Orlando Pride

The Orlando Pride is a professional women's soccer team based in Orlando, Florida. The team joined the National Women's Soccer League, the top level of women's soccer in the US, for the 2016 season.[1][2] It is the tenth team to be added to the league. It is affiliated with the MLS team Orlando City SC and play their home games at Exploria Stadium in downtown Orlando.

A NWSL record crowd of 23,403 at the Florida Citrus Bowl on April 23, 2016 of the franchise's first Home Game

Orlando Pride
FoundedOctober 20, 2015 (2015-10-20)
StadiumExploria Stadium
Orlando, Florida
Capacity25,500
Owners
  • Flávio Augusto da Silva (majority)
  • Phil Rawlins (minority)
Executive VPAmanda Duffy
Head coachMarc Skinner
LeagueNational Women's Soccer League
2019Regular season: 9th
Playoffs: DNQ
WebsiteClub website

History

Following the 2015 NWSL season, it was rumored that the Orlando City SC ownership group would be adding an expansion team to the women's professional league.[3] On October 20, 2015, a press conference was held at Lake Eola Park where Phil Rawlins unveiled the team name, logo, and colors.[4] Former national team head coach of Australia and the U.S. Tom Sermanni was announced as the team's first head coach.[5]

On October 26, 2015, the Pride announced that they had made the first player acquisitions in team history; signing forward Alex Morgan and Kaylyn Kyle from Portland Thorns FC in exchange for the Pride's No. 1 picks in the 2015 NWSL Expansion Draft and the 2016 NWSL College Draft as well as an international roster spot for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, and also acquired Sarah Hagen in a separate trade with FC Kansas City along with Kansas City's second-round 2016 draft pick in exchange for the Pride's 2017 second-round draft pick.[6] They finished the season in 9th.

In 2017 the Pride qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history as they finished the regular season in 3rd place with a record of 11–7–6. They went to Portland Thorns for the semi-final but lost 4–1. The season was also notable for the signing of five time FIFA World Player of the Year and Brazil international Marta who finished the season as the league's second highest scorer with 13 goals.

Following a disappointing 2018 season where the Pride missed the playoffs by finishing in 7th place, head coach Tom Sermanni and the Orlando Pride mutually parted ways after three seasons. Sermanni had a regular season record of 25–29–14 during his spell in Orlando, going 0–1–0 in the playoffs.[7]

In January 2019, Marc Skinner stepped down from his role at FA WSL side Birmingham City to become the Pride's second ever head coach.

In May 2019, plans were unveiled to build a dedicated training facility at Sylvan Lake Park, the first-ever training facility in the NWSL that is tailored to and used exclusively by a women's team. The Pride plan to finish out the 2019 season at their current facility located at Seminole Soccer Complex before moving to the new state-of-the art training ground prior to the start of the 2020 season.[8]

Team name, crest and colors

The name Orlando Pride was announced on October 20, 2015 by founder and president Phil Rawlins. He noted that the name "captures how we all feel about the City of Orlando, as well as firmly tying into the Lions family."[4] The team colors are purple and light blue. The logo features an illustration of the famous fountain at Lake Eola Park.[9][10]

Uniform evolution

Home

2016
2017–2018
2019–

Away

2016
2017
2018–

Stadium
Main article: Exploria Stadium
The team currently plays at Exploria Stadium

The team plays its home games at Exploria Stadium, in Orlando, Florida, which opened for the 2017 NWSL season. The stadium has a 25,500 capacity including a safe standing section. Prior to this the team played the 2016 season at Camping World Stadium.

On April 23, 2016, the Pride set a new NWSL attendance record, achieving a crowd of 23,403 during the Pride's inaugural home game, a 3–1 victory over the Houston Dash at Camping World Stadium.[11] The record stood for over three years before Portland Thorns attracted a post-World Cup attendance of 25,218 in the newly-expanded Providence Park in August 2019.[12]

Players
Orlando Pride in May 2018
See also: All-time Orlando Pride roster

Current roster
As of August 14, 2020.[13]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Position Player Nation
2 Forward Sydney Leroux  United States
3 Defender Toni Pressley  United States
4 Defender Shelina Zadorsky  Canada
5 Midfielder Emily van Egmond  Australia
6 Defender Emily Sonnett  United States
7 Forward Claire Emslie  Scotland
10 Forward Marta  Brazil
11 Defender Ali Krieger  United States
12 Midfielder Kristen Edmonds  United States
13 Forward Alex Morgan  United States
14 Defender Alanna Kennedy  Australia
15 Midfielder Jade Moore  England
16 Defender Carson Pickett  United States
20 Midfielder Abby Elinsky  United States
21 Defender Julie King  United States
23 Midfielder Marisa Viggiano  United States
24 Goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris (captain)  United States
25 Defender Konya Plummer  Jamaica
26 Midfielder Taylor Kornieck  United States
27 Defender Morgan Reid  United States
28 Defender Courtney Petersen  United States
30 Goalkeeper Brittany Wilson  United States
31 Midfielder Chelsee Washington  United States
33 Defender Cheyenne Shorts  United States
— Forward Caitlin Farrell  United States

Out on loan
No. Position Player Nation
1 Goalkeeper Erin McLeod (on loan at Stjarnan until October 20, 2020)  Canada
8 Defender Ali Riley (on loan at FC Rosengård until November 30, 2020)  New Zealand
9 Midfielder Camila (on loan at Palmeiras until December 22, 2020)  Brazil
32 Defender Phoebe McClernon (on loan at Växjö DFF until November 30, 2020)  United States

Staff
As of May 29, 2020[14][15][16]
Executive
Majority owner and chairman Flávio Augusto da Silva
Chief executive officer Alex Leitão
Executive vice president Amanda Duffy
Coaching staff
Head coach Marc Skinner
Assistant coach Carl Green
Assistant coach Seb Hines
Goalkeeping coach Lloyd Yaxley

Records
Main article: List of Orlando Pride records and statistics

Year-by-year
Seasonal statistics for the Orlando Pride
Season NWSL regular season Position NWSL
Playoffs		 Top scorer Avg. Attendance
P W D L GF GA Pts Player Goals
2016 20 6 1 13 20 30 19 9th DNQ Kristen Edmonds 6 8,785
2017 24 11 7 6 45 31 40 3rd SF Marta 13 6,186
2018 24 8 6 10 30 36 30 7th DNQ Sydney Leroux 6 4,837
2019 24 4 4 16 24 53 16 9th DNQ Marta 6 5,565

Head coaches
As of October 12, 2019
  • Only competitive matches are counted. Includes NWSL Regular season & playoff matches.
All-time Orlando Pride coaching stats
Name Nationality From To P W D L GF GA Win%[nb 1]
Tom Sermanni  Scotland October 20, 2015 September 14, 2018 69 25 14 30 96 102 036.23
Marc Skinner  England January 14, 2019 present 24 4 4 16 24 53 016.67
Total 93 29 18 46 120 155 031.18
  1. Win% is rounded to two decimal places

Broadcasting
See also: National Women's Soccer League § Broadcasting

Current

For the 2020 season, the NWSL announced a three-year broadcast deal with CBS Sports and streaming service Twitch. In total, 87 NWSL matches will be shown across the main CBS network, CBS Sports Network, and CBS All Access live-streaming service with 14 of those games televised while Twitch will offer free coverage of 24 selected matches during the 2020 NWSL regular season. Twitch will also serve as the NWSL's exclusive international media rights partner outside the United States in 2020 with all 108 regular-season matches, the playoffs, and Championship available to global viewers.[17][18]

Historic

In 2016, games were broadcast locally on the Bright House Sports Network.[19] In April of the same year, a livestream of a Pride match simulcast on the Facebook page of Alex Morgan had a live audience of 489,999 during the first half.[20] It was the first professional sports broadcast on the social networking website.[21]

For the 2017 season, Orlando Pride games were streamed exclusively by Go90 for American audiences and via the NWSL website for international viewers.[22] As part of a three-year agreement with A&E Networks, Lifetime broadcasts one NWSL Game of the Week on Saturday afternoons.[23][24] The Pride were featured in the nationally televised Game of the Week on seven occasions.[25] The deal was mutually terminated a year early at the end of the 2018 season.[26]

In 2019, NWSL regular season matches were streamed on Yahoo! Sports for the domestic audience while international fans continued to have access to games for free via the NWSL app and at NWSLsoccer.com.[27] However, on July 4, 2019, NWSL announced it had signed a deal through the second half of the 2019 season with ESPN on the back of the USWNT's World Cup victory. The new deal meant ESPN would televise 11 regular season matches including two Pride games (July 14 and September 11) as well as every playoff game.[28] The sudden switch and lack of information surrounding the international broadcasts led to widespread confusion as ESPN's subscription service ESPN Player took control in Europe, Africa and parts of Asia while Canada's rights were acquired by TSN.[29]

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See also

References
  1. Tenorio, Paul (October 20, 2015). "Orlando City set to announce National Women's Soccer League franchise". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  2. Murray, Caitlin (September 14, 2015). "MLS's Orlando City set to expand into NWSL for 2016". The Guardian. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  3. "Report: Orlando City SC to announce NWSL expansion". Sports Illustrated. September 14, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  4. "Orlando Pride women's soccer team to join NWSL in 2016". Bay News 9. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  5. Wahl, Grant (October 20, 2015). "Former USWNT manager Sermanni to coach new Orlando team in NWSL". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  6. "Orlando Pride Acquires Alex Morgan, Kaylyn Kyle and Sarah Hagen". Orlando Pride. October 26, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2015.
  7. "Orlando Pride and Head Coach Tom Sermanni Mutually Part Ways". September 14, 2018. Retrieved September 14, 2018.
  8. "Pride to Receive NWSL's First-Ever Customized, Exclusive Training Facility". www.orlandocity.com.
  9. Etzler, Allen (October 20, 2015). "Orlando City Officially Awarded NWSL Expansion Team, Names Club Orlando Pride". The Mane Land. Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  10. Rothschild, Ty (October 20, 2015). "Behind The Scenes: Creating The Orlando Pride Logo". Retrieved October 20, 2015.
  11. "Orlando Pride rolls to 3–1 win before record crowd in home debut". Orlando Sentinel.com. Retrieved April 23, 2016.
  12. "Match between the Courage and the Thorns draws record crowd". SI.com.
  13. "Orlando Pride Announce Preseason Opening Day Roster". Orlando City SC. March 9, 2020. Retrieved March 10, 2020.
  14. "Orlando Pride Staff". Orlando Pride.
  15. "Board of Directors". Orlando City SC.
  16. "Orlando Pride Names Seb Hines to First Team Technical Staff". www.orlandocitysc.com.
  17. "NWSL announces landmark multi-year media agreements with CBS Sports featuring games on CBS, CBS Sports Network, & CBS All-Access and Twitch". www.nwslsoccer.com.
  18. "NWSL agrees three-year broadcast deal with CBS Sports and Twitch". SportBusiness. March 11, 2020.
  19. "Bright House will broadcast four upcoming Orlando Pride soccer matches". Orlando Weekly. June 23, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  20. "Alex Morgan Broadcast Her Team's Last Game Via Facebook Live". Sport Techie. April 26, 2016. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  21. Kantrowitz, Alex (April 27, 2016). "Facebook Quietly Live-Streamed Its First Professional Sports Broadcast Over The Weekend". Buzzfeed. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  22. "NWSL, go90 announce exclusive streaming partnership". Black and Red United (SBNation). Vox Media. Retrieved April 14, 2017.
  23. "Lifetime To Air National Women's Soccer League Games As A+E Networks Kicks in For Equity Stake". Deadline.com. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  24. "A+E Networks, National Women's Soccer League Ink Major Deal". Variety. Retrieved February 3, 2017.
  25. Forrester, Nick (March 30, 2017). "NWSL announces 2017 broadcast schedule on Lifetime". Excelle Sports. Archived from the original on April 27, 2017. Retrieved April 26, 2017.
  26. "NWSL ends partnership with A+E Networks". USA TODAY. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  27. Megdal, Howard. "NWSL Announces End To Partnership With A&E; Here's What It Means". Forbes. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  28. "NWSL announces TV deal with ESPN for post-World Cup matches". Soccer Wire.
  29. Musarurwa, Kudzi (August 23, 2019). "NWSL risks losing its global audience". All For XI.
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