Lexington SC

Lexington Sporting Club is an American professional soccer team based in Lexington, Kentucky. Founded in 2021 as an expansion side in USL League One (the third division of the United States soccer league system), the team currently plays its home matches at Toyota Stadium at Georgetown College in Georgetown, Kentucky, while its permanent stadium is being constructed.

History
On October 5, 2021, the United Soccer League announced that Tower Hill Sports had been granted a USL League One expansion team in Lexington to start play in the 2023 season. Tentatively named "Lexington Pro Soccer," the team revealed its official colors, crest, and branding as Lexington Sporting Club on March 22, 2022.

The club's inaugural match was against fellow expansion side One Knoxville SC on March 18, 2023, where they fell 1–2, with Don Smart scoring the first goal in the club's history from a penalty kick in the 28th minute. They won their first match on April 15, 2023, in a 2–1 victory over Tormenta FC in full time at Toyota Stadium.

By the end of their inaugural season, LSC finished 9th in the USL League One table, ahead of the reigning Supporters Shield winners Richmond Kickers, 2022 runners up Chattanooga Red Wolves SC, and Wooden spoon winners Central Valley Fuego FC with Senegalese forward/midfielder Ates Diouf finishing 3rd in the Golden Boot standings with 15 goals.

Lexington SC Women
Lexington Sporting Club also fields 2 women's sides within the USL's structure – a professional team in the USL Super League and a pre-professional team in the USL W League. Former New Zealand international Michelle Reyner serves as the Women's Sporting Director, with Alan Kirkup as Technical Director and head coach of the W-League side.

USL Super League
In May 2023, the USL announced that LSC would be an inaugural member of the USL Super League, kicking off in 2024 alongside Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Brooklyn FC (USL), Spokane Zephyr FC, Tampa Bay Sun FC, Fort Lauderdale United FC, and Washington D.C., with Chattanooga, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Madison, and Oakland set to join in subsequent seasons.

The USL Super League (USLS) is a Division I professional women's soccer league in the United States. The league will be owned and operated by the United Soccer League. Originally planned to launch in August 2023, it is now slated to begin play in August 2024.

On January 9, 2024, the club announced Michael Dickey as the women's first team inaugural head coach for the inaugural 2024 season that is scheduled to kick off in August.

USL W League
Announced in October 2022, Lexington SC participated in the USL W League a pre-professional women's soccer league in the United States which began play in May 2023. The team competes in the Valley Division alongside Indy Eleven, Kings Hammer FC, Racing Louisville Academy, and St. Charles FC. The inaugural team played its matches at Toyota Stadium (Kentucky). Former National Women's Soccer League player Morgan Proffitt notably appeared in a handful of matches for the inaugural team.

Rivalries
Lexington SC's main league and region rivals are One Knoxville SC, Louisville City FC, and Greenville Triumph SC.

The Battle of the Barrel (Lexington vs. Knoxville) Lexington SC and One Knoxville joined USL League One as expansion sides together in 2023. The rivalry stems from the Kentucky–Tennessee rivalry as Lexington is home to the University of Kentucky and Knoxville is home to the University of Tennessee. The rivalry name comes from the old name for the matchup between Kentucky and Tennessee in college football where a beer barrel trophy was presented to the winner.

The reported trophy for the winner on aggregate score at the end of the USL1 season is "a full-size whiskey barrel and a bottle of bourbon from a distiller located in the losing club’s locale." Despite this, neither fan group has yet to see such a prize as of the start of the 2024 season.

The Kentucky Derby Derby / El Bluegrassico (Lexington vs. Louisville)

Lexington SC and Louisville City FC met for the first time in 2023 in the 2nd round of the U.S. Open Cup. The fans of both teams coined the term "El Bluegrassico" as a play on the name of the classic La Liga derby El Clásico and the nickname for Kentucky, “The Bluegrass State.” Along with that, duirng their first match, an announcer coined the game as being "The Kentucky Derby Derby," in reference to both city's horseracing culture and the Kentucky Derby. Lexington plays in a separate division of the United States soccer league system with Lou City playing the USL Championship, which is the 2nd division, and Lexington playing in the 3rd division league USL1.

The Green Team Gauntlet/Battle of the Greens (Lexington vs. Greenville)

This "rivalry" was created by Tyler Crane of Crane Kicks Lex (fan blog/podcast) and Gio Cañas, who is a notable Twitter presence within USL1 Twitter landscape, who now works for the Greenville Triumph SC. On the field, the rivalry has lived up to "hype," featuring late-game thrillers in 2 of the first 3 fixtures.

Supporters
The Railbirds are the only officially recognized supporters group for the club. The group was founded in August 2022 by Jesus Robles, Sam Spencer, Jon Lunsford, and Alan Clark. The group's name is inspired by the horseracing term "Railbird" – a person who hangs on the fence of a horse track, cheering for their horse and helping to give that final push across the finish line.

They can be found in The Stables or Section 109 at Toyota Stadium.

Colors and crest
Per the club's website, the crest and colors are broken down as follows-

Typography – "Our name, Lexington Sporting Club, is emblazoned in typography inspired by bourbon barrels. The letters are reminiscent of the barrels' graceful curves, giving our name the weight of local history and tradition."

The Shield – "The shield reflects the longstanding traditions of soccer. The heraldic silhouette recalls soccer club crests from the sport's early days during the Victorian Era. And the tapered shape perfectly frames our horse and our name."

The Horse – "Horses are synonymous with Lexington, the horse capital of the world. People speak with pride about the majestic, athletic, powerful, animal. The design of our horse is distinct yet traditional. Rearing upward gives the crest a sense of energy and power, striking a balance of historical and contemporary."

The Colors – "Lexington's rolling hills and lush, leafy woodland that bolster Kentucky's major industries – bourbon and horses – inspire the colors for this design. Our community carries a strong sense of place, and we love the memorable green colors that dominate our landscape."

Design Process

The Lexington SC crest was designed by Christopher Payne, a designer whose work with soccer clubs in the United Kingdom and the United States includes Eastleigh Football Club, Flower City Union, Monterey Bay FC, and Appalachian FC. Payne coordinated with Lexington-based media and PR company Bullhorn Creative which oversaw project management, creative services, and messaging beyond the brand design.

Over the course of several months, Lexington SC leadership held fourteen listening sessions with community members, gathering more than 300 responses to brand surveys and more than 1,500 responses to stadium surveys to identify key themes to reflect on the club's brand identity. Themes that emerged included the cultural landscape of the Bluegrass region and its lush green rolling hills and leafy woodlands, its equine and bourbon industries, and a communal sense of place. Surrounded by over 400 horse farms, Lexington is often referred to as the "Horse Capital of the World". It was also the first city outside of Europe to ever host the World Equestrian Games. To reflect this heritage, as well as club ownership's involvement in the thoroughbred industry and President Vince Gabbert's professional connection to Keeneland Race Course, the crest features a vibrant green stylized horse figure set against a dark green background.

Payne developed a typeface called Lex Type specific for Lexington SC branding. He states, "Like a horse, Lex Type is tall, powerful, and athletic. However, if you look closely, you’ll notice the typeface has subtle curves at the top and the bottom of the letters. This detail is inspired by the graceful curves of a bourbon barrel, tying the typography to this important element of local history and tradition."

Mascot
On May 12, 2023, LSC announced their official "mini" mascot Thunder, a miniature therapy horse stationed in the southwest corner of Toyota Stadium during matches. Thunder is very popular among fans, especially younger ones and helped pave the way for the green horse found on the club's crest to be nicknamed Thunder by the fans after her.

Stadium
Lexington SC currently plays at Toyota Stadium at Georgetown College while they are building an $82 million soccer complex off Athens–Boonesboro Road near Interstate 75 that is scheduled to open in August 2024, in time for the organization's first USLS season.

The team's ownership group had proposed a soccer-specific stadium in downtown Lexington, but the Lexington–Fayette Urban County Government denied that proposal. The stadium being built off Athens Rd will have a capacity of approximately 5,500 seats with the ability for the stadium to be renovated to be expanded to 11,000 seats. Surrounding the stadium will be the training grounds for both the professional Men's and Women's teams as well as the fields for the academy.

Proposed stadium

Originally, the team had plans for a downtown stadium as a part of the Lexington Center Corporation's High Street Development Project. The stadium's design was being directed by architecture firm Gensler. The firm is perhaps best known for designing Shanghai Tower, currently the world's third-tallest building by height. The firm is also responsible for designing several other sporting-specific stadiums and entertainment facilities including Milwaukee Bucks Entertainment Blocks (Milwaukee Bucks), BMO Stadium (Los Angeles FC), Q2 Stadium (Austin FC), and BMO Field, Canada's first soccer-specific stadium (Toronto FC). The proposed location for the facility was in the heart of downtown, directly across the street from Central Bank Center and Rupp Arena, a multi-purpose venue which hosts the Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team, concerts, conventions, and shows. The team has since withdrawn this proposal and that site will be used for mixed-use development instead.

Academy
On the same day the club revealed its branding, Lexington SC also announced that two local youth soccer clubs, Lexington F.C. and Commonwealth Soccer Club, would merge to form Lexington SC Academy. In April 2022, Lexington SC announced that it will join the Girls Academy League to add a girls’ youth program in Fall 2022. The following week, the club announced its participation in the USL Academy as part of its pathway-to-pro development model for youth. Their teams play in leagues like Kentucky Premier League (KPL), Kentucky Select Soccer League (KSSL), Great Lakes Conference (GLC), Girls Academy (GA), and more.

USL1 Current roster
C - Team Captain

Year-by-year
USL League One

1. Top Scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

USL Super League

TBA

USL W-League

1. Top Scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

Head coaches
USL League One

USL Super League

USL W League

League Honors
USL League One

USL League One
 * Team of the Week
 * Amal Knight – Week 1, 2
 * Jorge Corrales – Week 1, 4
 * Yannick Yankam – Week 1, 2, 6
 * Cameron Lancaster - Week 4
 * Azaad Liadi - Week 6
 * Khalid Balogun - Week 10
 * Nico Brown - Week 12

USL Jägermeister Cup
 * Team of the Round
 * Amal Knight – Round 1, 5
 * Jorge Corrales - Round 1
 * Kaelon Fox - Round 1
 * Ates Diouf - Round 3
 * Jayden Onen - Round 3
 * Cameron Lancaster - Round 3
 * Darren Powell - Coach of Round 1, 5


 * All League First Team - Ates Diouf
 * Seasonal Honors
 * Player of the Month
 * Ates Diouf – September 2023
 * Player of the Week
 * Owen Green – Week 5
 * Amal Knight – Week 9
 * Ates Diouf – Week 12 & 21
 * Tate Robertson – Week 14
 * Team of the Week
 * Kaelon Fox – Week 1, 12, 21, & 23
 * Khalid Balogun – Week 3 & 9
 * Terique Mohammed – Week 4, 9, 19, & 25
 * Owen Green – Week 5 & 14
 * Nico Brown – Week 5 & 15
 * Amal Knight – Week 9, 13, 19, & 25
 * Tate Robertson – Week 11, 14, 21, 22, 25, & 27
 * Ates Diouf – Week 12, 13, 14, 17, 18, 19, 21, 26, 28, & 29
 * Cesar Murillo Jr. – Week 13
 * Will Baynham – Week 14
 * Don Smart – Week 14
 * Pierre Mané – Week 27
 * Kimball Jackson – Week 29
 * Austin Causey – Week 31
 * Goal of the Week
 * Tate Robertson – Week 25
 * Save of the Week
 * Amal Knight – Week 11, 14, 17, 19, 21, 23, 25, & 26

USL Super League

USL W League

Team of the Month
 * Katelyn Fishnick - May

Other Honors
USLPA Young Player of the Year – Ates Diouf

Players’ Choice Best XI – Ates Diouf and Tate Robertson

Crane Kicks Lex (LSC fan votes)

Tekkers Player of the Year – Tate Robertson

Young Player of the Year – Kimball Jackson

Defender of the Year – Amal Knight

Midfielder of the Year – Don Smart

Forward of the Year – Ates Diouf

Heart and Soul Player of the Year – Austin Causey

Player of the Year – Ates Diouf

The Railbirds (Supporters Group)

2023 USL1 Player of the Year – Charlie Machell 2024 USLW Player of the Year - Makala Woods