Who are Charlotte FC’s fans? Meet the groups who travel from near and far every match.
A small group of soccer fans gathered at the French Quarter restaurant in uptown Charlotte in early 2020.
Their city had just been announced as the home of a new Major League Soccer franchise, and this group of Charlotteans was ecstatic. They quickly started attending every “meet the coach night” and “bring your dog” events that their newest favorite team was holding.
Those soccer lovers knew how badly they had wanted this to happen, and they were involved with everything when the franchise was in its infancy. But it wasn’t just the team’s official events. It was a passion for the sport, and a newfound rooting interest they had developed together.
Once the subsequent MLS season arrived, the group started convening at local bars to watch the United States’ professional soccer league. They familiarized themselves even more with its stars and teams — and their squad didn’t even have a name yet.
Eventually, televisions would display a list of 10 possible names for Charlotte’s professional soccer team. Potential identities were crossed off one by one, and the group cheered every time the team’s name came closer to being revealed.
As the franchise neared its July 2020 announcement that it had landed on “Charlotte FC,” more events were held in the community, and the crowds in local bars watching MLS matches grew. They included most of that small group that had congregated inside French Quarter, met head coach Miguel Ángel Ramírez, snapped photos, and started forming their own groups of supporters, based on their own backgrounds and interests.
Charlotte FC, which boasted the second-best attendance in the MLS and reached the playoffs in only its second season, currently has five official supporter groups and at least one more on the way next season. Each group has roughly 200 members, and they all flock to a parking lot on McNinch Street at least four hours before every match.
Most of the “Carolina Hooliganz” ride down Interstate 85 — many hailing from Concord, Kannapolis and Lexington — every match day and primarily are Latino fans. The palmetto tree flies on the flag that represents “Southbound & Crown,” a passionate South Carolina-based group that has been making efforts to promote soccer throughout the state.
More than a third of “Mint City Collective” is women, part of a group in the Charlotte metropolitan area whose base extends as far as Asheville and Wilmington. “South Charlotte” has mostly Latinos, along with “Blue Furia,” which has fans who regularly attend matches from all over — including Greenville, S.C., as far over the state line as Hilton Head, in addition to Winston-Salem and the triad area.
Four of the five groups currently have a woman serving as their president, and each one designated a female “capo” to lead the crowd’s chants for Saturday’s 2-0 win against the Columbus Crew, the defending MLS Cup champions.
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‘We’re not just about drinking beer and celebrating goals’
Marcela Sierra is completely decked out in blue, as are several of the other capos — who stand in front of the crowd and coordinate its chants with the flow of the action on the pitch. Charlotte FC was donning its light blue uniforms that night, and some of these supporters regularly match their colors with the team’s jerseys.
Sierra, the capo for Blue Furia, is from Colombia. People played and watched soccer every day there, and it’s been important to her to create a strong atmosphere around the sport in the Queen City.
“I started as a capo, and I love to see people having fun and cheering for our team,” Sierra said. “I know we come from Colombia, and a lot of other countries with good teams. But here, we just love our team. We support them no matter what.”
While each group has its own tent and area in the tailgate parking lot, many of the fans are roaming around, mingling with other groups. The supporters gravitated toward their own groups because they shared similar identities and interests, but above that, they’re all Charlotte FC fans.
Carolina Hooliganz, which often brings Latin food trucks to the tailgate and is planning on putting on a children’s soccer clinic at some point around June, started in 2020 when a group of brothers and cousins in Lexington were enamored of the idea of an MLS team coming to the area.
Other family members joined them throughout Charlotte FC’s inaugural season, and they encouraged more people to watch the team with them during Year 2. That quickly developed into the tailgates and experience that transpire for every home match, as fans would continually bring friends of friends, and it became a big family atmosphere.
“We’re not just about drinking beer and celebrating goals,” said Zeily Carranza, the president of Carolina Hooliganz. “Charlotte is a soccer city, and I love that people are noticing that and starting to grasp that. We’re here to stay.”
From Portugal to South Carolina: Charlotte FC fans all over the map
Considering that some Charlotte FC fans have regularly been driving as many as four hours for every match, fans have started to make more frequent road trips. In addition to larger groups heading to cities like Washington, D.C., Atlanta and Nashville, there are pockets of fans traveling to see away matches against opponents like Toronto and Austin.
One member of a group moved down to Jacksonville, Fla., and became known for using his American Airlines miles to fly in for home matches in uptown. Another fan moved all the way to Portugal and plans his trips home to Charlotte around the MLS schedule.
Whenever fans go on vacation, they’ll want to watch Charlotte FC matches no matter where they are in the country. Some of them have found themselves stumbling upon places with the match on and connecting their supporter groups with soccer fans across the country.
“I joined Mint City because it seems like they gave back a lot — and each group does give back to the community,” said Allison Paksoy, who has been attending games with her husband since the inaugural season and has been heavily involved with Mint City Collective for about a year. “Finding that local neighborhood chapter was really easy to meet a few people and get to know the group, just through that local connection.
“I just love seeing the smiles on people’s faces. I love the energy. The energy you get from the crowd just drives your energy as well.”
When it was learned that Charlotte FC was officially coming to the Carolinas, it already had a contingent of die-hard soccer fans over the state line.
Southbound & Crown has three original founders from Rock Hill who had been part of the South Carolina Spurs, a fan support group for England’s Tottenham Hotspur. Many of its members live in York County, in addition to having regulars driving up from Columbia, Greenville, Myrtle Beach and Charleston.
“All these people are making this huge effort to come all the way to Charlotte on home games — let’s also go to them,” explained Heidi Underhill, this group’s president. “We started supporting their local teams, which was awesome. We have a trailer. We’ll take our trailer to Greenville for the Greenville Triumph. We’ll take our trailer to Columbia for the South Carolina United Heat.”
The tailgate experience
It’s some three hours before Charlotte FC kicks off against Columbus, and families in Charlotte FC gear are milling around the intersection of Mint and Graham streets outside Bank of America Stadium.
It doesn’t look much like the exterior of a professional stadium whose gates are still hours away from opening, albeit for what feels like a tough match-up against the reigning Cup champs. Not to mention the North Carolina Tar Heels men’s basketball team is also playing in the second round of the NCAA Tournament a few blocks over inside Spectrum Center.
Roughly a mile west of the stadium, through the Wesley Heights Greenway connector walking path and past smaller tailgates, is McNinch Street. Most of the nearly 1,000 fans there couldn’t tell you the address where they assemble before every match. “703” is simply how they refer to the gravel parking lot near 703 McNinch St., a main Carolina Panthers lot that Charlotte FC blocks off for its most fervent supporters.
Tents line the outside of the lot, and children are jumping around inside inflatables in the middle. In addition to a mechanical bull that was brought out on Saturday, there is a bounce house that says “Xtreme Racing” and depicts NASCAR legend Jeff Gordon’s iconic No. 24 car.
Supporters start banging on their drums and waving their groups’ and Charlotte FC flags in the air and begin their march to the stadium about 20 minutes later. The drumline leads the procession through parking lots and up the walking path toward the stadium.
Traditional soccer scarves are being held in the air, with fans hoisting the team’s crest in front of them. One fan in a wheelchair is being helped roll himself uphill. A young girl sits on her dad’s shoulders, waving a Charlotte FC flag.
The massive throng marches through a parking lot by Clutch Kitchen and Pour House, where nearly everyone at the outdoor bar — many of whom are in CLTFC gear themselves — has their heads turned. Many have out their cell phone cameras and are chanting along with the impassioned fans..
Blue dust and smoke are in the air as they make their way to the steps near Bank of America Stadium. The pack pauses several times, while the drummers keep pounding and the flags keep waving, and eventually reach Mint Street.
Just before entering Bank of America Stadium to their rowdy section behind the goal about an hour prior to kick-off, the fans repeat a chant that corresponds with the drumbeat.
“We’re Charlotte FC! From C-L-T! The tried and true. The black and blue.”
That they are.
The fans, led by the group’s women who will be the capos, continue a couple more well-choreographed chants.
“We are from the Carolinas!”
They saunter into their stadium, head to their section and help will Charlotte FC to a shutout victory against a top-tier opponent.
