Sacramento Republic FC
Full name | Sacramento Republic FC | |||
---|---|---|---|---|
Nickname(s) | Republic, The Quails[1] | |||
Founded | 2012 | |||
Stadium | Heart Health Park | |||
Capacity | 11,569 | |||
Owner | Sac Soccer & Entertainment Holdings, LLC | |||
Chairman and CEO | Kevin M. Nagle | |||
Head coach | Mark Briggs | |||
League | USL Championship | |||
2023 | 1st, Western Conference Playoffs: Conference Final | |||
Website | Club website | |||
| ||||
Sacramento Republic FC is an American professional soccer team based in Sacramento, California, that plays in the Western Conference of the USL Championship, the second level in US soccer. Co-founded by Warren Smith and Joe Wagoner in 2012, the team started play in 2014 at the 20,231-seat Hughes Stadium, before moving midseason to their current home at Heart Health Park. Republic FC won the 2014 USL championship and have made the playoffs eight times.
The team submitted an expansion bid for the top level
History
On December 3, 2012, USL Pro announced that a Sacramento expansion team would join the league for the 2014 season.[5] On July 15, 2013, Predrag "Preki" Radosavljević was announced as head coach of the new franchise.[6] The official name of the team and team shield were decided by fan vote. On July 18, 2013, the franchise officially announced the team name Sacramento Republic FC during the first annual Sacramento Soccer Day.[7] As of April 2015, the team had sold more than 9,500 season-tickets.[8]
2014: First-year championship
Republic FC made their home debut on April 26, 2014, at Hughes Stadium, losing 2–1 to the Harrisburg City Islanders, before a sellout crowd of 20,231.[9] This figure nearly doubled the previous USL regular season single game attendance record of 10,697.[10] The following match, a 2–1 win over Orange County Blues FC, drew a slightly smaller crowd of 17,414. Eventually, all their home games were sellouts except this one.[11]
Republic FC inaugurated their new 8,000 seat, soccer-specific stadium,
On July 27, 2014, the team broke the USL regular season attendance record of 112,748, previously set by Orlando City SC. Their total attendance was 182,107 (158,107 regular season; 24,000 in the playoffs).[13]
Republic FC finished the regular season in 2nd place behind
2015–2021
Republic FC's second season saw them play in an expanded
Sacramento lost their first game of the season 4–2 away to
Sacramento placed fourth in the USL Western Conference standings after a season-concluding draw with conference champions
On January 22, 2019, billionaire
On September 19, 2019, Sacramento Republic FC was reported to be entering MLS as its 29th team, sources told CBS Sports. MLS called the report "erroneous" stating that they were still in "advanced discussions".[28] A press conference was held on October 21, 2019, to award an expansion team to Sacramento with Sacramento Republic FC slated to begin play in 2022.[29][30][31] Due to delays relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in California. Sacramento Republic and MLS announced that the team would instead play in 2023.[32] On February 26, 2021, MLS then announced that lead investor Ron Burkle "had decided not to acquire an expansion team in Sacramento", and the Republic's bid to join MLS as an expansion team was placed on indefinite hold.[33] Republic's 2021 troubles were not limited to off the pitch; the club missed the playoffs for the first time in its history, finishing 13th in the Western Conference with an 8W-12D-12L record.
2022: Open Cup runners-up
With the return of the
Colors and crest
Republic FC's colors are old glory red, maple, and egg shell. The club crest is a classic shield that honors the Bear Flag, taking several colors from the flag itself. The crest also carries an image of a California grizzly bear, which is found on the state's flag and is California's official state animal, along with a nautical star, which is representative of, and in the same color as, the star on the Bear Flag. Below the bear is the motto of the city of Sacramento, "Urbs Indomita", in Latin meaning "Indomitable City".[37]
Kit
The club released the design of their inaugural home and away shirts on December 5, 2013. The kit manufacturer was Italian sportswear company Lotto, with UC Davis Children's Hospital as the shirt sponsor through the 2016 season. The home kit's dominant color is the club's signature color "Old Glory Red", and the away shirt is primarily white. Both Lotto kits featured a diagonal stripe of dark maroon, with the club crest positioned on the left side of the wearer's chest. The club's motto, "Urbs Indomita", was printed on the right sleeve.[38] The third kit, unveiled before the 2015 season and US Open Cup, featured horizontal eggshell and white stripes and a star over the crest to commemorate the previous season's USL Championship.[39]
On November 21, 2015, Republic FC announced a new partnership with Nike and unveiled new home and away kits for the 2016 USL season. The home kit is once again "Old Glory Red," while the away kit is now white and gray. Both designs omit the diagonal stripe in favor of vertical patterns. The new designs feature "Urbs Indomita" written on the back neckline.[40]
UC Davis Children's Hospital, the kit sponsor since the club's inception and one of Republic FC's first corporate partners, renewed their sponsorship on July 22, 2016, for USL play beyond the year 2016. Moreover, UC Davis Health Systems announced it would become the shirt sponsor in MLS should Republic receive an expansion bid.[41]
Sponsorship
Period | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
---|---|---|
2014–2015 | Lotto | UC Davis Health |
2016–2022 | Nike | |
2023–present | Hummel[42] |
Supporters
This section needs additional citations for verification. (August 2014) |
Republic FC draws fans from a large region of Northern California, with many fans traveling from the eastern areas of the bay and as far north as Redding to watch matches.[citation needed]
The club's independent
The Tower Bridge Battalion have been central in organizing fan support of a Major League Soccer expansion team in Sacramento. On September 19, 2014, the Battalion led a crowd of thousands through the streets in downtown Sacramento designed to showcase the area's fanbase for MLS officials.[46]
Stadiums
Heart Health Park
When the club was originally proposed, officials had planned on using
On June 20, 2014, the club played its inaugural match at the completed
In January 2015, expansion efforts at Bonney Field began to increase the seating at the stadium.[50] Capacity for 2015 was expanded to 11,442,[51] with added seats in the north endline and east sideline. In March 2017, Papa Murphy's Holdings, Inc. acquired the naming rights to the stadium, and Bonney Field was renamed Papa Murphy's Park.[citation needed] On May 5, 2021, the Sacramento Republic FC and Western Health Advantage agreed to a new naming rights deal that would change the name of the stadium to Heart Health Park.[citation needed]
Proposed Railyards stadium
As part of team owners' efforts for the club to join MLS as an expansion team, Republic FC has announced intentions to build
The concept design of the new stadium, based in part on fan input from a web survey and a series of workshops, was unveiled on December 1, 2015.[54][55] Though designed with a closed bowl, the stadium will have separate stands on different sides to create a unique character for each one, an homage to classic English stadia like St James' Park. To meet the designer's stated goal of creating MLS's best home field advantage, the seating will feature the steepest grade in the MLS in and an untiered east side reminiscent of Westfalenstadion's Yellow Wall.[56] On December 1, the evening of the design unveil, the Sacramento City Council voted 8–0 to approve a term sheet promoting construction of the 25,000-seat venue, with a target 2018 completion date if the club is accepted into MLS. The stadium is estimated to cost $226 million, and will be privately financed.[57]
On April 2, 2019, Sacramento Republic FC released updated renderings of the proposed stadium. Additions to the previous design included a 360-degree concourse/pedestrian walkway, new seating at the canopy level on the west side of the stadium, and additional field-level seating areas, raising the cost to about $252 million. The team stated that if their MLS bid is accepted, they would likely begin construction on the stadium immediately, hoping to complete it by late 2021 or early 2022, in time for the 2022 MLS season. With the team being accepted into MLS on October 21, 2019, they were expected to complete construction for the 2023 season.[58][59] The plans to build the stadium and join the league are on indefinite hiatus as of February 2021.[60]
Players and technical staff
First-team roster
- As of 6 June 2024[61]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
|
|
- ^ USL Academy Contract
Technical staff
- As of January 28, 2022[62]
Position | Name |
---|---|
General manager | Todd Dunivant |
Head coach | Mark Briggs |
Assistant coach | Martín Vásquez |
Goalkeeping coach | Bradley Johnson |
Team records
Year-by-year
This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by Republic. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Sacramento Republic FC seasons.
Season | League | Position | Playoffs | USOC | Continental | Average attendance 1 | Top goalscorer(s) 2 | |||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Div | League | Pld | W | L | D | GF | GA | GD | Pts | PPG | Conf. | Overall | Name | Goals | ||||||
2019 | 2 | USLC | 34 | 14 | 14 | 6 | 50 | 43 | +7 | 48 | 1.41 | 7th | 15th | QF | R4 | DNQ | 10,436 | Cameron Iwasa | 17 | |
2020 | USLC | 16 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 27 | 17 | +10 | 30 | 1.88 | 5th | 10th | R1 | NH | 11,569 | Dariusz Formella | 8 | |||
2021 | USLC | 32 | 8 | 12 | 12 | 36 | 42 | −6 | 36 | 1.13 | 13th | 24th | DNQ | NH | 6,926 | Cameron Iwasa | 8 | |||
2022 | USLC | 34 | 15 | 11 | 8 | 48 | 34 | +14 | 53 | 1.56 | 4th | 10th | QF | RU | 9,876 | Maalique Foster Rodrigo López |
8 | |||
2023 | USLC | 34 | 18 | 6 | 10 | 51 | 26 | +25 | 64 | 1.88 | 1st | 2nd | SF | R5 | 10,627 | Russell Cicerone | 17 |
^ 1. Avg. attendance include statistics from league matches only.
Head coaches
- As of 15 September 2023
- Includes USL Regular season, USL Play-offs and U.S. Lamar Hunt Open Cup
Coach | Nationality | Start | End | Games | Win | Loss | Draw | Win % |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Preki[63] | United States | July 15, 2013 | July 11, 2015 | 54 | 32 | 15 | 7 | 59.26 |
Paul Buckle | England | July 12, 2015 | February 1, 2018 | 78 | 34 | 23 | 21 | 43.59 |
Simon Elliott | New Zealand | February 1, 2018 | November 5, 2019 | 79 | 40 | 25 | 14 | 50.63 |
Mark Briggs | England | December 16, 2019 | present | 121 | 53 | 33 | 35 | 43.80 |
Club captains
Dates | Player | Nationality |
---|---|---|
2014–2015 | Dima Cuzeac | United States |
2016–2017 | Danny Barrera | Colombia |
2018 | Jeremy Hall
|
Puerto Rico |
2019 | Cameron Iwasa | United States |
2020 | Drew Skundrich | United States |
Rodrigo López | Mexico | |
2021 | Petteri Pennanen | Finland |
Honors
League
- USL Championship
- Champions (1): 2014
- USL Championship Western Conference (Regular Season)
- Champions (1): 2016
- USL Playoffs
- Appearances (9):
Domestic Cup
- U.S. Open Cup
- Runners-up (1): 2022
References
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