Santa Ana Winds FC, also known as Winds FC, is a

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 founded in

Santa Ana, California Santa Ana (Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, California, United States. Located in the Greater Los Angeles region of Southern California, the city's population was 310,227 at the 2020 census. As ...

, and a founding

United Premier Soccer League The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is an American for-profit 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 leagu ...

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 area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...

weather condition known as the

Santa Ana winds The Santa Ana winds, occasionally referred to as the devil winds, are strong, extremely dry katabatic winds that originate inland and affect coastal Southern California and northern Baja California. They originate from cool, dry high-pressure ...

. 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. The club currently plays in Liga MX, the top division of Mexican football. The club was founded in 1916, it plays home matches at Estadio Jalisco. Atlas has won t ...

U-20 squad in March 2011, and a

Chivas de Guadalajara Club Deportivo Guadalajara S.A de C.V. (;), nicknamed ''"Chivas"'' () and simply known as Guadalajara or internationally as Chivas de Guadalajara, is a Mexican professional football club based in the Guadalajara metropolitan area, Jalisco. It c ...

U-20 squad in November 2011. On November 18, 2017, the club made history by qualifying to the 2018 U.S. Open Cup 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 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 association football, soccer league. The league is officially affiliated to the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) and has automatic qualification for the U.S. Open Cup. ...

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

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, United States. The population was 85,858 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Lake Forest incorporated as a city on December 20, 1991. Prior to incorporation, the community had be ...

Irvine, California Irvine () is a Planned community, planned city in central Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. It was named in 1888 for the landowner James Irvine. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the ...

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 Orange ...

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 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 El Toro, Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) El Toro. The Orange Co ...

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 Orange County FC is an American soccer club based in Lake Forest, California, that currently plays in the United Premier Soccer League. They previously played in the National Premier Soccer League and SoCal Premier League. The club's colors are ...

, 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 who is the manager of Deportivo Saprissa. As a player he was a striker who notably ...

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 is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

, in the Avante section of the

Coyoacán Coyoacán ( ; , Otomi: ) 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- ...

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, officially the Slovak Republic, 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 west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's ...

. 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 F ...

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

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

and

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, and connects at the

Mexico–United States border The international border separating Mexico and the United States extends from the Pacific Ocean in the west to the Gulf of Mexico in the east. The border traverses a variety of terrains, ranging from urban areas to deserts. It is the List of ...

to the city of

Tijuana Tijuana is the most populous city of the Mexican state of Baja California, located on the northwestern Pacific Coast of Mexico. Tijuana is the municipal seat of the Tijuana Municipality, the hub of the Tijuana metropolitan area and the most popu ...

. 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, 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 populatio ...

. 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;

San Juan Capistrano, California San Juan Capistrano (also known colloquially as San Juan or SJC) is a city in southern Orange County, California, United States. The population was 35,253 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 Census. Named for Saint John of Capistrano, San Ju ...

(2006–2008) * Centennial Park Field;

(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. The population was 171,949 at the 2020 census. State Route 22, also known as the Garden Grove Freeway, passes through the city in an east–west direction. The west ...

(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 Oran ...

;

(2011–2013) *

;

(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 Lake Forest, California Sports in Irvine, California Sports in Santa Ana, California United Premier Soccer League teams Association football clubs established in 2006 2006 establishments in California Soccer clubs in Orange County, California