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Los Angeles FC
Team logo
Full name Los Angeles Football Club
Nickname(s) The Black and Gold
Falcons
Founded October 30, 2014; 10 years ago (October 30, 2014)
Stadium BMO Stadium
Los Angeles, California
Stadium
capacity
22,000
Managing
owners
  • Bennett Rosenthal
  • Brandon Beck
  • Larry Berg
Executive Chairman
  • Peter Guber
President
Coach Steve Cherundolo
League Major League Soccer
2024 Western Conference: 1st
Overall: 3rd
Playoffs: TBD
Third colors

Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) is an American professional soccer club based in Los Angeles. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the Western Conference. It was established on October 30, 2014, and began play during the 2018 season as an expansion team. The team plays its home matches at BMO Stadium, a soccer-specific stadium located in Exposition Park.

The managing owners of the club are Brandon Beck, Larry Berg, and Bennett Rosenthal. Los Angeles FC also has a variety of other part-owners, such as Will Ferrell. The club's inaugural head coach was Bob Bradley, who served from 2017 to 2021. During their second season in 2019, Los Angeles FC won the Supporters' Shield with club captain Carlos Vela earning the MVP Award. The club won their first MLS Cup in 2022, which completed a league double with their second Supporters' Shield. In 2020 and 2023, Los Angeles FC were also the runners-up in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Since they started playing, Los Angeles FC have had a fierce rivalry with the LA Galaxy, from Carson, California, the closest MLS teams. The rivalry between the two clubs has been dubbed El Tráfico by the supporters of both clubs, a humorous play on El Clásico.

History

Los Angeles Football Club groundbreaking 2016
Groundbreaking ceremony for Banc of California Stadium (now BMO Stadium) in 2016

Los Angeles FC was founded on October 30, 2014, as a result of Major League Soccer (MLS) awarding a new expansion team to Los Angeles after the complete dissolution of Chivas USA. On September 15, 2015, the club announced that Los Angeles Football Club, which had previously been used as a placeholder name for the club, would be the official team name. Henry Nguyen, Los Angeles FC's principal owner at the time, hinted at this possibility shortly after the club was announced in describing the name as "timeless".

LAFC announced Bob Bradley as its head coach in July 2017, joining general director John Thorrington in a search for players. Mexican forward Carlos Vela was signed as the club's first designated player on August 11, 2017.

On March 4, 2018, LAFC played its first MLS game, a 1–0 win against Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field in Seattle. LAFC designated player Diego Rossi scored the club's first competitive goal in the 11th minute, assisted by Vela.

On March 31, 2018, LAFC suffered its first MLS loss, giving up a 3–0 lead to lose 4–3 to LA Galaxy in the MLS debut of Zlatan Ibrahimović. LAFC was the second team ever to lose an MLS game after leading 3–0 during the match. Despite the loss, LAFC won 4 of the 6 games on their road trip to start the season, becoming the first team to earn 12 points from a season opening road trip of 6 games or more. They finished the season with 7 road wins which is the most for an expansion team in the post-shootout era.

LAFC accomplished the best regular season for an MLS expansion team, earning 57 points. The total surpassed the 56 picked up the 1998 Chicago Fire, also coached by Bob Bradley, as well as the post-shootout era record of 55 set in 2017 by Atlanta United FC. LAFC's seven road wins also tied for the most ever by an expansion team in the pre or post shootout-era with the '98 Fire who had two road wins come via the shootout. They finished second all-time in goals scored by an expansion team in a season, with 68, just behind Atlanta's 70.

On October 6, 2018, LAFC clinched its first playoff spot after a 3–0 victory against the Colorado Rapids finishing third in the West, but were knocked out at home in the first round in a 3–2 loss to sixth-place Real Salt Lake.

2020 CONCACAF Champions League

Los Angeles FC appeared in CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in 2020. After going down 2–0 in the first leg against Club León, LAFC came back and won 3–0 in the second leg, advancing (3–2 on aggregate) to the round of 16. Shortly after that, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was put on hold. When the tournament resumed in December, under a new one-off format, Los Angeles FC defeated Cruz Azul (2–1) after going down 1–0. In the semi-finals LAFC defeated Club América (3–1), again in comeback fashion. They became the third MLS side to advance to the Final, where they were defeated by Tigres UANL (2–1), who had been runners-up in previous editions of the tournament, and who went on to become the runners-up in the Club World Cup.

2022 MLS Cup Champions

LAFC spent the majority of the 2022 MLS season pushing for the league's all-time points record (73, set the previous year), but major squad turnover brought about a string of losses (five in their final nine matches) which led to LAFC settling for 67 points as they won their second Supporters' Shield. This total was equal with the Philadelphia Union, who lost the Shield on a wins tiebreaker. LAFC defeated their archrivals, the Galaxy, 3–2 in the conference semifinals before knocking out Austin FC 3–0 to advance to their first MLS Cup.

Los Angeles FC vs Philadelphia Union 2022-11-05
Starting XI for 2022 MLS Cup

Los Angeles FC won the 2022 MLS Cup by defeating the Union in a penalty shootout following a 3–3 draw through extra time. The two latest goals in MLS Cup Playoffs history were scored in the match, with Gareth Bale scoring an equalizer in the 128th minute to take the match to penalties, which LAFC won 3–0. LAFC substitute goalkeeper John McCarthy made two saves in the shootout and was named the most valuable player of the match.

2023 CONCACAF Champions League

During the team's 2023 season, Los Angeles had advanced to the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League final for the club's second time in four years. Their road to the finals consisted of victories against Alajuelense, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and Philadelphia Union. LA had faced Club León in the final, who the team had faced before in the tournament. Los Angeles were the favorites, heading to their matches. Despite Bouanga scoring a late goal, to keep the team's chances of winning the final, Leon had bested LA 3–1 aggregate in their second match at home.

Colors, badge, and sponsorship

Los Angeles Football Club wordmark (gold)
Wordmark of Los Angeles FC.

The club's colors and logo were unveiled on January 7, 2016, at Union Station. The club's primary colors are black and gold, with red and gray used as accent colors. The Art Deco-inspired logo incorporates a shield outline referencing the city seal, with a winged "LA" monogram and the words "Los Angeles" and "Football Club" in Neutraface. The crest was designed by Matthew Wolff.

Sponsorship

On January 31, 2018, LAFC announced that YouTube TV would be the club's first official shirt sponsor in addition to exclusively broadcasting the club's local matches in English. Target was announced as their first sleeve sponsor in October 2019.

On March 26, 2021, upon the expiration of its sponsorship contract with YouTube TV, LAFC announced that FLEX, a power tool manufacturer headquartered in Steinheim an der Murr, Germany, would replace YouTube TV as the main shirt sponsor for the club. Four days later, on March 30, 2021, the club announced that Postmates would become the second official sleeve sponsor (joining Target) on a one-year deal for the entirety of the 2021 season. Shortly thereafter, LAFC announced that YouTube TV no longer held exclusive broadcasting rights over English language home matches. Instead, the club chose to partner with two local networks for all English language home games beginning that season.

For the club's the 2022 season, LAFC announced on February 26, 2022, that it had partnered with PepsiCo to make Rockstar energy drink the exclusive shirt sponsor of its 2022 training kit. The agreement expired at the end of the season.

Prior to the 2023 season, on June 14, 2022, MLS announced a new media rights partnership with Apple giving the tech giant exclusive broadcast rights to all league games via its streaming service, Apple TV+, for the next 10 seasons. To promote this new partnership, as well as their new streaming service entitled MLS Season Pass, both MLS and Apple agreed to have the Apple TV+ logo appear on the left kit sleeve of all league teams beginning with the 2023 season. Additionally, Ford, LAFC's Official Domestic Automobile Partner, joined the club's top tier of sustained brand sponsorships - the "Golden Boot Club" - for the 2023 season. This enhanced partnership included Ford receiving promonent logo placement on the team's right kit sleeve.

Denis Bouanga 2024
Denis Bouanga wearing the 2023 smokescreen kit with the new BMO Bank sponsor which replaced the FLEX sponsor in 2024.
Period Kit manufacturer Shirt sponsor Sleeve sponsor
2018–2019 Adidas YouTube TV
2020 Target
2021 FLEX Target
Postmates
2022 Target
2023 Ford
2024–present BMO Bank

Stadium

Los Angeles FC inaugural home game - April 29, 2018
BMO Stadium during the inaugural LAFC home game

On May 17, 2015, the team chose the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena site to build a 22,000-seat stadium for MLS in Exposition Park, estimated to cost $250 million. The site was under a sublease from the University of Southern California which managed and operated the Sports Arena and adjacent L.A. Memorial Coliseum. The environmental impact report, arena demolition, and stadium construction were expected to take three years and delay the team's debut to 2018. On May 6, 2016, the Los Angeles City Council approved the stadium, clearing a way for the construction of the stadium.

A groundbreaking ceremony took place on August 23, 2016. At the event attended by owners and construction crews, LAFC announced a 15-year, $100 million naming rights deal for the stadium with the Banc of California. Demolition of the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena began shortly after the groundbreaking and was completed by October 2016.

The first public event at the stadium was an open practice and dedication ceremony held on April 18, 2018. The club's first home match was played on April 29, 2018, against Seattle Sounders FC, with the home side winning 1–0. The lone goal was scored by Laurent Ciman in stoppage time in front of a capacity crowd of 22,000. The stadium was renamed to BMO Stadium on January 19, 2023.

Los Angeles FC's training facility is on the California State University, Los Angeles campus as part of a partnership with the university that began in 2017. The LAFC Performance Center includes 4,000 square feet (370 m2) of indoor space and a training field with the same grass as the team's home stadium.

Club culture

Lafctifoseattle
The 3252 Supporters unveiling their first tifo in the home inaugural game vs. the Seattle Sounders

After the launch, supporters were consulted on many of the club's early decisions including the team colors, the look of the crest and the design of BMO Stadium, built on land previously held by the LA Sports Arena. Much of the marketing focus was to millennials, which led to the decision to play near downtown Los Angeles. LAFC took a grassroots approach to building the club by founding the LAFC academy and signing younger prospects including Americans Walker Zimmerman and Tristan Blackmon, Portuguese draft pick João Moutinho, and Uruguayan prospect Diego Rossi.

Supporters

3252 LAFC Supporter’s section
The 3252 section unveil a tifo before the second El Tráfico.

LAFC supporters are known collectively as "The 3252". The official capacity of the safe standing supporters section at BMO Stadium is 3,252. When added together, the numbers 3, 2, 5, 2 equal 12, serving as a reference to "the 12th man", and an homage to the supporters of the team. Composed of a variety of supporters groups, The 3252 is the club's independent supporters union, which encompasses a growing number of affiliate supporter groups and independent supporters with active season memberships.

Falcon program

The club's falcon program includes three live falcons who participate in various gameday and community events. One falcon is released pre-game by an honorary falconer (usually a celebrity or community figure) and flies around the stadium. The first honorary falconer was co-owner Will Ferrell. The three falcons are named after famous streets in Los Angeles: "Olly" (Olvera Street), "Fig" (Figueroa Street), and "Mel" (Melrose Avenue).

Rivalries

LA Galaxy

LAFC have a cross-town rivalry with fellow MLS club LA Galaxy, who play in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson. The series between the two teams is known as El Tráfico (Spanish for "The Traffic"), conversely, Spanish-language speakers and media commonly refer to it as the Clásico del Tráfico (English for the "Traffic Classic"). The nickname was coined by MLS fans and adopted by some media outlets following polls by SB Nation blogs LAG Confidential and Angels on Parade. It refers to the notorious traffic congestion in Los Angeles, among the worst in the United States and the world, while serving as a play on "El Clásico". The rivalry has also been called the "Los Angeles Derby", a moniker that was also used for the SuperClasico.

Seattle Sounders FC

LAFC's first game ever played was a 1–0 win at CenturyLink Field over Seattle Sounders FC on March 4, 2018, marking the earliest starting point of any of LAFC's on-field rivalries. LAFC's first home game at Banc of California Stadium was also a 1–0 win over Seattle, ending in dramatic fashion with a 92nd-minute goal. The next season Seattle got its revenge, defeating LAFC for the first time in the 2019 Western Conference Finals, bringing L.A.'s record-setting season to an end. Beyond these touchstone moments, the rivalry has carried on players, coaches, and supporters.

Ownership

Los Angeles Football Club (24107435910)
Ownership Group and Mayor Garcetti unveiling team colors.

In 2016, three local investors—Brandon Beck, Larry Berg and Bennett Rosenthal—took over as managing owners of the club with Berg serving as lead managing owner. As of 2017, chairman and CEO of Mandalay Entertainment Group and entrepreneur Peter Guber is executive chairman, and venture capitalist Henry Nguyen is vice-chairman. The ownership group in 2019 also included businessman Ruben Gnanalingam. Other part-owners and investors include Will Ferrell, Natalie Mariduena, Nomar Garciaparra, Mia Hamm-Garciaparra, Chad Hurley, Magic Johnson, Joseph Tsai, Tucker Kain, Kirk Lacob, Mitch Lasky, Mark Leschly, Mike Mahan, Irwin Raij, Tony Robbins, Lon Rosen, Paul Schaeffer, Brandon Schneider, Allen Shapiro, Mark Shapiro, Jason Sugarman, Harry Tsao, and Rick Welts.

In February 2020, LAFC owners began the process of buying out a 20 percent ownership stake held by Malaysian businessman Vincent Tan. The buyout resulted in a $700 million valuation for the club, the largest on record for a Major League Soccer team at the time.

Broadcasting

From 2023, every LAFC match is available via MLS Season Pass on the Apple TV app, in addition to select matches simulcast linearly on Fox or FS1. Prior to this all-streaming deal, LAFC aired matches on a few stations and one other streaming platform.

In 2021 and 2022, all locally broadcast LAFC matches were televised in English by KCOP. Max Bretos served as the team's lead play-by-play announcer

YouTube TV carried live games for the team from 2018 to 2020. It marked the first time that a major U.S. professional sports team sold their regional broadcast rights to an online streaming service rather than a traditional television broadcaster or regional sports network.

Prior to Apple, locally broadcast LAFC matches were televised in Spanish on Estrella TV station KRCA, with Francisco X. Rivera as the lead play-by-play announcer. Regular local radio coverage of LAFC matches is provided in English by KSPN (ESPNLA 710), with Dave Denholm serving as the radio play-by-play announcer. Spanish radio broadcasts are provided by KFWB (980), with Armando Aguayo as the play-by-play announcer. The club also partners with KIRN (670) as part of the station's weekly sports report.

Players and staff

Roster

No. Position Player
1 France GK Hugo Lloris
2 Mexico DF Omar Campos
3 Colombia DF Jesús David Murillo
4 Colombia DF Eddie Segura
5 Brazil DF Marlon
6 Spain MF Ilie Sánchez (captain)
8 England MF Lewis O'Brien (on loan from Nottingham Forest)
9 France FW Olivier Giroud (DP)
10 Mexico FW Carlos Vela
11 United States MF Timothy Tillman
12 Canada GK Thomas Hasal
13 Uruguay FW Cristian Olivera
14 Spain DF Sergi Palencia
15 Italy DF Lorenzo Dellavalle
18 United States MF Erik Dueñas (HG)
19 Poland MF Mateusz Bogusz
No. Position Player
20 Colombia MF Eduard Atuesta (on loan from Palmeiras)
23 Sierra Leone FW Kei Kamara
24 United States DF Ryan Hollingshead
25 Luxembourg DF Maxime Chanot
27 El Salvador FW Nathan Ordaz (HG)
30 Venezuela FW David Martínez
31 Mexico GK David Ochoa
33 United States DF Aaron Long
36 United States MF Tommy Musto
42 United States DF Luca Bombino (HG)
43 United States DF Diego Rosales (HG)
55 United States MF Bajung Darboe (HG)
77 United States FW Adrian Wibowo (HG)
91 Germany FW Luis Müller
99 Gabon FW Denis Bouanga (DP)

Out on loan

No. Position Player
21 Colombia FW Tomás Ángel (at Phoenix Rising)
No. Position Player
Spain FW Mario González (at Famalicão)

Coaching staff

Technical Staff
Head coach Steve Cherundolo
Assistant coach Ante Razov
Assistant coach Marc Dos Santos
Assistant coach Enrique Duran
Goalkeeping coach Oka Nikolov
Player Development Coach Giorgio Chiellini
Performance director Gavin Benjafield
Technical director Neil McGuinness

Team management

Front Office
Lead managing owner Larry Berg
Co-managing owner Brandon Beck
Co-managing owner Bennett Rosenthal
Executive chairman and owner Peter Guber
Vice-chairman and owner Henry Nguyen
Director and owner Ruben Gnanalingam
Director and owner Mitch Lasky
Co-president and chief business officer Larry Freedman
Co-president and general manager John Thorrington
Director of Football operations Marco Garcés
Head Coaches
Coach Start End
Bob Bradley July 27, 2017 November 18, 2021
Steve Cherundolo January 3, 2022 Present

Honors

Team

Icon Major League Soccer Supporters' Shield
The MLS Supporters' Shield

In 2019, LAFC won their first major MLS trophy, the Supporters' Shield. They won it with a record breaking 72 points, in just their second season in existence. In 2022, LAFC won their second Supporters' Shield, becoming the second club to win two shields within their first five seasons (after D.C. United). LAFC capped-off the 2022 season by winning the MLS Cup over the Philadelphia Union. In 2024, LAFC won the U.S. Open Cup with a 3–1 victory against Sporting Kansas City. This marked the team’s very first Open Cup win.

National
Competitions Titles Seasons
MLS Cup 1 2022
Supporters' Shield 2 2019, 2022
U.S. Open Cup 1 2024
Western Conference (Playoffs) 2 2022, 2023
Western Conference (Regular Season) 3 2019, 2022, 2024

Players

Honor Player Name Season
Landon Donovan MVP Award Carlos Vela 2019
MLS Golden Boot Carlos Vela 2019
Diego Rossi 2020
Denis Bouanga 2023
MLS Newcomer of the Year Award Cristian Arango 2021
MLS Young Player of the Year Award Diego Rossi 2020
MLS Cup MVP John McCarthy 2022

Head coaches

Honor Head Coach Season
Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year Award Bob Bradley 2019

Records

List of seasons

This is a partial list of the last five seasons completed by LAFC. For the full season-by-season history, see List of Los Angeles FC seasons.

Season League Position Playoffs USOC Continental Average
attendance
Top goalscorer(s)
Pld W L D GF GA GD Pts PPG Conf. Overall CCL LC CC Name(s) Goals
2019 34 21 4 9 85 37 +48 72 2.12 1st 1st SF QF DNQ DNE DNQ 22,251 Mexico Carlos Vela 38♦
2020 22 9 8 5 47 39 +8 32 1.45 7th 12th R1 NH RU NH NH 22,117 Uruguay Diego Rossi 18♦
2021 34 12 13 9 53 51 +2 45 1.32 9th 17th DNQ NH DNQ DNQ NH 20,204 Colombia Cristian Arango 14
2022 34 21 9 4 66 38 +28 67 1.97 1st 1st W R16 DNQ EXH DNQ 22,090 Colombia Cristian Arango 21
2023 34 14 10 10 54 39 +15 52 1.53 3rd 8th RU R16 RU QF RU 22,155 Gabon Denis Bouanga 37♦
Total 158 77 44 37 305 204 +101 268 1.70 Mexico Carlos Vela 93

1. Avg. attendance include statistics from league matches only.
2. Top goalscorer(s) includes all goals scored in League, MLS Cup Playoffs, U.S. Open Cup, MLS is Back Tournament, CONCACAF Champions League, FIFA Club World Cup, and other competitive continental matches.

Matches

# Name Nation MLS Playoffs USOC CCC Leagues Cup MLS is Back Campeones Cup Total
1 Vela, CarlosCarlos Vela  MEX 152 12 8 13 2 0 1 188
2 Blessing, LatifLatif Blessing  GHA 142 4 10 5 1 5 0 167
3 Atuesta, EduardEduard Atuesta  COL 115 4 9 3 5 5 0 141
4 Murillo, JesúsJesús Murillo  ECU 107 9 3 10 8 0 0 137
5 Palacios, DiegoDiego Palacios  ECU 99 8 3 13 3 5 1 132

Goals

# Name Nation MLS Playoffs USOC CCC Leagues Cup MLS is Back Campeones Cup Total
1 Vela, CarlosCarlos Vela  MEX 78 2 3 8 2 0 0 93
2 Bouanga, DenisDenis Bouanga  GAB 37 7 0 7 11 0 0 62
3 Rossi, DiegoDiego Rossi  URU 43 1 6 2 0 7 0 59
4 Arango, CristianCristian Arango  COL 30 2 3 0 0 0 0 35
5 Diomande, AdamaAdama Diomande  NOR 20 2 2 0 0 0 0 24

Assists

# Name Nation MLS Playoffs USOC CCC Leagues Cup MLS is Back Campeones Cup Total
1 Vela, CarlosCarlos Vela  MEX 42 7 2 2 1 0 0 54
2 Bouanga, DenisDenis Bouanga  GAB 17 0 2 4 6 0 0 29
3 Atuesta, EduardEduard Atuesta  COL 21 0 2 1 1 1 0 26
4 Rossi, DiegoDiego Rossi  URU 17 2 1 0 0 2 0 22
4 Cifuentes, JoséJosé Cifuentes  ECU 17 0 2 1 0 0 0 20

Clean sheets

# Name Nation MLS Playoffs USOC CCC Leagues Cup MLS is Back Campeones Cup Total
1 Miller, TylerTyler Miller  USA 19 0 1 0 0 0 0 20
2 Crépeau, MaximeMaxime Crépeau  CAN 11 4 1 0 0 0 1 17
3 McCarthy, JohnJohn McCarthy  USA 8 0 0 4 2 0 1 15
4 Lloris, HugoHugo Lloris  FRA 9 0 0 0 3 0 0 12
5 Sisniega, PabloPablo Sisniega  MEX 3 0 1 0 0 0 0 4
Romero, TomásTomás Romero  SLV 4 0 0 0 0 0 0

Development system

Academy

On February 1, 2016, the club announced the founding of the LAFC Academy. The academy is launching with a fully funded U12 USSDA academy team with a roster of 26 players. Todd Saldana currently serves as academy director.

On August 21, 2018, the U-13 squad won the CONCACAF Champions League, as champions of North America.

On July 8, 2020, LAFC signed its first three Homegrown players from the academy in Club history – Tony Leone, Christian Torres and Erik Dueñas.

Affiliates

Orange County SC, competing in the USL Championship, was affiliated with Los Angeles FC as part of a multi-year affiliation agreement with the team that started on December 7, 2016, and ended after the 2018 season. On March 12, 2021, LAFC announced their partnership with USL Championship club Las Vegas Lights.

LAFC launched a reserve team, Los Angeles FC 2 (or LAFC2), for the 2023 season of MLS Next Pro. The team plays at Titan Stadium and is currently coached by Junior Gonzalez.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Los Angeles Football Club para niños

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