2024 Club Profile - Orlando City SC

They said soccer would never work here. They said no one would come, but they did. I should know. I've been here since the start. That's me, Miguel Gallardo. I was Orlando City's first ever player, and I was there when we won the USL Pro Championship in our very first season. I was there when we did it again two years later, and the whole city fell under the spell of the beautiful game. Orlando City wins its second championship in three years. One of America's most diverse and vibrant communities brought together by the spirit of soccer. Not even three years after we first took the pitch, we were on our way to Major League Soccer. Orlando City SC as Major League Soccer's 21st expansion team. When Orlando does something, we do it big. We brought a world superstar, Kaká. We bring in Ricardo Kaká, one of the greatest players of all time as our first designated player. 62,000 have come to witness the birth. In front of more than 60,000 fans, Kaká brought us to Major League Soccer with a bang. Takes it, and it's deflected. No history, and it's Kaká who has done it. In the first year, we beat the reigning champs 4-0, and we put MLS on notice. Camping World Stadium was our stadium for those first two years, but we had grand plans for a home of our own. Exploria Stadium opened on March 5th, 2017. After six years as tenants, Orlando City finally get a home of their own. A sea of smoke and noise with America's first ever safe-standing supporter section, which we call The Wall. A gift from the gods, so says the ruckus, and the Iron Lion firm, the two big supporters groups. We won our first five games played at Exploria, a new MLS record. It wasn't always easy, though. Fast starts faded into summer slides, and our first five years went by without a single playoff appearance. 2018 saw a new low. A six-game winning streak in the spring turned into two wins in the final 25 games of the year. But better days would come. Luis Mussi arrived in 2019 to run soccer ops and quickly brought a European champion in Nani, an explosive human Haile Rio who loves a golazo. Nani shoots! Oh my goodness, Luis Nani! Goal! Absolutely filthy. Along with Nani, Mussi brought stability and a strong spine. 2019 was also the season that we made The Wall move. And now the fans unleashed aloud into the section as they flood in behind the goal. You see Will Johnson waving the supporters on. Bobby, this is what the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is all about. This is awesome, baby. In the quarterfinals of the 2019 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, The Wall stormed the concourse and filled the opposite end of the stadium to help create one of the most memorable moments in club history. Chenault, the short run-up. It was the beginning of a new era, an era led by a man who would bring Orlando City to new heights, Oscar Pareja. The pieces started to fall into place in 2020, and even though it looked a little bit different in the beginning... Nani steps up, waits, shoots! Banani! Goal! ...we reached the final of the MLS's back tournament. And Orlando City will host their own final party. And then we reached the MLS Cup playoffs for the first time in club history. This is it, the moment everyone has been waiting six years, really, in your case, 10 years for, Orlando City's first ever MLS Cup playoff. Once we got there, well, you know. The penalty kick. Galesa has been sent off. I can't believe it! Rodrigo Schlegel is now putting on a goalkeeper kit to be the emergency goalkeeper. My goodness. This is 2020. The unthinkable happens, unprecedented things happen. Schlegel! Benji! The most insane, ludicrously off-the-wall games you will ever see. The soccer gods decided that this was a game for Orlando City to win. 2020 also brought us The Mummy. DK puts it home! Supertrampic Daryl, DK made his way from Oklahoma to Orlando and then to the U.S. National Team. Daryl, DK, superstar! Sees only purple! The next year brought new ownership to the club in the Wilf family, with a focus on investing both on and off the field to bring success to our club and our community. After yet another playoff appearance in 2021, breakthrough. Here's Bato, firing Orlando into the lead. Looking cool as ever. Junior Uso. Will this be something if it goes in? Scores! Steinu Hart denies Duke. Orlando City is moving on. Ball floated forward. Ball bounces in front! It's in! It's Schlegel! Carlos! Cold-blooded. More denied! Lions ran through the bracket of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. That sends Orlando City to their first Open Cup final. And right into the club's first ever trophy in the MLS era. But this was just the first chapter of making club history. In 2023, the Lions took it to the next level with their best MLS season ever, smashing club record after club record. Most points, most wins, most road wins, second place in the league, a fourth consecutive playoff appearance and a ticket book to the CONCACAF Champions Cup once again. But the desire to want more, the sense of unfinished business and the confidence that this club can go all the way paves the path into 2024. Our head coach is Oscar Pareja. The winningest coach in our club's history and one of the most respected coaches in the league. But we just call him Bobby. He took our club to new heights four years ago and put pen to paper this offseason on a new contract that keeps him in the city beautiful. Then there's El Cuervo Facundo Torres, the club's record signing who also signed the dotted line on a new contract. He's taking the iconic numero 10, the number 10 jersey as we bid farewell to Captain Mauricio Pereira. But the Mate connection is still thriving. Facundo links up with the new Uruguayan powerhouse in town, MLS legend Nico Lodeiro, a winner in every sense of the word. El Pulpo still doing El Pulpo The Viking is more solid than ever. This upcoming season was always going to be a special one for the Lions. Marking a decade, 10 years in Major League Soccer and a special feeling is in the air. We've captured the city, we've won trophies, we've put the league on notice and we're just getting started. The message from Orlando City? You haven't seen anything yet.