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. On November 20, 2015 Italian sportswear company Macron were announced as the club's kit suppliers on a three-year deal.[5]

Nesta resigned as coach following the completion of the 2017 season, on 17 November.[6]

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.[7][8] The intention was for Miami FC's players to play with Miami FC 2 while waiting for the NASL's proposed winter schedule to take effect.[9][10] The team hired Paul Dalglish as the new head coach on January 25.[11] The team played its home matches at its former training grounds on the campus of St. Thomas University in Miami Gardens.[12]

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.[13][14] 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.[15]

For the 2019 NPSL season, the team returned to playing as 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.[16] 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.[17][18]

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.[19][20][21] 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.[22][23] 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.[24][25]

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.[26][27]

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 January 29, 2021[34]

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

No.	Position	Player	Nation
2	Defender	Othello Bah	Liberia
19	Defender	János Löbe	Germany
25	Midfielder	Lance Rozeboom (captain)	United States
92	Goalkeeper	Brian Sylvestre	United States
—	Midfielder	Bolu Akinyode	Nigeria
—	Midfielder	Jahshaun Anglin	Jamaica
—	Forward	Richard Ballard	United States
—	Defender	Callum Chapman-Page	England
—	Defender	Paco Craig	England
—	Forward	Pierre da Silva	United States
—	Defender	Ramón Martín del Campo	Mexico
—	Forward	Billy Forbes	Turks and Caicos Islands
—	Forward	Christiano François	Haiti
—	Forward	Ariel Martínez	Cuba
—	Defender	Sean McFarlane	Jamaica
—	Defender	Junior Palacios	Colombia
—	Forward	Adonijah Reid	Canada
—	Goalkeeper	Connor Sparrow	United States
—	Forward	Lamar Walker	Jamaica
—	Midfielder	Devon Williams	Jamaica

As of January 15, 2021[35]

Position	Staff	Nation
Head coach	Paul Dalglish	Scotland
Assistant coach	Paul Crichton	England
Assistant coach	Jed Davies	Wales
Assistant coach	Nelson Vargas	United States
Athletic trainer	Andres Bueno	United States

As of match played October 4, 2020

	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	Miguel González	2019–present	21 (31)	4 (7)	0 (1)	25 (39)
3	Ariel Martínez	2016–2019	15 (72)	9 (13)	1 (7)	25 (92)
5	Stefano Pinho	2017	17 (27)	0 (1)	4 (3)	21 (31)
6	Mohamed Thiaw	2019–present	15 (30)	2 (7)	0 (1)	17 (38)
7	Darío Suárez	2018–2019	10 (24)	4 (12)	2 (4)	16 (40)
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 October 4, 2020

	Name	Years	League	Playoffs	U.S. 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 October 4, 2020

Name	Nat.	From	To	P	W	D	L	GS	GA	%W	Honours	Notes
Alessandro Nesta	Italy	September 1, 2015[36]	November 17, 2017[6]	71	35	17	19	111	78	049.30	(1) NASL Spring Season (1) NASL Fall Season
Paul Dalglish	Scotland	January 25, 2018[37]	November 13, 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	November 14, 2019[39]	August 10, 2020	3	0	0	3	4	11	000.00
Paul Dalglish	Scotland	August 10, 2020[40]		13	4	4	5	16	23	030.77

The closest team geographically was the Fort Lauderdale Strikers with games between the two sides often labelled the FL Clásico.[41] 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 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.[42]

Dade Brigade are the official supporters group of Miami FC and they occupy the east stand of FIU Stadium which is known as the Brigade End for home games.[43] 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