Memphis 901 FC was an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

team based in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. Founded in 2018, the team made its debut in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

in 2019. On November 13, 2024, it was announced that the team would be folding after they were unable to secure funding for a new

soccer-specific stadium A soccer-specific stadium, mainly in the United States and Canada, is a sports stadium either purpose-built or fundamentally redesigned for soccer and whose primary function is to host soccer matches, as opposed to a multi-purpose stadium whic ...

at the fairgrounds site. The USL Championship franchise rights were transferred to Santa Barbara Sky FC, based in

Santa Barbara, California Santa Barbara (, meaning ) is a coastal city in Santa Barbara County, California, of which it is also the county seat. Situated on a south-facing section of coastline, the longest such section on the West Coast of the United States excepting A ...

Colors and badge

The club's name referred to the local area code for the Memphis area. On September 1, 2018, Memphis 901 FC unveiled their logo, which uses concentric lines styled like

neon sign In the signage industry, neon signs are electric signs lighted by long luminous gas-discharge tubes that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in Decem ...

s to form a

LP record The LP (from long playing or long play) is an Analog recording, analog sound storage medium, specifically a phonograph record format characterized by: a speed of revolutions per minute, rpm; a 12- or 10-inch (30- or 25-cm) diameter; use ...

; the lines are a reference to

Beale Street Beale Street is a street in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, which runs from the Mississippi River to East Street, a distance of approximately . It is a significant location in the city's history, as well as in the history of blues music. Today, ...

, which has several buildings that use neon signage.

Sponsorship

Stadium

The club played at

AutoZone Park AutoZone Park is a Minor League Baseball stadium located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, and is home to the Memphis Redbirds of the International League, the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of Major League Baseball's (MLB) St. Louis Card ...

, a baseball stadium that is also home to the minor league Memphis Redbirds. For its matches, the stadium's dirt infield was replaced with sod, and a pitch was laid along the first baseline. The club also played at Mike Rose Soccer Complex for a U.S. Open Cup game against

Hartford Athletic Hartford Athletic is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The club was founded in 2018 and started play in the USL Championship in 2019. It is the only pro soccer team in Connecticut (thoug ...

on May 29, 2019, and for a U.S. Open Cup game against

Orlando City SC Orlando City Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Orlando, Florida. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Owned by Zygi, Leonard, and Mark Wilf, it is the sister club of ...

on June 12, 2019. On October 18, 2022, the club announced plans for a new soccer-specific stadium with a capacity of 10,000. The stadium was planned to open in time for the 2025 USL Championship season and would have been constructed at the current site of the Mid-South Coliseum, which closed in 2006.

Ownership

The club was owned by Peter Freund, principal owner of Trinity Sports Holdings, Craig Unger, and former

United States men's national soccer team The United States men's national soccer team (USMNT), officially recognized as USA by FIFA, represents the United States in men's international Association football, soccer. The team is governed by the United States Soccer Federation, which is ...

goalkeeper

Tim Howard Timothy Matthew Howard (born March 6, 1979) is an American former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. He is the part-owner of club Dagenham & Redbridge as well as an international ambassador in the United States for Premie ...

. Trinity Sports Holdings' portfolio includes minor league baseball clubs Memphis Redbirds, the

Charleston RiverDogs The Charleston RiverDogs are a Minor League Baseball team of the Carolina League. They are located in Charleston, South Carolina, and are the Single-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. The RiverDogs' home stadium is Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park. Char ...

and the Williamsport Crosscutters. Unger also served as president, general manager, and part owner of the Redbirds. The consortium also purchased a majority holding in English fifth-tier club, Dagenham & Redbridge F.C.

Club culture

Rivalries

Memphis competed in the Southern Harm derby against rivals Birmingham Legion.

Supporters

The Bluff City Mafia supported Memphis 901. Founded in August 2018, before Memphis' inaugural season, they were known for their march from a local Irish pub to AutoZone Park before every home game. Before every home game, the Bluff City Mafia invited local celebrities and officials to take part in what had become known as the Guitar Smash, an homage to Memphis' musical roots.

Players and staff

Final roster

Staff

Team records

Year-by-year

1. Top scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

Head coaches

* Includes USLC regular season, USLC playoffs, U.S. Open Cup. Excludes friendlies.

Average attendance

Attendance records taken from USL Championship match reports and collated by Soccer Stadium Digest, 2022.

References

External links

* {{Tennessee Sports Former USL Championship teams 2018 establishments in Tennessee Association football clubs established in 2018 Soccer clubs in Memphis, Tennessee 2024 disestablishments in Tennessee Association football clubs disestablished in 2024