Gotham FC


Gotham Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in the New York metropolitan area that competes in the National Women's Soccer League. Founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, the team was known as Sky Blue FC from 2008 until 2020, and as NJ/NY Gotham FC from 2021 to 2024. A founding member of the NWSL in 2013, Sky Blue FC also played in Women's Professional Soccer from 2009 to 2011. They won the NWSL Championship in 2023 and 2025.

History

2006–2008: Establishment

Following the growth of women's soccer in the United States in the 1990s, the first attempt at a fully professional women's league, the Women's United Soccer Association, was founded in 2000. However, after playing just three seasons the WUSA folded in 2003. Almost immediately following the folding of the WUSA, attempts were made to relaunch the league, although each of these initially came to naught. Finally, in December 2006, an agreement was reached to establish a new professional women's league, consisting of teams from Chicago, St. Louis, Dallas, Los Angeles, and Washington, D.C., as well as an undetermined sixth city located somewhere in the Western United States. Originally planned to begin play in 2008, the launch of this new league, dubbed Women's Professional Soccer, was subsequently pushed back to 2009. Boston and the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area were also selected to host clubs to participate in the inaugural WPS season.
Sky Blue FC was originally founded in 2006 as Jersey Sky Blue, playing in the USL W-League in 2007, a semi-professional league that served as part of the second division of women's soccer in the United States. Future governor of New Jersey Phil Murphy and his wife Tammy Murphy were co-founders of the team, alongside businessman Steven H. Temares, Francesco Prandoni and Thomas Hofstetter. The Murphys would later claim that their motivation in founding the club was as an example to their daughter, in order to prove that there was a viable pathway for women in the United States to play professional soccer. By September 2007, the club had been selected to fulfill the New York/New Jersey slot in Women's Professional Soccer and rebranded as Sky Blue FC. Following this move, the Jersey Sky Blue name initially remained in use for a feeder team in the W-League, although it later rebranded as the Hudson Valley Quickstrike Lady Blues. Co-founder Thomas Hofstetter, who served as president of Sky Blue FC until 2013, also served as chairman of the feeder team until their folding in 2010. As of 2018, Phil Murphy was a majority shareholder of the team.
Sky Blue FC named Ian Sawyers as its first head coach and general manager on March 5, 2008. However, it was not until September 9, 2008, that the New York/New Jersey outfit was officially unveiled under the name Sky Blue FC. One week later, the U.S. women's national team allocation took place with Heather O'Reilly, Natasha Kai, and Christie Pearce allocated to Sky Blue FC.
On September 24, the 2008 WPS International Draft was held. Sky Blue FC drafted Australia national team forward Sarah Walsh in the first round, Brazil national team members Rosana and Ester in the second and third rounds respectively, finished with Canada national team midfielder Kelly Parker in the fourth round. In addition to these picks, Sky Blue FC also named Australia national team midfielder Collette McCallum and England national team defender Anita Asante as post-draft discovery players on September 26, 2008, and October 2, 2008, respectively, and were awarded their WPS playing rights.
To further assign player rights, on October 6 the 2008 WPS General Draft took place. Sky Blue FC drafted Cori Alexander, Keeley Dowling, Kacey White, and Jenny Hammond. Ian Sawyers closed out 2008 by choosing Kelly Lindsey to be his assistant coach on December 3.
The new year brought new players. On January 16, the 2009 WPS Draft was held. Sky Blue FC drafted Yael Averbuch, Meghan Schnur, Karen Bardsley, Christie Shaner, Julianne Sitch, Jen Buczkowski, Zhang Ouying, Mary Therese McDonnell, Mele French, and Fanta Cooper.

2008–2020: Sky Blue FC

2009–2011: Women's Professional Soccer

Unlikely champions, 2009
Sky Blue FC kicked off its inaugural season on April 5, 2009, dropping a 2–0 decision to Los Angeles Sol at TD Bank Ballpark in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. It played its next game at the venue before moving permanently to Yurcak Field on the campus of Rutgers University.
Image:Blue Sky 2009.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Sky Blue FC battle in St. Louis during the 2009 postseason
The team stuttered to one win and two draws in their first six games, scoring only 3 goals in the process, before head coach and general manager Ian Sawyers was suspended indefinitely by the team for disagreements on May 23, 2009. He was eventually relieved of his duties as head coach and general manager on May 28, 2009. In his absence, Kelly Lindsey stepped in as the interim and slowly started to turn around Sky Blue FC's on-field fortunes. She was eventually permanently installed as head coach on June 19, 2009, by then General Manager Gerry Marrone.
Lindsey's time at the helm was short-lived as she abruptly resigned from her position on July 30, 2009. She had won five games and drawn three others in her twelve total matches before Christie Rampone was named the second interim of the year and third head coach overall by Marrone. Her position also included playing on the field and she was the first player/manager in WPS history. Rampone led Sky Blue FC into 4th position and secured the final playoff spot for the 2009 playoffs. Sky Blue FC upended both Washington Freedom and Saint Louis Athletica to make the championship game against Los Angeles Sol. A 16th minute Heather O'Reilly strike earned Sky Blue FC the championship on August 22, 2009, beating the Sol on their own home field of The Home Depot Center in Carson, California.
Image:Sky Blue FC at the White House 2010-07-01 8.jpg|thumb|right|250px|President Obama welcomed Sky Blue to the White House following their championship season.
Sky Blue's victory was seen as an upset, and later described as "an all-time underdog story." Sky Blue were later invited to the White House, where President Barack Obama hailed their success in the inaugural WPS season.
Down to Earth, 2010–2011
With two additional teams, Atlanta Beat and Philadelphia Independence, joining the league for 2010, Sky Blue FC were destined to lose players from their championship-winning side. On September 15, the 2009 WPS Expansion Draft was held with Jen Buczkowski moving to Philadelphia and Noelle Keselica headed to Atlanta.
Sky Blue FC announced on September 29, 2009, that former Finnish National Team player Pauliina Miettinen would be head coach of the team for the 2010 season after completing her coaching duties with PK-35 Vantaa.
Sky Blue FC started its title defense on April 11, 2010, when it hosted the Chicago Red Stars at Yurcak Field. The team wasted little time in gaining its first goal on the young season, with forward Tasha Kai scoring on a fourth-minute strike to lead her team to an eventual 1–0 victory. Sky Blue FC found itself having some trouble tallying goals as the season progressed and held a 5–6–3 record when head coach Pauliina Miettinen was relieved of her duties. Immediately replacing her was assistant coach Rick Stainton, who led the team to a 2–4–4 record the rest of the way. After settling for three draws to conclude its sophomore campaign, Sky Blue FC finished the year in fifth place in the regular season standings and just missed the postseason.
The 2011 season marked the first at the helm by decorated women's soccer coach Jim Gabarra, who had spent the past decade with the Washington Freedom. Prior to the start of the regular season, Sky Blue FC headed to Turkey for the preseason, playing to the finals of the Alanya International Women's Tournament of Champions, where it fell to team partner LdB FC Malmö, 1–0. Also participating in the tournament were Russian side FK Energiya and Danish club Fortuna Hjørring.
Sky Blue FC kicked off the WPS regular season on April 10, 2011, at Yurcak Field, playing the Philadelphia Independence to a 2–2 draw. The team then hit the road for three games, suffering three consecutive defeats, before returning home for a pair of wins. After two more draws and another victory, Sky Blue FC found itself amid the longest unbeaten streak in franchise history. The team kicked off that streak on May 21, 2011, with a 3–0 win over the Atlanta Beat, its then-largest margin of victory.
The club went 1–2 in its next three games before entering the final four matches of the regular season. After suffering defeats in each of those games, Sky Blue FC came up just short of the playoffs after finishing even with the Boston Breakers for the final postseason spot.
After the WPS announced the suspension of the 2012 season, Sky Blue FC announced a partnership with the New Jersey Wildcats of the W-League, which included sharing coaching staff.

2013–2020: National Women's Soccer League

Jim Gabarra era, 2013–2015
In November 2012, it was announced that Sky Blue FC would be one of eight teams in a new women's professional soccer league sponsored by the United States Soccer Federation, the Canadian Soccer Association and the Mexican Football Federation. The league, known as the National Women's Soccer League, began play in spring 2013.
Image:2013-04-27 Spirit - Sky Blue-25.jpg|thumb|left|250px|Sky Blue FC's lineup before a game against the Washington Spirit during the 2013 season.
For the 2013 season, Sky Blue were allocated seven players from North American federations, including Kelley O'Hara, Jillian Loyden, Christie Rampone, and Sophie Schmidt. On May 19, the club recorded their third consecutive victory and their fifth overall, marking the club's best-ever start to a season. On June 1, 2013, the team extended their run of consecutive victories to five with a 5–1 win over the Boston Breakers at Yurcak Field. In so doing, Sky Blue became the first team to score five goals in a single match in the nascent National Women's Soccer League. The team's form later slumped in the second half of the regular season, though Sky Blue ultimately finished in 4th place, earning a spot in the playoffs for the first time since 2009. Sky Blue were later eliminated in the first round of the playoffs, suffering a 2–0 defeat to the Western New York Flash.
The following season, Sky Blue failed to win any of their opening four matches. After defeating the Boston Breakers on May 3, Sky Blue again went on a winless streak until June 25, when they secured a 2–1 victory over the Portland Thorns. The 2014 season ended with a five-game win streak, though this proved insufficient to overcome earlier poor form and Sky Blue finished the season in 6th place, failing to qualify for the playoffs.
The 2015 season was similarly marred by poor form. After winning their opening match of the season, Sky Blue went on a winless streak until July 11. The game marked the debut for Australian international Sam Kerr, who scored the winning goal. Sky Blue ultimately finished the season in 8th place, having won only five games out of 20, and once more failing to qualify for the playoffs.
Following the 2015 season, head coach Jim Gabarra reached an agreement with Sky Blue to be released from his contract, having agreed terms to join the Washington Spirit. Gabarra's assistant, Christy Holly, was later named his successor for the 2016 season.