About Us

OUR PURPOSE

Chattanooga Football Club’s purpose is to build community through the world’s game.

OUR MISSION

Our mission is to use soccer as a tool to build community in Chattanooga, and to strengthen relationships among all of our citizens – regardless of age, race, religion and socioeconomic status.

OUR VISION

Worldwide, soccer builds community, shapes culture, develops talent and unites diverse peoples. Chattanooga Football Club is helping the same happen right here in Chattanooga, creating true opportunity for all players and great entertainment for all fans. Chattanooga FC does this through its premier Men’s (NPSL) and Women’s teams, through its youth training programs of the Chattanooga FC Camps, and the select teams of Chattanooga FC Academy, the CFL adult leagues, and through the Chattanooga FC Foundation and its charitable programs CSM and Operation Get Active.

FACTS, STATS & MILESTONES

Founded January 2009

1 National Championship: USASA Amateur National Champions, winning the Hank Steinbrecher Cup

4 NPSL National Finals

3 NPSL Regional Championships

7 NPSL Conference Titles

10 seasons with winning records

Founded Chattanooga FC Academy in 2012, uniting select soccer clubs in Chattanooga

Founded Chattanooga FC Women in 2013

2015: Chattanooga FC Foundation is created

2015 NPSL Championship: an amateur record attendance of 18,228 in Finley Stadium

2016: Affiliation with German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg

Played our first MLS club in 2017, Atlanta United FC

2018: Chattanooga FC Women go undefeated in regular season play and win their first conference championship in the WPSL

Chattanooga FC ties MLS side FC Dallas 1-1 in February 2018

OF NOTE

The Chattahooligans – our super fans – are known and respected around the country (and the world!) for their enthusiasm, not just for CFC, but for the entire Chattanooga community

The CFC has proactively shared start-up aid and advice to many other independent soccer clubs across the nation

The CFC has hosted professional clubs from Mexico and England and national clubs from USA, Costa Rica, Jamaica, Mexico and Colombia

The CFC has hosted both the U.S. Men’s & Women’s National Soccer Teams in friendly matches

Since its inception, 1000+ local kids are enrolled in Operation Get Active – a CFC Foundation initiative using soccer to improve health and fitness in youth

The CFC Foundation helps to manage 8 public futsal courts in Chattanooga’s urban core

The CFC Foundation initiative Chattanooga Sports Ministries coaches over 1000 inner city kids in soccer

The CFC created a new adult soccer leagues in 2018, the Chattanooga Football League

HISTORY OF THE CHATTANOOGA FOOTBALL CLUB

In 2009, Chattanooga FC was launched as an experiment in an underutilized community stadium. No one knew whether anyone living in the heart of SEC country would care about a soccer team started by a group of friends and enthusiasts in Chattanooga. And if they did care, we didn’t know if they would cheer on amateurs when even professional soccer in the U.S. was struggling.

But more than 1,600 people showed up for CFC’s inaugural match—a huge success for any amateur team, let alone a new one. A group of supporters also banded together to form the Chattahooligans, cheering on their team with cowbells, horns, banners, flags, and chants, and the raw energy and enthusiasm that has become their hallmark. The CFC has accomplished a lot since that first game, but here are just a few highlights:

When the CFC brought in one of Mexico’s top division clubs, Club Atlas, for a friendly match against their U23s in 2010, more than 6,300 fans showed up to cheer CFC to victory. If any doubts of success lingered, they were put to bed by the club’s run to the NPSL Finals that year.

The CFC has continued their winning record every season, and in that time period has won seven conference titles, three region titles and made it to the NPSL Finals four times. After 2014’s heartbreaking loss in the finals, the CFC was invited to host USASA’s National Amateur Championship in 2015 and won the Hank Steinbrecher Cup on its home field.

Match attendance consistently ranks at the top among amateur soccer clubs in the nation. A modern U.S. amateur record 18,228 fans packed Finley Stadium for the 2015 NPSL Championship match against the New York Cosmos, and that night an excitement filled the stadium that no one who was there will ever forget.

Owing to CFC’s fantastic crowds and lively support, U.S. Soccer chose Chattanooga as one of only a small handful of venues for the U.S. Women’s National team to play an international friendly on their World Cup victory tour. The U.S. Men’s team visited a year later for an international friendly against Jamaica. Both events packed Finley Stadium.