Soccer has had an established history at both the professional and amateur levels in Greater St. Louis for more than a century.[4] In 2007, St. Louis was considered a possible destination for Real Salt Lake after the club founder announced he would sell the club if a new stadium was not built. From 2008 to 2009, St. Louis lawyer Jeff Cooper led a group of would-be owners who attempted to bring an MLS expansion team to Greater St. Louis, only to have the bids turned down in favor of other cities.[5] Despite approved plans to build the $600million Collinsville Soccer Complex, MLS was unimpressed with the bid's financial backing and suggested Cooper expand his group of investors.[6][7] Cooper instead launched a second division men's club and a Women's Professional Soccer franchise. AC St. Louis played only one season in Division 2 before folding in 2011; the Saint Louis Athletica folded midway through its second season in 2010.[8]
In late 2014, the city announced plans for a new stadium to host both American football and soccer.[9] MLS commissioner Don Garber said in January 2015, "St. Louis has got a lot of activity going on with a stadium that they’re trying to get done for the NFL'sRams. There's a big soccer community out there and we'd love to see a soccer stadium downtown like they're thinking about a football stadium."[10] In May 2015, Garber visited St. Louis to talk about a possible new multi-purpose stadium that could host soccer games. Garber cautioned that any possible expansion to St. Louis would occur after 2020.[11] On January 12, 2016, the Rams moved to Los Angeles after playing in St. Louis for 21 seasons. The Rams' move initially accelerated the talks of an MLS expansion team.[12]
In 2017, MLS began to consider adding a team in St. Louis, beginning in 2020.[13] The proposed ownership group sought public funds to help build a $200million soccer-specific stadium next to Union Station in downtown St. Louis. On January 26, 2017, a funding plan was approved by the city's Aldermanic Ways and Means Committee, and later by the entire Board of Aldermen, that would have directed $60million in city tax revenue to the new stadium. Voters rejected the plan in an April 4, 2017, referendum, leaving the city's MLS future in doubt.[14][15]
2018–2019: Expansion bid
In September 2018, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that officials with the Missouri Department of Economic Development and MLS representatives had met and discussed a stadium proposal; St. Louis Mayor Lyda Krewson later confirmed that a new group was trying to bring a team to St. Louis.[16] St. Louis's MLS bid was effectively re-launched on October 9 of that year, with Carolyn Kindle and other heirs to the Enterprise Rent-A-Car fortune as the primary investors. The stadium location remained near Union Station in the same area as in the original 2016 bid.[17] This bid did not seek public funding through taxes or from the city and was not required to be decided in a public vote.[18] On November 28, 2018, the Board of Aldermen's Housing, Urban Development, and Zoning Committee voted 8–0 to approve the stadium plan.[19]
On April 18, 2019, the MLS announced plans to expand to 30 teams, up from the previous plan of 28. The league, then at 27 teams, advised the Commissioner's office to advance the discussions with the Sacramento Republic and St. Louis bids, who would make presentations to the expansion committee.[20][21] Two days later, the St. Louis group unveiled their stadium plan with a design produced by HOK and Snow Kreilich Architects. All 22,423 seats would be within 120 feet of the field and under a canopy.[22]
On August 20, 2019, MLS announced it had approved St. Louis as the league's 28th franchise, with play expected to begin in the 2022 season.[23] The ownership group, led by Carolyn Kindle Betz and female members of the Taylor family, is the first female majority-owned team in MLS.[24][25]
2019–present
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On October 19, 2019, the ownership group released new plans for the planned soccer-specific stadium. The area was extended to encompass a 31-acre (13ha) plan and would likely exceed the original $200million cost estimate. The ownership group agreed to purchase and own the land along with the stadium and will not seek tax revenue or public financing.[26] The Missouri state government had promised $30million in tax credits for the stadium project, but withdrew their offer in December 2019.[27] The Missouri Development Finance Board instead approved a package of incentives worth $5.7million in tax credits to help with construction of the $458million stadium and surrounding area.[28] Site preparation for the stadium, including demolition of highway ramps, began in early 2020 and continued through the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic.[29]
On August 17, 2020, former Fortuna Düsseldorf managing director of sports Lutz Pfannenstiel was introduced as sporting director of St. Louis City SC.[30]Bradley Carnell, a former assistant coach at the New York Red Bulls, was named as the team's first head coach in January 2022.[31]
On February 25, 2023, St. Louis City SC played in their first MLS match and defeated Austin FC 3–2 at Q2 Stadium in Austin, Texas.[32] The team won their first home game 3–1 against Charlotte FC on March 4 at CityPark.[33] St. Louis City SC became the first MLS expansion team team to win their first five matches; they also matched the points record to open the season set by the Los Angeles Galaxy in 1996 and Sporting Kansas City in 2012.[34]
On April 1, 2023, St. Louis City SC lost their first game in their history against Minnesota United FC with the score 0–1 in CityPark.[citation needed] The club broke the record for most wins by an MLS expansion club, defeating Sporting Kansas City 4-1 and reaching 17 wins in September.[35] At the end of their inaugural season, St. Louis City SC finished first in the Western Conference and qualified for the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup.[citation needed] They were eliminated from the MLS Cup Playoffs by eighth-seeded rivals Sporting Kansas City in the first round after losing the first two games in the best-of-three series.[36]
St. Louis City would begin their 2024 campaign with a five-match undefeated streak, but only won one match. On July 1, 2024, the club fired head coach Bradley Carnell, citing the club's poor performance through the first half of the 2024 season. John Hackworth, the club's Technical Director, was named as the interim head coach.[37]
Colors, badge, and sponsorship
The crest features the iconic Gateway Arch, and the two curved lines symbolize the confluence of North America's two longest rivers, the Mississippi River and the Missouri River, which is located just a few miles north of Downtown St. Louis. Officially, the team's colors are city red, river blue, energy yellow, arch steel gray, and white.[1][38] The shade of red can easily be mistaken as a shade of magenta or pink, or bright maroon depending on the lighting.
On March 31, 2021, Purina, a pet food maker founded and based in St. Louis, became the club's first jersey sponsor and founding partner.[39] On July 14, 2021, Together Credit Union, a local credit union, became the club's second founding partner and the official banking partner.[40]
Stadium
Energizer Park
The team plays in Energizer Park in downtown St. Louis that is the anchor of a 31-acre (13ha) development area that includes team offices, training facilities, and commercial districts.[41][42] The stadium is intended to field 17 to 23 soccer games a year and serve as a venue for concerts, high school sports, and more.[43] The design of the stadium is intended to connect the surrounding area and the downtown area together while blending with the neighborhood.[44]
Ownership and management
The St. Louis City SC ownership group consists of Enterprise Holdings Foundation president Carolyn Kindle and female members of the Taylor family (Enterprise Holdings), and is the first female majority-owned team in MLS. The group also includes CEO of World Wide Technology, Jim Kavanaugh and members of the Kavanaugh family.[45]
Many new independent supporters' groups were organized in anticipation of the MLS squad's arrival, supporting City 2 throughout their 2022 campaign.[46] These groups include Saint Louis City Punks,[47][48] sporting denim vests and Punk rock vibes, as well as the No Nap City Ultras,[49] a supporters' group of parents and their young children, and STL Santos, a supporters’ group for Spanish speakers. 2022 also saw the arrival of a new drum corps and supporters' group, the Fleur de Noise,[50][51] who will take up the role of drumming and leading chants for the supporters.
The oldest active soccer supporters' group in the St. Louis area is the St. Louligans, though they are far from the only supporters' group in St. Louis. Their name references football hooliganism, the disruptive and disorderly behavior of soccer fans, though this type of phenomenon is not generally found among soccer fans in North America. The St. Louligans were founded in 2010 when several local soccer fan groups joined forces at AC St. Louis home games. 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.[52]
St. Louligans was the official supporters group for Saint Louis FC, a USL Championship side founded in 2014. Saint Louis FC worked closely with the St. Louligans to encourage their support. Notable contributions of the group include awarding a new fan each week with a ticket, and coordinating with the Coopers, supporters for Louisville City FC, to create the Kings' Cup rivalry competition between the two teams.[53][54] Saint Louis FC folded in 2020.
The new stadium contains a supporters' section with space for more than 3,000 standing spectators, three capo stands, a 257-foot (78m) long integrated tifo rigging system, a drum riser for drum corps during matches, and a dedicated supporters bar.[55]
Rivalries
Chicago Fire FC
The Chicago Fire have emerged as a regional rival for St. Louis City SC, mirroring the 160-year sporting and cultural dislike between the two Midwestern cities, most evident in the Cardinals-Cubs rivalry in Major League Baseball. For their first encounters in 2023, the two teams met twice in the space of a week, and Chicago won both matches despite their visitors sending large numbers of traveling supporters. On May 11, 2024, St. Louis beat Chicago for the first time by a score of 3-1 at home in the first meeting between the two sides in the 2024 season.[56][57]
St. Louis City has also developed an early rivalry with Sporting Kansas City.[58][59][60] Prior to the first meeting, a St. Louis fan podcast, the Soccer Capitol Podcast, became the center of attention and heightening tensions between supporters. A series of emails from Sporting Kansas City’s front office arrived in the inbox of the podcast’s Gmail account. The club believed the Soccer Capitol Podcast was infringing on the trademark “The Soccer Capital of America,” which was registered to Kansas Training Partners LLC, an affiliate company of Sporting Kansas City.[citation needed] St. Louis City SC won the first match between the two clubs on May 20 at CityPark.[61] On September 30, 2023, St. Louis fans unfurled a huge banner reading ‘You’re not in Kansas anymore.’[citation needed] The two teams played in their first postseason matchup in the 2023 MLS Cup Playoffs,[62] with Sporting Kansas City (the #8 seed) upsetting the #1 seeded St. Louis in a best-of-three series.[63]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
On December 6, 2021, the club announced it would be fielding a reserve team in the new MLS Next Pro league, in the third tier of US Soccer.[76]St. Louis City 2 began play in the 2022 season, despite the MLS side not beginning play until 2023.
Academy
The St. Louis City SC Academy was announced by the club in August 2020 and joined MLS Next in the 2021–21 season.[77] The academy were granted an expansion team in the United Premier Soccer League in 2022. The team competes in the KY / TN Conference - Premier Division.[78] In the 2023 fall season, the Academy was the runner-up in the UPSL National Finals, falling 2-1 to Chiriaco FC.[citation needed] In the 2024 spring season, the Academy became the UPSL Gateway Premier champions and secured a spot in the National Round of 32.[citation needed]
↑ MLS Communications Department, Elias Sports Bureau (February 17, 2025). "2025 Fact and Record Book". Major League Soccer. p.28. Retrieved February 20, 2025.
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