PRIDE OF PLACE

Orlando’s hometown professional men’s and women’s soccer teams inspire locals and visitors alike—and the world has taken notice.

BY PETER KERASOTIS

COURTESY ORLANDO CITY SC I t is almost impossible to venture around Central Florida without seeing something purple—a hat, a t-shirt, a jersey, a bumper sticker, something, anything, that signals the local love affair with Orlando’s two professional soccer clubs, both of which proudly display purple as their team color.

That the color purple is so ubiquitous makes it seems as though the Orlando City Soccer Club and the Orlando Pride have been woven into Central Florida’s fabric for decades. In reality, Major League Soccer awarded Orlando City SC its 21st franchise in November 2013, with the team beginning play the following year. The Pride, a fitting female name that played off OCSC Lions’ moniker, joined the National Women’s Soccer League in 2015.

Orlando City SC wasted no time amplifying its little expansion team blip on the MLS radar by announcing that the first player it signed was international superstar Kaká, creating a frenzy of interest in the team. Kaká, an attacking, playmaking midfielder from Brazil, was a generational player, one of only eight players in soccer history to have won the FIFA World Cup, the UEFA Champions League, and the Ballon d’Or. With that combination of team and individual accolades, Kaká and Orlando City became an immediate attraction locally and internationally. Before long, they even had fan clubs in both Brazil and the United Kingdom.

Locally, Central Florida was like a thirsty sponge, ready to soak in all things soccer—or more appropriately football, as the sport is known throughout most of the globe. By any name, it is the number one sport in the world, and Orlando is the world’s number one tourist destination, with the number of annual visitors pushing toward 90 million. But it goes beyond visitors. Orlando is a diverse city demographically, especially with a burgeoning Latin American and Caribbean presence. Add to that decades of youth soccer leagues producing lifelong fans of the sport, and Central Florida was a ready-made fan base just longing for a pro team to attach its allegiance to. Now it had two teams.

The Pride matched Orlando City not only in their color scheme, and with their mascot, Kingston, a muscular, dreadlocked lion, but in exploding onto the scene with a superstar all its own—Alex Morgan. One of the foremost faces of women’s soccer, Morgan was acquired by the Pride via a trade with the Portland Thorns FC. It was a great fit both on and off the pitch. Since Morgan’s husband, Servando Carrasco, was already playing for Orlando City, the two became the first couple of Central Florida soccer. Morgan’s acquisition undeniably ratcheted up the Pride’s presence in the NWSL. An endorsement darling and an outspoken advocate for women’s soccer, Morgan has also been the co-captain of the United States Women’s National Soccer Team as well as a three-time Olympian.

Orlando City and the Pride first played in the

Left: Defender Robin Jansson celebrates; Right: Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha, known as Nani, is one of Orlando’s hottest players.

revamped Citrus Bowl while waiting for a stunning, 25,500-seat, $110-million stadium to be built in downtown Orlando, near the Amway Center. Adrian Heath, Orlando City’s first coach, recalls early meetings to discuss the layout and the feel of the new stadium, which came to be called Exploria Stadium (and features, of course, purple seats). The stadium opened in 2017, and became the first venue to host MLS, NWSL, and USL teams. Heath successfully lobbied that the stadium’s seats be pitched steeply and positioned close to the field. That strategic decision placed fans on top of the action, with players feeling their support so strongly, it was if it embodied them. And that support came immediately, with more than 13,000 season tickets selling before a foot struck a ball that first season.

When the first game of Orlando City’s inaugural season was played on March 8, 2015, it arrived in an epic way. Some 62,510 fans, a purple tsunami of people, shoehorned into the Citrus Bowl to witness the team’s home opener against New York City FC, setting an attendance record for an expansion team. They saw Kaká score the Orlando City’s first goal in a 1-1 tie. The interest didn’t wane. They finished that season with the second-highest average attendance figures in the MLS, behind only the Seattle Sounders FC.

Said Heath at the time, “People used to ask, ‘When do you think the game will take off in the United States?’ And I’d say, ‘The game has taken off.’ This isn’t a case of: Is it going to succeed? It’s a case of: How big is it going to get? Because it’s getting bigger and better by the day.” His words have proven to be prophetic.

Heath even recalled the first time he said the word soccer aloud in his native England. He was in a pub, and when he dared utter the word soccer it hushed the room. “You know that typical scene in a film, when the music stops and every head turns,” Heath recalled, laughing at the memory. “That’s what it was like. Everybody stopped talking and looked straight at me.” All because of one blasphemous American word he dared utter in a British pub—soccer. You’d have thought Heath had accused the queen of being a trollop or maligned the music of the Beatles. But he knew firsthand what was happening in America, and specifically in Central Florida. So if Americans prefer the word soccer, so be it. The sport is still the same. So is the passion.

(Clockwise from left): Defender Kylie Strom and forward Sydney Leroux; Pride players tangle with Louisville during a match; Defender Ali Krieger in action.

Especially the purple passion.

As is the case overseas, Orlando’s soccer fans follow suit, and are a raucous and rabid bunch. The Orlando City fans are known for standing the entire match, banging drums and cheering chants. Its two main supporter groups—the Ruckus and the Iron Lion Firm—join forces on game days to form what is called “The Wall.” It’s a purple wall, to be sure.

As the MLS and NWLS continue to grow in American popularity and international respectability, Orlando City SC and the Pride have grown with it, attracting elite players. Kaká, whose full name is Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite, retired after the 2017 season, but the team now has another superstar. That would be Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha, who, like Kaká, goes by a well-known, one-name moniker: Nani. The Portuguese player, known for his frenetic footwork, is an attacking winger who delights fans with somersaults, backflips, cartwheels and other assorted gymnastic moves after scoring goals.

Meanwhile, Alex Morgan is still a sensational player for the Pride. She is joined in a starstudded lineup by team captain and goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris, who grew up in nearby Satellite Beach, Florida, and the legendary Marta Vieira da Silva, known internationally as Marta. An electric Brazilian midfielder, Marta has been a six-time FIFA World Player of the Year.

The Pride made the playoffs for its first and only time in 2018, advancing all the way to the semifinals. Orlando City made the playoffs for the first time in 2020, advancing to the quarterfinals. These days, the two teams are owned by the Wilf family—brothers Mark and Zygi Wilf, and their cousin Leonard Wilf—who purchased both teams in May of 2021. The DeVos family, well-respected owners of the NBA’s Orlando Magic, were brought into the purchase as minority owners and limited partners, which served to add an extra layer of credibility to the two soccer teams.

The Wilfs have big-time credibility, too. Owning a sports franchise isn’t anything new for the family. The Wilfs have owned the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings since 2005, and for years, they had wanted to expand their sports empire into professional soccer ownership. That it worked out with Orlando’s two pro teams seemed only fitting. As with Orlando City and the Pride, the Vikings’ team color is—you guessed it—purple.