Orange County Blues FC

For the USL Premier Development League team, see Orange County Blues U-23.

Orange County Blues FC

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Full name	Orange County Blues Football Club
Nickname(s)	OC Blues FC
Founded	1998 as Los Angeles Blues
Stadium	Anteater Stadium Irvine, California
Ground Capacity	2,500
Owners	Ali Mansouri Maryam Mansouri
Head Coach General Manager	Oliver Wyss
League	USL
2015	1st, Western Conference Playoffs: Conference Semifinals
Website	Club home page
Home colors Away colors

Orange County Blues is an American soccer team based in the Los Angeles suburb of Irvine, California, United States. Founded in 1998, the team plays in the United Soccer League, the third tier of the American Soccer Pyramid.

The team plays its home games at Anteater Stadium on the campus of University of California, Irvine. The team's head coach is Oliver Wyss.

History

The then Los Angeles Blues was announced as a USL Pro expansion franchise on November 7, 2010 The team is associated with the United Soccer Leagues W-League team LA Blues, and is part of the larger Orange County Blues organization, which has competed in Los Angeles-area amateur leagues since 1998. They introduced their first three players—goalkeeper Oscar Dautt and midfielders Cesar Rivera and Josh Tudela—at a formal launch event on December 14, 2010.

After an extensive pre-season, the Blues played their first games in the Caribbean over the weekend of April 15–17, 2011, a 3–0 victory over Sevilla Puerto Rico, and a 2–1 victory over Antigua Barracuda. The first goal in franchise history was scored by Cesar Rivera.

In January 2012, the Blues announced the hiring of Steve Donner (formerly CEO of Orlando City) as vice president of business operations to focus on improving marketing for the club and to bring professionalism to the front-office. The first game of the 2012 season reflected these efforts with a 2,432 attendance compared to 696 for the first home game in 2011 (the Blues averaged 382 during the 2011 season).

Colors and crest

• Los Angeles Blues logo (2010-2012).png

  The inaugural Los Angeles Blues Soccer Club logo.

• Los Angeles Blues logo (2012-2013).png

  LA Blues logo through the 2013 season.

• Orange County Blues FC.png

  Orange County Blues logo (2014)

The Blues play in a combination of sky blue, dark blue and white. The club's logo features the blue of the California sky and the dark azure of the Pacific as the main characteristics, paying homage to its home region. The club's inaugural logo itself was a derivation of its sister club's logo from the Pali Blues.

Stadium

• Titan Stadium; Fullerton, California (2011–2013)
• Anteater Stadium; Irvine, California (2014–present)

Players and staff

Current roster

No.	Position	Player	Nation
1	Goalkeeper	Josh Cohen	United States
2	Defender	Jackson McCracken	United States
4	Midfielder	Grady Howe	United States
5	Midfielder	Nikola Ilich	United States
6	Defender	Maurice Pluntke	Germany
7	Forward	Christopher Santana	United States
8	Midfielder	Christian Silva	United States
9	Forward	Trevin Caesar	Trinidad and Tobago
10	Midfielder	Pavle Popara	Serbia
11	Forward	Tyler Feeley	Serbia
12	Defender	Andrae Campbell	Jamaica
14	Forward	Akwafei Ajeakwa	United States
15	Defender	Ryan Felix	United States
16	Midfielder	Mats Bjurman	United States
17	Midfielder	Verneri Välimaa (on loan from Tampa Bay Rowdies)	Finland
18	Midfielder	Dušan Stevanović	Serbia
19	Midfielder	Ivan Mirković	Serbia
20	Midfielder	Oriol Cortes	Spain
21	Midfielder	Didier Crettenand	Switzerland
22	Forward	Gevorg Karapetyan	Armenia
23	Defender	Brenton Griffiths	Jamaica
24	Forward	Joe Baccielo	United States
25	Defender	Steve Purdy	El Salvador
33	Goalkeeper	Brandon Miller	United States
37	Defender	Roy Meeus	Belgium

Staff

• Oliver Wyss – Head Coach and General Manager
• Barry Venison – Technical Director
• Braeden Cloutier – Assistant Coach
• Victor Nogueira – Goalkeeping Coach
• Claudio Trabattoni – Strength & Conditioning Coach
• Chris Phillips – Athletic Trainer

Head coaches

• Charlie Naimo (2011–2012)
• Jesus Rico-Sanz (2012–2013)
• Dariush Yazdani (2013–2014)
• Oliver Wyss (2014–)

Record

Year-by-year

Year	Division	League	Regular Season	Playoffs	Open Cup	Attendance
Los Angeles Blues
2011	3	USL	3rd, National	Divisional Semifinals	3rd Round	382
2012	3	USL	8th	Did not qualify	2nd Round	666
2013	3	USL	6th	Quarterfinals	3rd Round	542
Orange County Blues
2014	3	USL	13th	Did not qualify	2nd Round	760
2015	3	USL	1st, Western	Conference Semifinals	4th Round	1,398

Honors

United Soccer League

• Western Conference (Regular Season)
  • Winners : 2015

External links

• Official site