The Detroit City Football Club is a testament to the sports passion of Detroit, and to the popularity of soccer in Michigan. The team started out as a passion project led by local Detroit residents who wanted to bring a national soccer team to their hometown. DCFC started out in the National Premier Soccer League, which is the fourth level of organized soccer in the United States. In wake of its immediate on the field success, the vast popularity of soccer in the city, and a lack of competing teams to root for the rag tag group of part time players, DCFC quickly garnered a large and passionate fanbase in proportion to its humble origins and amateur status.
Soon, the team reached the level of popularity that justified building a stadium to accommodate its fans. The team moved from downtown Detroit to Hamtramck, where it was were able to gather the funds to build a stadium that would seat 7000 fans. The stadium proved to be a point of pride for the team and a symbol of its passionate and dedicated fan base.
DCFC soon advanced to the third division in American soccer, the National Independent Soccer Association. The move represented a cultural shift in the franchise, as players were now getting paid and making a name for themselves on a larger scale. This new financial aspect provided a way for fans to involve themselves in their favorite club. In 2020, the club made pseudo “stocks” of the club available for purchase to the public, letting fans buy into ownership and have a share of the team’s present and future success
Detroit City Football Club continued its exponential growth as it graduated to the second highest division of men’s soccer in the nation, the United Soccer League. The team was now even further in the limelight, only one division away from Major League Soccer and still growing in popularity. Throughout the team’s rise to prominence, DCFC cultivated an extremely passionate and loyal fan base.
“DCFC has always been a big part of my life and something that me, my family, and even family friends have bonded over in the past,” said ROHS senior Jackie Rice.
The football club has earned a reputation for its boisterous fans and gametime environment, where the team and fans enjoy many unique game day traditions, whether that be gold and burgundy smoke bombs, or organized marches into stadiums. The antics of the fans have earned them their own nickname, the “Northern Guard”.
A large part of why DCFC has grown such a passionate fanbase is because of the team’s selfless tendencies and what it has done for the community. The team organizes both youth and adult soccer leagues, further promoting soccer in their city. The DCFC also donates a large portion of its TV and ticket revenue to local charities as opposed to being a for-profit endeavor.
The team has no plans to slow down growth, and recently announced that a new stadium is planned for the heart of Motown. This marks a big step forward for the DCFC, as it now stands alongside the major sports teams of Detroit. The new stadium could be a precursor to a potential promotion to the MLS, which would be the final step in the team’s ascension to stardom.