Charlotte’s new Major League Soccer team officially has a name. Charlotte Football Club or Charlotte FC has been decided upon after months of fan feedback and community discussion. Team leaders solicited advice from the general public and soccer fans and the most popular name among both crowds was the clear winner. Tepper Sports & Entertainment made the announcement this week as well as unveiling the logo and color palette for the team.
The logo is a circle with a four-pointed crown, a nod to the Queen City. The four points on the crown are for the four wards in historic Uptown. The circle is for a coin as Charlotte was the first branch of the U.S. Mint. Home games for the team will be played at Bank of America Stadium on Mint Street. The logo also has the words “Minted in 2022” which is the year that the team will begin playing matches.
The color palette for the team will follow the lead of the Carolina Panthers, which is fitting as they will share a stadium. This means blue, black, white, and silver. This is great news for Panthers fans as they can proudly wear team colors now.
The team mascot has not been decided at this time, but will be announced at a later time. Doubleday & Cartwright, an agency out of New York City helped develop the branding and will be working with Tepper Sports & Entertainment to finish all of this work.
Due to the pandemic, the team will not start playing in spring of 2021 which was the original plan. Games have been postponed for an entire year. This gives the team more time to prepare by hiring a top notch coaching staff and players. So far they have a sporting director or general manager, Zoran Krneta. In addition they have a director of scouting, Thomas Schaling. The coaching candidates for head coach are currently in the interview process with the hope of narrowing the field soon to just a few finalists. There will be many other additions to the coaching staff as well as team trainers.
The team has announced the first player to join the team as well, Sergio Ruiz, a 25-year old midfielder from Spain. Sergio is currently on loan to another team for 18 months of training and development. This is standard in the sport and could happen with future player additions as well. This means the team will be in top condition when they are all together for team training.
The delay due to the pandemic also has additional benefits that the team can use the time to bring more awareness to the community to garner a larger fan base. Soccer is the biggest sport worldwide, but still has not reached the level of football in the United States. That is changing, but still is not yet on par with the rest of the world.
There is also still construction going on at the stadium which will hopefully be completed before the first home match. It looks like the delay was good all around, and the fans will be ready for the first match of Charlotte FC in 2022.
