Miami FC

The club was announced on May 20, 2015 as the 12th North American Soccer League franchise with plans to begin play in the 2016 season and later confirmed it would play out of "Ocean First Stadium" (Now Riccardo Silva Stadium) on the campus of FIU.[1][2] The team, co-owned by media entrepreneur Riccardo Silva and former Italian national team defender Paolo Maldini, came only one year after former English national football team star and Major League Soccer legend David Beckham announced his intent to launch an MLS team in city.[3][4]

In September 2015, Alessandro Nesta was appointed as the club's first coach.[5] On November 20, 2015 Italian sportswear company Macron were announced as the club's kit suppliers on a three-year deal.[6]

Nesta resigned as coach following the completion of the 2017 season, on 17 November.[7]

Miami FC 2 logo

In January 2018, following the suspension and later cancellation of the 2018 NASL season, the organization announced the creation of "The Miami FC 2" in the National Premier Soccer League with 12 members of its 2017 NASL roster.[8][9] The intention was for The Miami FC's players to play with The Miami FC 2 while waiting for the NASL's proposed winter schedule to take effect.[10][11] The team hired Paul Dalglish as the new head coach on January 25.[12] The team played its home matches at its former training grounds on the campus of St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.[13]

The team went on to dominate the regular season in the NPSL's Sunshine Conference. Only one loss to Jacksonville Armada FC in the regular season lead the team to finish top of the table and in the conference playoffs the beat the Armada, 3–1, to win its first NPSL trophy.[14][15] After advancing in the national playoffs, including winning the NPSL South Region, Miami FC 2 won the organization's first ever league championship when it defeated FC Motown, 3–1, for the NPSL National Championship on August 4.[16]

For the 2019 NPSL season, the team returned to playing as 'The Miami FC and repeated its previous year's success by finishing atop the regular season table and winning the Sunshine Conference over Miami United FC, 3–2.[17] It won the South Region for a second straight year before becoming the first club to win a second NPSL National Championship when it defeated the New York Cosmos B, 3–1, and earning the organization's eighth trophy in three years.[18][19]

On November 15, 2018, the NPSL announced that Miami would be a founding member in a new professional league, commencing with the "NPSL Founders Cup" competition from August to November 2019, followed by a full league schedule in 2020 at either division 2 or 3 level.[20][21][22] However on July 24, 2019, it was announced that Miami would instead join the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) for the inaugural Fall 2019 season.[23][24] The team went undefeated through seven games during the regular season, clinching the top playoff spot in the East Coast Conference. On November 9, Miami won the NISA East Coast Championship over Stumptown Athletic, its ninth trophy in three years.[25][26]

On December 11, 2019, former USL Championship club Ottawa Fury FC announced that it had transferred its franchise rights to the Miami FC ownership group, and the club would begin competition in the league beginning with the 2020 season.[27][28]

As of February 5, 2020[35]

Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth.

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	Goalkeeper	Mark Pais	United States
2	Forward	Othello Bah	Liberia
3	Defender	Marco Franco	United States
4	Defender	Hassan Ndam (on loan from FC Cincinnati)	Cameroon
6	Midfielder	Harrison Heath	England
7	Midfielder	Vincent Bezecourt	France
8	Midfielder	Tomás Granitto	El Salvador
9	Forward	Romario Williams	Jamaica
10	Midfielder	Sebastián Velásquez	Colombia
11	Midfielder	Prince Saydee	Liberia
12	Forward	Miguel González	Mexico
13	Defender	Lawrence Olum	Kenya
14	Forward	Lloyd Sam	Ghana
17	Midfielder	Brian James	United States
19	Defender	János Löbe	Germany
21	Midfielder	Héctor Morales	Cuba
22	Goalkeeper	Bryant Gammiero	United States
23	Defender	Brenton Griffiths	Jamaica
25	Midfielder	Lance Rozeboom	United States
45	Defender	Jalen Markey	United States
92	Goalkeeper	Brian Sylvestre	United States
99	Forward	Mohamed Thiaw	Senegal

Miami FC President and co-owner, Riccardo Silva (centre) with Ronaldo Luís Nazário de Lima (left) and former head coach, Alessandro Nesta (right)

As of March 3, 2019[36]

Position	Nation	Staff
Head coach	United States	Nelson Vargas
Assistant coach	United States	Anthony Hazelwood
Goalkeeper coach	England	Paul Crichton
Equipment manager	England	Brad Smith
Head athletic trainer	United States	Alex Witter
Assistant athletic trainer	United States	Emmanuel Garcon

As of match played 9 November 2019

	Name	Years	League	Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup	Total
1	Jaime Chavez	2016–2018	24 (63)	1 (5)	3 (6)	28 (74)
2	Dylan Mares	2017–2018, 2019	21 (56)	4 (12)	2 (9)	27 (77)
3	Ariel Martínez	2016–2019	15 (72)	9 (13)	1 (7)	25 (92)
4	Miguel González	2019–present	17 (15)	4 (7)	0 (1)	21 (23)
4	Stefano Pinho	2017	17 (27)	0 (1)	4 (3)	21 (31)
6	Darío Suárez	2018–2019	10 (24)	4 (12)	2 (4)	16 (40)
6	Mohamed Thiaw	2019–present	14 (15)	2 (7)	0 (1)	16 (23)
8	Vincenzo Rennella	2016–2018	14 (39)	0 (1)	1 (8)	15 (48)
8	Kwadwo Poku	2016–2017	13 (49)	0 (1)	2 (5)	15 (55)
10	Darío Cvitanich	2016	9 (26)	0 (0)	0 (1)	9 (27)

As of match played 9 November 2019

	Name	Years	League	Playoffs	US Open Cup	Total
1	Ariel Martínez	2016–2019	72 (15)	13 (9)	7 (1)	92 (25)
2	Mario Daniel Vega	2016–2018	75 (0)	6 (0)	8 (0)	89 (0)
3	Mason Trafford	2016–2018	69 (0)	6 (0)	9 (0)	84 (0)
4	Rhett Bernstein	2016–2018	66 (2)	6 (0)	6 (1)	78 (3)
5	Dylan Mares	2017–2018, 2019	56 (21)	12 (4)	9 (2)	77 (27)
6	Jaime Chavez	2016–2018	63 (24)	5 (1)	6 (3)	74 (28)
7	Blake Smith	2016–2017	55 (1)	1 (0)	5 (0)	61 (1)
8	Kwadwo Poku	2016–2017	49 (13)	1 (0)	5 (2)	55 (15)
9	Michael Lahoud	2016–2017	45 (1)	1 (0)	6 (0)	52 (1)
10	Richie Ryan	2016–2017	42 (0)	1 (0)	6 (0)	49 (0)

As of match played 7 March 2020

Name	Nat.	From	To	P	W	D	L	GS	GA	%W	Honours	Notes
Alessandro Nesta	Italy	1 September 2015[5]	17 November 2017[7]	71	35	17	19	111	77	049.30	(1) NASL Spring Season (1) NASL Fall Season
Paul Dalglish	Scotland	25 January 2018[37]	13 November 2019[38]	45	36	5	4	143	30	080.00	(2) Sunshine Conference Championship (2018, 2019) (2) NPSL South Region Championship (2018, 2019) (2) NPSL Championship (2018, 2019) (1) NISA East Coast Championship (2019)
Nelson Vargas	United States	14 November 2019[39]		1	0	0	1	1	4	000.00

The closest team geographically was the Fort Lauderdale Strikers with games between the two sides often labelled the FL Clásico.[40] Fixtures with the other two teams in Florida, the Tampa Bay Rowdies and Jacksonville Armada are also keenly contested. These four teams competed for the Coastal Cup over the course of the 2016 season.

After the 2016 season Tampa Bay left the NASL for the United Soccer League and Fort Lauderdale ceased operations because of financial issues. That left Jacksonville as The Miami FC's only in-state rival in the NASL. Miami did however face Tampa Bay in the third round of the 2017 U.S. Open Cup, defeating the Rowdies by a score of 2–0.

When the NASL cancelled the 2018 season, Miami and Jacksonville continued their rivalry in the NPSL in both 2018 and 2019 as both clubs continued operation. The team also began a rivalry against Miami United FC dubbed "Magic City Clasico." The teams met in the Second Round of the 2018 U.S. Open Cup where United shocked FC, 3–1, to advance.[41]

Dade Brigade are the official supporters group of The Miami FC and they occupy the east stand of FIU Stadium which is known as the Brigade End for home games.[42] They are named for Miami-Dade County.

• Spring championship (1): 2017
• Fall championship (1): 2017

• Sunshine Conference Championship (2): 2018, 2019
• South Region Championship (2): 2018, 2019
• National Championship (2): 2018, 2019

• East Championship (1): 2019