FC Columbus is a semi-professional American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

club based in

Upper Arlington, Ohio Upper Arlington, often known by its initials U.A., is a city in Franklin County, Ohio, United States, on the northwest side of the Columbus metropolitan area. The Old Arlington neighborhood is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. ...

, a suburb of

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. The team is a member of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and currently plays its home matches at

The Wellington School The Wellington School (simply referred to as Wellington) is a PK–12 private, co-educational, college-preparatory school in Upper Arlington, Ohio, United States. It was established in 1982 by a group of entrepreneurs. It is a member of the Nat ...

History

Initially founded in 1995 as the Santos Futbol Club of Columbus, a youth training academy, the team was announced on January 12, 2018 as a member of the NPSL ahead of the 2018 season. Maziya Chete, the team's owner and founder of Santos FC, was named the team's first associate head coach with Seymour Alleyne also taking an associate role. During the first match of the against the

Milwaukee Torrent FC Milwaukee Torrent is an American soccer team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The club fields a men's and women's team. The men play in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), and the women play in the Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) ...

on May 13, 2018, the local supporters affectionately nicknamed the club "The Saints" in honor of the link between the youth club TVSA Santos FC and FC Columbus. The game ended in a 2-2 draw with Damani Camara scoring the team's first goal in the 5th minute before scoring another in the 44th. Despite not playing in the same conference, Columbus has a rivalry with fellow Ohio-based team Cleveland SC which also joined the NPSL in 2018. The two teams play yearly in early season friendlies, affectionately called the "CheeseBarn Derby" after the famous Grandpa's Cheesebarn & Sweeties Chocolates located between the two cities in Ashland, Ohio. As of 2020 both teams currently hold a win, each earning a 3-2 victory in 2018, and a draw (2019) with neither actually taking the advantage in the rivalry.

Year-by-year

References

{{Ohio Sports National Premier Soccer League teams Soccer clubs in Columbus, Ohio Sports teams in Columbus, Ohio Association football clubs established in 2018 2018 establishments in Ohio