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San Diego FC: The Newest Edition to the MLS

Lenny Morris

Major League Soccer, the top football league in the United States and Canada, has enjoyed great success over the past two decades with the establishment of new clubs, attracting increasing revenues for the league. 


When Toronto FC joined the league in 2007, the club paid an expansion fee of $10 million, 20 times less than the expansion fee of St Louis City who joined two years ago. But the league will soon have its 30th member: San Diego FC.


Formation


With the establishment of San Diego, the state of California will have a fourth MLS club. San Diego FC will be just 110 miles away from David Beckham's former club LA Galaxy, which in United States geography is as much of a derby as Liverpool and Manchester United.


Despite San Diego being labelled "America's Finest City", the new football club will be just the second active professional men's club after Major League Baseball's Padres.



However, in the birthplace of the state of California, football is not a stranger. The San Diego Toros, a North American Soccer League (NASL) team had a short lived stay in the city having relocated from LA, but the club folded after just one season.


The San Diego Jaws were another NASL side, established in 1976, who relocated to the city, this time from Maryland, but they moved to Las Vegas after just one season.


The last side to play professionally in the southern-Californian city was the Loya, who was an expansion side to the USL Championship, with Landon Donovan being an owner of the club.


Yet, after five seasons, and three consecutive USL Championship playoffs, the club folded due to the ability not being able to find a larger stadium. Albeit, the introduction of an MLS franchise in the same city had a major part to play in that.



Even though San Diego has a somewhat rocky history with football, it seems only right that it gets its own MLS team. After all, the viewership figures at World Cups and for big Premier League games is consistently high in the city.


There are also several supporters of Liga MX club Tijuana, who sit just south of the Mexican border. They'll be sure to make a fantastic atmosphere at the Snapdragon Stadium, home of San Diego State College (American) Football team.




Latest MLS Editions


The US' top flight has rapidly expanded over the past few decades to accommodate new teams being added. This has created greater revenue and attracted more fans as the sport grows in popularity across the pond.


Since 2014, the league has welcomed 11 new club (San Diego FC will be the 12th) including New York City, Orlando City, Atlanta United and Charlotte FC, with the latter two boasting some of the highest attendance figures in the MLS.



New clubs have had some success in the league, none more so than Inter Miami. Under David Beckham's ownership, Miami have recruited former Barcelona legends Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba.


In 2024, just six years after their foundation, the South Florida side won the Eastern Conference and the Supporters Shield. Miami also won the new Leagues Cup, a competition arranged between MLS and Liga MX sides.



Los Angeles FC, with former USA manager Bob Bradley at the helm, hade a quick impact too, signing former Arsenal and Real Sociedad winger Carlos Vela; he's the club's top scorer with 78 goals in 153 appearances.


In the eight years since their foundation, LAFC have won two Supporters Shields, three Western Conferences and an MLS Cup title; this is the most success any MLS side has enjoyed in their first eight years.




Expectations


Given the successes of the recent MLS additions, there's real hope for San Diego FC to enjoy a good start. That hasn't been the case for every new addition, with Inter Miami struggling before bringing in star names such as Messi and Busquets.


When the Argentine joined Miami, they were bottom of the Eastern Conference.



Austin, Nashville and Charlotte have found some consistency, but are far from challenging the established elite. The same could also be said for Atlanta, albeit after the first season, they hit the ground running.


Therefore, it is hard to see what start the club will have. One thing that is for certain, is that they will have a great amount of support, with the club having a talent partnership with Club Tijuana, which will allow the exchange of players between both teams and academy systems, as San Diego is based along the southern border, much like Tijuana.



Before they've even kicked a ball, San Diego have made some promising signings, the biggest of which is former PSV and Napoli winger Hirving Lozano. An experienced Mexican international with 18 goals in 70 caps will join the club in January.


Others include Jeppe Tverskov, a Danish defender from Nordsjaelland and former Manchester United and Sunderland defender Paddy McNair.



The first official match for San Diego isn't until February, where they'll face local rivals LA Galaxy, but the excitement is very much alive for the 30th MLS club.

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