Santa Ana Winds FC, also known as Winds FC, is a soccer team founded in Santa Ana, California, and a founding

United Premier Soccer League The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is an American soccer league that was founded in Santa Ana in Southern California, with teams in regionalized conferences throughout the United States, and recently Canada and Mexico. The league was foun ...

club currently playing at the Lake Forest Sports Park, with occasional matches played at Championship Stadium at the Orange County Great Park. The club takes its name from a

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most populous urban ...

weather condition known as the

Santa Ana winds The Santa Ana winds (sometimes devil winds) "Scholars who have looked into the name's origins generally agree that it derives from Santa Ana Canyon, the portal where the Santa Ana River -- as well as a congested Riverside (CA-91) Freeway -- leav ...

. Santa Ana Winds FC, an elite amateur and professional development club, has played international development squads in the past, namely matches against a

Club Atlas Atlas Fútbol Club () is a Mexican professional football club based in Guadalajara, Jalisco that currently plays in Liga MX. It plays home matches at the Estadio Jalisco. Founded in 1916, Atlas has won three league titles and four domestic ...

U-20 squad in March 2011, and a

Chivas de Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara (); often simply known as Guadalajara () and their nickname ''Chivas'' (), is a Mexican professional football club based in Zapopan, Jalisco. Guadalajara is one of the ten founding members of the Mexican First Divisi ...

U-20 squad in November 2011. On November 18, 2017, the club made history by qualifying to the

2018 U.S. Open Cup The 2018 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 105th edition of the U.S. Open Cup, a knockout cup competition in American soccer. It is the oldest ongoing competition in the United States and was contested by 97 teams from leagues in the U.S. system ...

for the first time. On Tuesday, June 5, 2018, Winds FC winger Juan Arellano became the first player to transfer directly from Santa Ana Winds FC to an international professional club. Santa Ana Winds FC was founded in 2006 by

Leonel López Leonel López González (born 24 May 1994) is a Mexican professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Bolivian Primera División club The Strongest. Club career León López began his official football career when he was bought by Club ...

and brothers.

History

SoCal Premier

Santa Ana Winds FC played in the SoCal Premier League from 2006 to 2011 before joining the

National Premier Soccer League The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is an American men's soccer league. The NPSL is a semi-professional league, comprising some teams that have paid players and some that are entirely amateur. The league is officially affiliated to the U ...

West Region-Flight Southwest Conference, also in 2011. The club played in the 2006–07 Raúl Briones Cup, Group B, that they shared with Morelos, PSA and OC United. Winds FC finished third behind Morelos and PSA.

2006–07 Raúl Briones Cup, Group B

NPSL

Winds FC finished second in the NPSL Southwest Conference during their sole NPSL season, made the playoffs and fell in the first round to Hollywood United Hitmen, a national finalist that year, by a score of 3–1. The club left the NPSL after one season due to a split between owners. One faction of ownership left and kept the Santa Ana Winds FC name, while forming a startup development league called the

, which was also founded in Santa Ana. The other faction of ownership continued to operate in the NPSL with the borrowed name

Fullerton Rangers Fullerton may refer to: Places Australia * Fullerton Cove, New South Wales Canada * Cape Fullerton, Nunavut India * Fullerton Securities, a financial planning and wealth management product company United States * Fullerton, California, a cit ...

, and later called themselves Orange County Spartans, and then OC Pateadores, before disappearing from the NPSL. Winds FC shared the NPSL West – Flight Southwest conference with

FC Hasental FC Hasental is an American soccer team based in Thousand Oaks, California, United States. Founded in 2005, the team plays in the Southwest Division of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid. The ...

Lancaster Rattlers FC Santa Clarita (FCSC) is an American soccer team based in Santa Clarita, California, United States. FC Santa Clarita also known as the Santa Clarita Storm make just north of Los Angeles home, as they compete in the United Premier Soccer League ...

(now FC Santa Clarita), San Diego Boca F.C. and the

San Diego Flash San Diego Flash was an American soccer team based in San Diego, California, United States. Founded in 1998, the team returned to competitive play in 2011 and most recently played in the Southern Conference of the West Division of the National ...

2011 NPSL West Division – Flight Southwest, Final Standings

UPSL

Santa Ana Winds FC was a founding club of the United Premier Soccer League, established in 2011. The club has been playing UPSL, Open Cup and State Cup matches since in

Lake Forest, California Lake Forest is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 85,858 at the 2020 census. Lake Forest incorporated as a city on December 20, 1991. Prior to incorporation, the community had been known as El Toro. Following a vote in 20 ...

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

consistently in the last few years, while attempting to find a home field in the City of Santa Ana. Winds FC has one UPSL Championship title, from the 2012–13 season, a league cup title (later named Admiral Cup) from 2014, two Western Conference, SoCal Division Championship titles and one Western Conference Championship title from the Spring-Summer 2018 season. The club played all of their Spring 2016 league matches at the Lake Forest Sports Complex in Lake Forest, approximately 17 miles away from the City of Santa Ana, and began scheduling UPSL summer/fall season matches at

Santa Ana College Santa Ana College is a public community college in Santa Ana, California. History In 1915, Santa Ana Junior College opened its doors to 25 students as a department of Santa Ana High School. It was the second community college founded in Oran ...

in July 2016. Other fields where the club has played UPSL matches include the

Orange County Great Park The Great Park is a public park located in Irvine, California, with a focus on sports, agriculture, and the arts. It is a non-aviation reuse of the decommissioned Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro. The Orange County park comprises 28.8 ...

and Las Lomas Park, both in Irvine. The club began playing UPSL matches at the SAUSD Sports Complex Stadium, also known as Valley Falcons Stadium, in April 2017. On December 7, 2017 Santa Ana Winds FC played their first UPSL league match at the newly built Championship Stadium at the

against the LA Wolves, a game Winds FC won 3–1. Winds FC returned to Championship Stadium on January 7, 2018 in a playoff match against Orange County FC, a game Winds FC won 6–5 in penalty kicks. On January 13, Winds FC defeated the East Bay Stompers Juniors in the UPSL National Semi-final at Championship Stadium.

Juan Arellano Transfer to Cartaginés

On Tuesday, June 5, 2018,

Club Sport Cartaginés Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a ''Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

of Costa Rica, coached by

Paulo Wanchope Paulo César Wanchope Watson (; born 31 July 1976), more commonly known as Paulo Wanchope, is a Costa Rican football coach and former professional footballer As a player he was a striker who notably played in the Premier League for Derby Cou ...

announced new player signings ahead of their 2018 season among which Winds FC winger Juan Arellano was included. Juan Arellano became the first player to transfer directly from Santa Ana Winds FC to a professional club. Juan Arellano spent a week-long trial with the club prior to being invited to preseason and subsequently presented with C.S. Cartaginés.

Santa Ana Winds FC México

In 2017, a Mexican development club using the Santa Ana Winds FC name sprouted in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley of ...

, in the Avante section of the

Coyoacán Coyoacán ( , ) is a borough (''demarcación territorial'') in Mexico City. The former village is now the borough's "historic center". The name comes from Nahuatl and most likely means "place of coyotes", when the Aztecs named a pre-Hispanic ...

borough. The team trained and played at the Jesús Clark Flores sporting park, between Santa Ana and Avenida Calzada de la Virgen streets. Winds FC founders Leonel López and Pedro Magallón granted use of the club name to Mexico-based trainer Roberto Vásquez.

Costa Rica and Central America

Winds FC named Costa Rican soccer personality José Luis Bustos Director of International Soccer Operations for Costa Rica and Central America in October 2018. Part of Bustos's tasks include forming a partnership with a professional Costa Rican club and organizing a tournament in Costa Rica where Winds FC along with Asociación Deportiva Carmelita are set to participate in.

Club Crest

The first Santa Ana Winds FC crest dates from 2006 to 2013 and features the Spurgeon Building's clock tower, located in the Downtown Santa Ana Historic District and named after city founder William H. Spurgeon. The second Santa Ana Winds FC crest (2014–17) was redesigned in 2014 by sports logo artist Slavo Kiss for Sigma Kappa Brands, based in the

Slovak Republic Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

. The crest featured the City of Santa Ana water tower, visible from the

Santa Ana Freeway The Santa Ana Freeway is one of the principal freeways in Southern California, connecting Los Angeles and its southeastern suburbs including the freeway's namesake, the city of Santa Ana. The freeway begins at its junction with the San Diego Fre ...

, also known as the Interstate 5 Freeway or Golden State Freeway, which connects the cities of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the wor ...

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the eighth most populous city in the United States ...

, and connects at the

Mexico–United States border The Mexico–United States border ( es, frontera Estados Unidos–México) is an international border separating Mexico and the United States, extending from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border trav ...

to the city of

Tijuana Tijuana ( ,"Tijuana"
(US) and < ...

. The third and most-current Santa Ana Winds FC crest was redesigned in late 2017 again by Slavo Kiss looking to 2018 and the club's debut in the U.S. Open Cup.

Rivalries

* The Golden City Classic (an all-Santa Ana rivalry versus La Máquina) * The Sunset Derby (versus LA Wolves FC) * The I-5 Derby (versus Orange County FC)

Supporter Groups

The Aeolian Guard
The Angeltown Post
The I-Fivers

2018 Open Cup Squad

The following players were called to the September 23 Open Cup qualifying match versus Outbreak Soccer. Player Number, Name, Position: 1. Adrian Urquizo, GK 2. Ezequiel Estrada 3. Juan Fuentes, RB 4. Oscar Sandoval 5. Israel Espinoza 8. Kyle O'Brien, MF 9. Carlos Andrade 13. Khalil Zaid 14. Quinn M. Harter, CB 16. Derek Solano 17. Juan Arellano, LW 19. Ruben Ortiz 20. Osvaldo Hernandez 21. Kramer Runager, F 23. George Zuniga *Jordan Gorman *Omar Perez

Front Office

* Leonel López: Founder, President * Marco Paniagua: General Manager

Head coaches

* Marco Paniagua (2018–present) * Jose Lopez (2016–2018) * Arturo Martínez (2016) * Cesar Reyes (2015–2016) * Mele López (2013–2014)

Team records

2018 Spring UPSL Playoffs

Western Conference, SoCal Division Champion

Final Rounds

2017–18 Fall/Winter UPSL Playoffs

National Finalist, Runner-Up

2016–17 Fall/Winter UPSL Playoffs

Winds FC defeated regional powerhouse and conference rival La Máquina FC on Tuesday, January 24, 2017 at Santa Ana Stadium by a score of 2–1.

U.S. Open Cup record

2018 Open Cup

2018 Open Cup Qualifying

2017 Open Cup Qualifying

Santa Ana Winds FC were scheduled to host fellow UPSL club La Habra City FC at Lake Forest Sports Park on Sunday, September 18 in a qualifying match to the first round of the

2017 U.S. Open Cup The 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup was the 104th edition of the oldest ongoing competition in American soccer. FC Dallas entered the competition as the defending champions, but were eliminated in the quarterfinals by Sporting Kansas City. First ...

, but had the match moved to Colton High School in

Colton, California Colton is a city in San Bernardino County, California, United States. Nicknamed "Hub City", Colton is located in the Inland Empire region of the state and is a suburb of San Bernardino, approximately south of the city's downtown. The population ...

. Santa Ana defeated La Habra City FC by a score of 5–0 in the first-ever U.S. Open Cup qualifying match for either team. The October 23 Open Cup qualifier vs La Máquina was cancelled due to a thunderstorm in Irvine, and was rescheduled for October 30 at 6 pm at Orange County Great Park.

Honors

Titles

*UPSL National Championship: Runner-Up, 2019–20 *UPSL Western Conference Champion, Fall-Winter 2019-20 *UPSL Western Conference, SoCal Division Champion, Fall-Winter 2019-20 *UPSL Western Conference Champion, Spring 2018 *UPSL Western Conference, SoCal Division Champion, Spring 2018 *UPSL Western Conference, SoCal Division Champion, Fall-Winter, 2017–18 *UPSL National Championship: Runner-Up, Fall-Winter 2017–18 *UPSL, Admiral Cup Champions: 2014 *United Premier Soccer League Champions: Fall-Winter 2012–13

Individual Honors

*National United Premier Soccer League Most Valuable Player: Kyle O'Brien, Fall 2017 *National Player of the Week: Jordan Gorman, 2017, Western Pro Premier Division, Week 17 *National Player of the Week: Adan Coronado, 2017, Western Pro Premier Division, Week 3

Tournament Finishing

*U.S. Open Cup: Qualified, First Round, 2018 *UPSL Fall-Winter National Championship: Runner-Up, 2017–18 *Cal South State Cup, Quarterfinals, 2018 *Cal South State Cup, Quarterfinals, 2017 *US Open Cup, Second Qualifying Round, 2016

Home fields (All time: SoCal Premier, NPSL, UPSL)

* Heritage Park Field;

(2006–2008) *

Rancho Capistrano Rancho Capistrano, is a private, gated community surrounded by the Cleveland National Forest, in Riverside County, California, Riverside County, California. It is located within the Morrell Potrero, in the Elsinore Mountains, northwest of Elsin ...

;

San Juan Capistrano, California San Juan Capistrano ( Spanish for " St. John of Capistrano") is a city in Orange County, California, located along the Orange Coast. The population was 34,593 at the 2010 census. San Juan Capistrano was founded by the Spanish in 1776, when St. ...

(2006–2008) * Centennial Park Field; Santa Ana, California (2009–2010) * Oak Creek Park Field;

(2009–2010) * Westgrove Park;

Garden Grove, California Garden Grove is a city in northern Orange County, California, United States, located just southwest of Disneyland (located in Anaheim, CA). The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, ...

(2009–2010) *

Santa Ana Stadium Santa Ana Stadium, also known as Eddie West Field or the Santa Ana Bowl, is a city-owned and operated 9,000-capacity American football and soccer stadium located in downtown Santa Ana. The field was named after Eddie West, a writer for the Ora ...

; Santa Ana, California (2011–2013) *

; Santa Ana, California (2013) *

;

(2013–2016) * Las Lomas Community Park; Irvine, California (2014) * Lake Forest Sports Park;

(2016–2017) * Championship Stadium at OC Great Park; Irvine, California (Dec. 2017)

Sponsors and partners

*Score Sports, 2018–21 *Admiral Sportswear, 2014–18 *Molten, 2014–18

Season-by-season

References

External links

* {{Orange County Sports Soccer in Los Angeles United Premier Soccer League teams Association football clubs established in 2006 2006 establishments in California Sports in Los Angeles Soccer clubs in Greater Los Angeles Soccer clubs in California