San Francisco Deltas

The San Francisco Deltas were an American professional soccer team based in San Francisco, California, United States. Founded in 2016, the team made its debut in the North American Soccer League in 2017.[2] The franchise played its home games at Kezar Stadium[3] located at the south-east end of Golden Gate Park.

San Francisco Deltas
Nickname(s)The Deltas
FoundedOctober 16, 2015 (2015-10-16)[1]
DissolvedNovember 24, 2017 (2017-11-24)
StadiumKezar Stadium
San Francisco, California
Capacity10,000
LeagueNorth American Soccer League
2017Spring: 2nd
Fall: 2nd
Combined: 2nd
Playoffs: NASL Champions
WebsiteClub website

In the same year they started to play in 2017, they won the 2017 NASL Championship and then folded 12 days later.

History

The San Francisco Deltas soccer team were led by CEO Colombian-born entrepreneur, Brian Andrés Helmick.[4] On October 14, 2015, the Deltas got the final signatures for admission to the North American Soccer League (NASL) in order to bring pro soccer to San Francisco.[5]

The Deltas were financially backed by a group of investors from Silicon Valley tech companies and venture capital firms as well as investors from Brazil. The group included Jonathan Peachey, former CEO of Virgin in North America; Danny Khatib, Co-Founder, President and COO of Livingly Media; and Josh McFarland, senior director of product at Twitter.[6]

The team played in the North American Soccer League.[7] The Deltas' website stated that a triangle was used as the logo because it is a symbol for change.[8]

The first three players were announced on December 12, 2016 with more announced over the next two months.

Prior to the team's debut, it received high praise for its large Canadian contingent, including coach Marc Dos Santos and captain Nana Attakora. The team was dubbed "Canada's Unofficial Team".[9]

Including their first preseason, The Deltas hadn't lost a match in nine games, drawing six and winning three, including a 1–0 victory over the San Jose Earthquakes in a preseason friendly. Their first loss was on April 29, 2017 against the New York Cosmos where they lost 1–0.

The Deltas earned their first competitive victory on Saturday, April 8, 2017, beating North Carolina FC 3–1 at home.

The Deltas earned their first US Open Cup victory on Wednesday, May 17, 2017, beating Burlingame Dragons 2–1.

On November 12, 2017, the Deltas beat the New York Cosmos 2–0 to win the NASL Championship.

On November 24, 2017, the Deltas announced that it had ceased professional operations effective immediately, citing the sustainability of the team and "continuous uncertainty being forced upon the NASL by the United States Soccer Federation".

Record

Season NASL Overall NASL Playoffs U.S. Open Cup Top goalscorer Managers Avg. Attendance
Div. Pos. Pl. W D L GS GA P Name League
2017 Spring 2nd 16 7 5 4 17 20 26 2nd NASL Champions Fourth Round Tommy Heinemann 9 Marc Dos Santos 2,575 (8th)
Fall 2nd 16 7 7 2 24 15 28

Crest

The name and crest were unveiled on January 30, 2016. San Francisco Deltas CEO Brian Helmick wrote "DELTA means CHANGE. In the city of change and innovation, our goal is to take risks and grow the world's sport for fans in the entire Bay Area." during a Reddit Ask Me Anything (AMA) session in February 2017. When coming up with name and crest, the operations team listened to a lot of fan input before making a decision. The name came about through eight major points: 1) No animals, there are too many animal team names; 2) Don't copy European Club Soccer in terms of naming, be original; 3) Europe is known for crests and nobility, but the USA is not; 4) With 40% of the people living in San Francisco not being born in the USA, they want to make sure the name can be pronounced in most languages (e.g. "th" doesn't exist in Spanish, Portuguese, Italian, French, etc.); 5) Less is more, don't make it complicated; 6) Take risks and be different, SF is all about taking risks and being different; 7) Don't manufacture history, own the fact that you're a new team, pick a name and let your actions develop your brand and not your colors, font type, design ,etc; 8) Don't over-explain things, let fans create their own relationship with the club for their own reasons. The fourth letter in the Greek alphabet is Delta and the symbol is a triangle and has connections with both soccer (Cruyff and possession football) and SF (Twin Peaks, Transamerica Pyramid, the towers and cables of the bridges form triangles, etc.).[10]

Stadium

In early 2016, it was announced that San Francisco Deltas would play their home games at Kezar Stadium.[11] In December 2016, more than 3,800 Candlestick Park seats from the former home of the San Francisco 49ers were acquired by the San Francisco Deltas and installed at Kezar Stadium.[12] This was part of $1 million in improvements The Deltas agreed to make to use Kezar Stadium, including new flood lights and updated locker rooms for the players.

Jerseys

Predominantly red and black, the inaugural season home jersey was unveiled on August 31, 2016 after fan voting by season ticket holders.[13] The away jerseys were announced on March 10, 2017 and were predominantly white. The jerseys were manufactured by Inaria.

Individual records

Top goalscorers

As of Match played November 12, 2017
Name Years NASL Playoffs US Open Cup Total
1 Tom Heinemann20179 (29)1 (2)2 (3)12 (34)
2 Pablo Dyego20176 (27)0 (2)0 (1)6 (30)
3 Devon Sandoval20174 (28)1 (2)0 (2)5 (32)
4 Kyle Bekker20173 (28)0 (2)1 (3)4 (33)
5 Reiner20172 (31)0 (2)1 (3)3 (36)
5 Bryan Burke20173 (13)0 (0)0 (1)3 (14)
5 Dagoberto20173 (13)0 (0)0 (0)3 (13)
8 Cristian Portilla20172 (17)0 (0)0 (2)2 (19)
8 Patrick Hopkins20172 (21)0 (1)0 (2)2 (24)
8 Kenny Teijsse20172 (23)0 (0)0 (2)2 (25)
8 Luis Pérez20172 (23)0 (0)0 (2)2 (25)

Most appearances

As of Match played November 12, 2017
Name Years League Playoffs US Open Cup Total
1 Reiner201731 (2)2 (0)3 (1)36 (3)
2 Tyler Gibson201730 (0)2 (1)3 (0)35 (1)
3 Tom Heinemann201729 (9)2 (1)3 (1)34 (12)
4 Kyle Bekker201728 (3)2 (0)3 (1)33 (4)
4 Romuald Peiser201731 (0)2 (0)0 (0)33 (0)
6 Devon Sandoval201728 (4)2 (1)2 (0)32 (5)
7 Michael Stephens201726 (0)2 (0)3 (0)31 (0)
8 Pablo Dyego201727 (6)2 (0)1 (0)30 (6)
9 Jackson201722 (1)2 (0)2 (0)26 (1)
9 Karl Ouimette201723 (0)2 (0)1 (0)26 (0)

Managerial records

As of Match played November 12, 2017
Name Nat. From To P W D L GS GA %W Honors Notes
Marc Dos Santos  Canada August 17, 2016[14] November 15, 2017 37 18 12 7 48 39 048.65 Soccer Bowl (1)
  • Notes:

P – Total of played matches W – Won matches D – Drawn matches L – Lost matches GS – Goal scored GA – Goals against
%W – Percentage of matches won

Nationality is indicated by the corresponding FIFA country code(s).

References

  1. San Francisco Deltas. "SF Deltas 1st Birthday". San Francisco Deltas. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  2. http://www.nasl.com/news/2016/03/29/nasl-welcomes-san-francisco-deltas-as-latest-expansion-club
  3. "Pro soccer team San Francisco Deltas find new home at Kezar Stadium". ABC7 San Francisco.
  4. "Why San Francisco's New Pro Soccer Team Thinks Like a Startup". Inc.com. March 29, 2016. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  5. Helmick, Brian Andrés (October 27, 2016). "SF Deltas 1st Birthday". sfdeltas. Retrieved July 3, 2017.
  6. "NASL pro soccer comes to San Francisco with Silicon Valley backing". The Beautiful Blog. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  7. "NASL: San Francisco Deltas, un equipo startup y con inteligencia artificial". Jugador Franquicia. Retrieved March 31, 2016.
  8. "DELTA = CHANGE". Retrieved January 12, 2017.
  9. Magazine, RedNation Online: Your Canadian Soccer. "The San Francisco Deltas: Canada's Unofficial Team". www.rednationonline.ca. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  10. "San Francisco's new pro soccer team SF Deltas - I'm Brian Andrés Helmick, CEO • r/soccer". reddit. Retrieved March 8, 2017.
  11. "San Francisco Deltas To Hold Open Player Tryouts in November". prnewswire.com. PR Newswire. October 11, 2016. Retrieved February 10, 2017.
  12. "Candlestick seats will soon fill SF's Kezar Stadium, thanks to Deltas soccer team". The Beautiful Blog. December 2, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  13. "SF Deltas let fans vote for home jersey". The Beautiful Blog. August 11, 2016. Retrieved April 27, 2017.
  14. "NASL: Deltas go global with selection of Dos Santos". August 17, 2016.
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