rising FC Phoenix Rising Football Club is an American professional Association football, soccer team based in Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2014 as Arizona United Soccer Club, the team is a member of the USL Championship. History On March 13, 2014, Kyle E ...

2017: Second Season

* On February 22, 2017, San Diego Zest FC officially clinched a berth for the 2017

Lamar Hunt 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 ...

as a result from their very successful inaugural season. They lost to

LA Wolves FC L.A. Wolves FC is an American amateur soccer club based in Torrance, California. They are named after the Los Angeles Wolves who played in the United Soccer Association in 1967 and in the North American Soccer League in 1968. The club feature ...

in the opening round 2-4 in their U.S. Open Cup debut. Zest FC was not able to carry its high performance from its inaugural season, finishing with a 3-9-2 record in its 2nd season.

Introduced Women's Team To Compete in 2018

* On May 22, 2017, San Diego Zest FC announced the founding of an all woman's team to compete in the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is the top amateur league for women's soccer in the United States soccer pyramid, below only National Women's Soccer League (NWSL). T ...

, WPSL, starting in the 2018 season. The sister club of the San Diego Zest will hope to emulate the same success their founding team who are competing in their second season as members of the USL PDL.

New Ownership of Montenegrin Third Division Club FK Adria

* On October 4, San Diego Zest FC announced its new ownership of Montenegro soccer club, FK Adria, launched and started competing in the Montenegrin Third League in the 2017–2018 season. FK Adria, named after the Adriatic Sea, has a mission to groom people to be successful individuals, even after their playing careers have ended, at the international level by implementing a vision that includes what the team calls "character-building through soccer.

Partnership with Los Angeles Galaxy San Diego

* San Diego Zest FC announced a new partnership with Los Angeles Galaxy San Diego on November 17th. Zest FC and LA Galaxy San Diego are committed to benefiting each other through cooperation and developing good sportsmanship within the athletes while promoting enthusiasm within the community locally, nationally, and internationally through soccer.

U.S. Pro Soccer Combine in Japan

* San Diego Zest FC hosted a 2-Day U.S. Pro Soccer Combine on December 16th and 17th in Fukuoka, Japan. Four clubs from

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, pl ...

including

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professiona ...

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL-1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

North Carolina FC North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games a ...

and

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is a Major League Soccer team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The team began play in the league in 2020 as a continuation of the USL club of the same name and plays its home matches at Geodis Park. It is principally owned ...

. attended for scouting Asian talents. Several players from the combine were invited to each club's second tryout. USL-Coaches

2018: Third Season

Zest FC Women Announces New Affiliation with Japan's First Division Club
AC Nagano Parceiro Ladies is a women's football club based in Nagano and affiliated with AC Nagano Parceiro. The team currently plays in the WE League, the highest division of women's football in Japan. Kits Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors Staff Managerial his ...

* San Diego Zest FC has announced that its women’s team, San Diego Zest FC Women, which will be competing its inaugural season in Women’s Premier Soccer League this summer, has affiliated with Japanese club AC Nagano Parceiro Ladies, which currently competes in Japan’s women’s first division. AC Nagano Parceiro Ladies was established in 2000. The team is owned by AC Nagano Parceiro, which competes in Japan’s Men’s third division, J3 League. Former Parceiro Ladies player, Kumi Yokohama, has been selected for Japan’s national team squad since 2015 and currently plays for

FFC Frankfurt Eintracht Frankfurt is a German women's association football club based in Frankfurt. Its first team currently plays in the German top flight, Frauen-Bundesliga. From 1998 to 2020, the club was known as 1. FFC Frankfurt. Eintracht have won se ...

, which competes in the first division of Women’s Bundesliga. Sdpl-060818

Year-by-year

Head coaches

* Cem Tont (2016–2017) * Jaewoo Kim (2018–present)

Coaching Staff

Players

Preseason Invitees Signed to Roster
/ref>

Notable former players

''This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.'' *

(2016,

Chico State Wildcats The Chico State Wildcats (also CSU Chico Wildcats and Cal State Chico Wildcats) are the athletic teams that represent California State University, Chico, located in Chico, California, in NCAA Division II intercollegiate sports. The Wildcats comp ...

) *

Brian Iloski Brian Michael Iloski (born September 4, 1995) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays as a midfielder for Orange County in the USL Championship. Club career Legia Warsaw Iloski originally was drafted by the Colorado Rap ...

(2016,

UCLA Bruins The UCLA Bruins are the athletic teams that represent the University of California, Los Angeles. The Bruin men's and women's teams participate in NCAA Division I as part of the Pac-12 Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF). ...

Legia Warsaw Legia Warszawa (), commonly referred to as Legia Warsaw or simply Legia, is a professional football club based in Warsaw, Poland. Legia is the most successful Polish football club in history, winning record 15 Ekstraklasa champions titles, a ...

) *

Erik Holt Erik Lee Holt (born September 6, 1996) is an American soccer player who plays as a defender for Real Salt Lake in Major League Soccer. Career College and amateur Holt played four years of college soccer at the University of California, Los A ...

(2016,

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 ...

) *

Justin Fiddes Justin Fiddes (born January 3, 1996) is a former American soccer player. Career College Fiddes played four years of college soccer at the University of Washington between 2014 and 2017. During his time at Washington, Fiddes was named Second T ...

(2016,

Washington Huskies The Washington Huskies are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Washington, located in Seattle. The school competes at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac- ...

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 ...

) *

Don Tchilao Armel Don Akla-Esso Tchilao (born 20 August 1996) is a Beninese footballer who last played for San Diego 1904 FC in the National Independent Soccer Association. Career College and amateur Tchilao spent his entire college career at Oregon State ...

(2017,

Oregon State Beavers The Oregon State Beavers are the athletic teams that represent Oregon State University, located in Corvallis, Oregon. The Beavers compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I ( Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) for c ...

LA Galaxy II LA Galaxy II is an American professional soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, United States founded in 2014. It is the reserve team of the LA Galaxy. The team competes in MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the United Sta ...

) *

Abdoulaye Cissoko Abdoulaye "AB" Cissoko (born 27 December 1999) is a French professional footballer who currently plays for MLS side Seattle Sounders FC. Career Cissoko appeared for his local side Les Ulis, playing in the French Championnat National 3, in both ...

(2019,

Tacoma Defiance Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, is an American professional soccer team based in Tacoma, Washington, U.S. that competes in the MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the national soccer pyramid, as the reserve team of Seattle Sounde ...

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 ...

)

Average Attendance

* 2016: 365 * 2017: 293 * 2018: 121 * 2019: TBD

External links

San Diego Zest FC Official Website

References

{{California sports USL League Two teams Association football clubs established in 2016

Zest Zest may refer to: Common usage * Zest (ingredient), the outer peel of a citrus fruit ** Zester, a tool for preparing zest ** Twist (cocktail garnish), a piece of zest * Zest (positive psychology), a component of character Brands * Zest (brand ...

2016 establishments in California