As one of the most diverse cities in the United States, it’s no secret that Sacramento — a city known for its entrepreneurial spirit and international roots — quickly fell in love with the beautiful game.

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Soccer in Sacramento and the Northern California region first kicked off in the latter half of the 19th century, with a the start of various leagues such as the California Foot Ball League and Western League leading to the formation of the California State Football Association in 1902.

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In 1976, the Sacramento Gold joined the second reiteration of the American Soccer League, which was active from 1933 to 1983.  Through the Gold’s short history (1976-1980), the club made three national championship appearances, winning one title, in addition to also earning one Western Conference championship and one regular season title. 

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In the early 1990s, Sacramento saw a boom of semi-professional and professional soccer teams with the Sacramento Knights, Sacramento Geckos, Sacramento Scorpions and the Sacramento Senators. Additionally, with the rise of women’s soccer, semi-professional teams such as the Elk Grove Pride and the California Storm also started playing in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

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Sacramento Republic FC’s won the USL Championship in its founding year of 2014.  More recently, the team was a finalist of the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in 2022. In a bold move the Republic has broken ground on a 22,000 seat, privately-financed, soccer-specific stadium in Sacramento's Railyards in support of its Major League Soccer (MLS) bid.