Sporting Club Jacksonville, commonly known as Sporting JAX, is an upcoming American professional soccer club based in

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

. The club is planning to 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 2026.

History

Founding

franchise for Jacksonville was awarded to an investment group led by

venture capitalist Venture capital (VC) is a form of private equity financing provided by firms or funds to startup, early-stage, and emerging companies, that have been deemed to have high growth potential or that have demonstrated high growth in terms of number ...

Ricky Caplin and former

Heisman Trophy The Heisman Memorial Trophy ( ; also known simply as the Heisman) is awarded annually since 1935 to the top player in college football. It is considered the most prestigious award in the sport and is presented by the Heisman Trophy Trust followin ...

-winning quarterback

Tim Tebow Timothy Richard Tebow (; born August 14, 1987) is an American former professional football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for three seasons, primarily with the Denver Broncos. Tebow played college football for t ...

on August 30, 2022. The team established a partnership with

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

and

USL W League The USL W League (USLW) is a Women's association football, women's soccer league in the United States. It began play in May 2022 and follows the USL W-League (1995–2015), USL W-League, a similar league that existed from 1995 to 2015. It is c ...

club Florida Elite Soccer Academy to create a full development pathway from youth to professional levels for both men and women. The club expanded its leadership team on November 30—coinciding with the 30th anniversary of the NFL awarding Jacksonville its franchise—by adding former

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. The team ...

star Fred Taylor to the ownership group. Sporting Club Jacksonville, branded as Sporting JAX, was officially unveiled on December 12, 2023, along with its logo and team colors.

USL Championship era

Mark Warburton Mark Warburton (born 6 September 1962) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who is currently the Sporting Director and Head of Soccer for Sporting Club Jacksonville ...

, best known for leading

Rangers FC Rangers Football Club is a professional football club in Glasgow, Scotland. The team competes in the Scottish Premiership, the top division of Scottish football. The club is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers, though this has never been it ...

back to the

Scottish Premiership The Scottish Premiership, also known as the William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Premiership for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Scotland and the highest level of the Scottish football league system. Th ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

, was named

Sporting Director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The ...

and Head of Soccer on March 20, 2025. He oversees both the men’s and women’s teams.

Women's team

On May 16, 2023, the JAXUSL group was awarded a conditional franchise in the

USL Super League The USL Super League (USLS), officially known as the Gainbridge Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional women's soccer league and the highest level of the United States soccer league system, alongside the National Women's Socce ...

, contingent upon completing their soccer-specific stadium. The club's women's team debuted in 2025. They are coached by Stacey Balaam, former Associate Head Coach of Vanderbilt Commodores women's soccer.

Ownership and staff

Ownership

Technical staff

Stadium

The club has announced plans to construct a new soccer-specific stadium in Jacksonville. The new facility is expected to accommodate approximately 15,000 spectators and serve as the long-term home for both the men's and women's teams. The club has not announced a home stadium for its inaugural USL Championship season in 2026.

Uniforms

Sporting JAX unveiled its inaugural home kit for the 2025–26 season during a public launch event and Fan Fest at

Friendship Fountain Friendship Fountain is a large fountain in Jacksonville, Florida. It is in St. Johns River Park (also known as Friendship Fountain Park) at the west end of Downtown Jacksonville's Southbank Riverwalk attraction. The world's largest and tal ...

on May 13, 2025. Designed in collaboration with

Adidas Adidas AG (; stylized in all lowercase since 1949) is a German athletic apparel and footwear corporation headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Bavaria, Germany. It is the largest sportswear manufacturer in Europe, and the second largest in the ...

, the kit features a custom light blue jersey accented with bold orange Adidas three-stripe detailing. Caplin Ventures, owned by majority owner Ricky Caplin, appears as the primary shirt sponsor. The launch marked a major milestone for the club as it enters USL competition and aimed to unify its professional, pre-professional, and academy teams under a single visual identity. The home kit will be worn across all Sporting JAX teams, including those in

, and the Sporting JAX Academy. The event also showcased goalkeeper kits, alternate and youth academy kits, as well as training wear and equipment. Players from the club's men's and women’s pre-professional teams modeled the kits, with the event drawing hundreds of fans and featuring appearances from club executives, coaching staff, and adidas representatives.

Media

Sporting JAX maintains a growing presence in local media through strategic partnerships with television, radio, and digital platforms in the Jacksonville area. These outlets provide fans with comprehensive coverage of Sporting JAX, the

, the

, and global soccer news. In addition to traditional media coverage, the club produces a podcast titled, ''The Sporting Pod'', hosted by Cole Pepper and featuring regular appearances from team officials and players. It's available through

Apple Podcasts Apple Podcasts (known as simply Podcasts in Apple operating systems) is an audio streaming service and media player application developed by Apple Inc. for playing podcasts. Apple began supporting podcasts with iTunes 4.9 released in June 2005 ...

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

, and

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

. Emerson Burris serves as the club’s official team reporter. On April 25, 2025, Sporting JAX expanded its outreach by partnering with Norsan Media to deliver Spanish-language broadcasts. As the club’s exclusive Spanish-language media partner, Norsan Media offers coverage via La Raza 92.9 FM, Kaliente 94.1 FM, and Hola News, aiming to engage and grow the local Hispanic fan base.

References

{{Authority control Sporting Club Jacksonville USL Championship teams 2022 establishments in Florida Soccer clubs in Florida Association football clubs established in 2022