Los Angeles FC
Also written as LAFC.
The club
Los Angeles FC, known to the football feed and almost everyone else as LAFC, were awarded as a Major League Soccer expansion franchise on October 30, 2014, after the league moved to replace the departing Chivas USA in the Los Angeles market. The club's name was confirmed on September 15, 2015, and LAFC took the field for the first time in the 2018 MLS season, opening away to Seattle Sounders FC on March 4, 2018 with a 1-0 win, Diego Rossi scoring the club's first competitive goal. Managing owners are Brandon Beck, Larry Berg and Bennett Rosenthal, with Peter Guber as executive chairman; the ownership group has long included a wide roster of part-owners from sport and entertainment, among them Mia Hamm, Magic Johnson, Giorgio Chiellini, Nomar Garciaparra and Will Ferrell. The club plays in black and gold, with red and grey as accent colours, and is nicknamed the Black and Gold. LAFC is a wholly separate club from LA Galaxy, the other Major League Soccer team based in Los Angeles: Galaxy were founded in 1994 and have played since the league's first season in 1996, while LAFC arrived as an expansion side more than two decades later. The two share the metropolitan area, not an identity, ownership group or history, and both appear in this corpus as separate clubs.
The home ground is BMO Stadium, at 3939 South Figueroa Street in Exposition Park, seating 22,000. It opened for public events on April 18, 2018 and hosted its first LAFC match on April 29, 2018, a 1-0 win over Seattle Sounders FC. The stadium was originally named Banc of California Stadium and was renamed BMO Stadium on January 19, 2023 after a new naming-rights sponsor. The safe-standing supporters' section, home to the 3252 supporters' group and its affiliated groups including Black Army 1850, District Nine Ultras and Cuervos, holds 3,252 seats, the digits chosen to sum to 12 in reference to the "12th man."
LAFC's first head coach was Bob Bradley, in charge from July 2017 to November 2021. He was succeeded by Steve Cherundolo, who managed the club from January 2022 until he and the club parted by mutual consent on December 1, 2025. Marc Dos Santos was appointed head coach on December 5, 2025 and remains in the role.
Recent seasons
LAFC's best-ever expansion-season record, 57 points in 2018, beat the previous MLS mark of 56 points held by the 1998 Chicago Fire, a team also coached by Bob Bradley. The club won the Supporters' Shield for the best regular-season record in 2019, with a then-record 72 points, built around Carlos Vela's record-breaking season. They won a second Supporters' Shield in 2022, level with Philadelphia Union on 67 points but champions on the wins tiebreaker, and completed the domestic double by winning the MLS Cup the same year.
In 2023 LAFC finished third in the Western Conference and eighth overall in the regular season, 14 wins, 10 losses and 10 draws from 34 matches for 52 points, 54 goals scored and 39 conceded, before reaching the MLS Cup final as runners-up. In 2024 they improved to first in the Western Conference and third overall, 19 wins, 8 losses and 7 draws for 64 points, 63 scored and 43 conceded, won the U.S. Open Cup and reached the Leagues Cup final, though they went out of the MLS Cup Playoffs at the quarter-final stage. In 2025 they finished third in the Western Conference and sixth overall, 17 wins, 8 losses and 9 draws for 60 points, 65 scored and 40 conceded, reached the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarter-finals and the MLS Cup Playoffs quarter-finals, and took part in the group stage of the FIFA Club World Cup. Denis Bouanga was the club's leading scorer in all three of those seasons, with 32, 28 and 24 goals respectively.
Honours and landmarks
LAFC have won the Supporters' Shield twice, in 2019 and 2022, and the MLS Cup once, in 2022, completing the double that year. They won the U.S. Open Cup for the first time in 2024, becoming the fourth Los Angeles-area club to hold the trophy; the final was won against Sporting Kansas City, Olivier Giroud scoring a 53rd-minute header and Omar Campos adding a go-ahead goal in extra time. LAFC have reached the CONCACAF Champions Cup final twice without winning it, losing 2-1 to Tigres UANL in 2020 and 3-1 on aggregate to Club León in 2023, and were also runners-up in the 2024 Leagues Cup.
Carlos Vela, LAFC's first designated player, signed on August 11, 2017 and became the club's defining early figure. In 2019 he won the MLS Golden Boot and set the single-season league scoring record with 34 goals, and was named the league's Most Valuable Player the same year. Injuries limited him through 2020 and 2021, appearing in only 27 matches across the two seasons, but he remained club captain into the following seasons before agreeing a reduced contract role at the end of 2024. Olivier Giroud joined for the 2024 season and made an immediate mark, his header in the U.S. Open Cup final proving decisive in the club's first major domestic cup win. Gareth Bale, signed as a designated player, scored the latest goal in MLS Cup Playoffs history to force the 2022 MLS Cup final to penalties. LAFC has since brought in further high-profile signings, including Hugo Lloris in 2024 and, for a Major League Soccer transfer record fee of $26.5 million from Tottenham Hotspur, Son Heung-min in August 2025.
Notable scorelines
LAFC's inaugural competitive match was won 1-0 away to Seattle Sounders FC on March 4, 2018, Diego Rossi scoring the club's first goal, and their first home match, also against Seattle, was won by the same score on April 29, 2018. The 2022 MLS Cup final against Philadelphia Union at Banc of California Stadium on November 5, 2022 finished 3-3 after extra time, the highest-scoring final in MLS Cup history, LAFC scoring through Kellyn Acosta, Jesús David Murillo and a 128th-minute equaliser from Gareth Bale before winning 3-0 on penalties; substitute goalkeeper John McCarthy, who came on after Maxime Crépeau was sent off with a broken leg in the 116th minute, saved two penalties and was named the match's Most Valuable Player. In the current 2026 season LAFC beat Orlando City 6-0 on April 4, and have also recorded a 4-1 home win over Portland and a 4-0 away win. The club's all-time biggest win and heaviest defeat, in league and cup play generally, were not established from the sources read here.
Head-to-head notes
LAFC's principal rivalry is El Tráfico, against LA Galaxy, the other Major League Soccer club in Los Angeles; the name is a play on El Clásico, referencing the city's traffic. It is worth repeating that LA Galaxy is a separate club, founded in 1994 and a charter member of MLS since 1996, sharing the metropolitan area with LAFC but nothing else. The first meeting, on March 31, 2018, was lost 4-3, but the rivalry's most significant result to that point came in the 2019 Western Conference semi-final, when LAFC beat Galaxy 5-3 for their first playoff win over their crosstown rival. LAFC also has a rivalry of sorts with Seattle Sounders FC, the opponents in both the club's first competitive match and first home match; the two also met in the 2024 U.S. Open Cup semi-final, LAFC winning 1-0 to reach the final they went on to win. Further head-to-head detail against Philadelphia Union, Club León, Tigres UANL and other continental opponents was not established from the sources read here.
Right now (2026)
Marc Dos Santos is the head coach, appointed on December 5, 2025 after Steve Cherundolo departed by mutual consent. Aaron Long captains the side. LAFC sit third in the Western Conference in the 2026 MLS regular season, with a record of 10 wins, 7 losses and 5 draws from 22 matches played, 35 points, 36 goals scored and 22 conceded. The 6-0 win over Orlando City on April 4 stands out from the season so far, along with a 4-1 home win over Portland and a 4-0 away win. Son Heung-min, signed from Tottenham Hotspur for a Major League Soccer record fee in August 2025, and Denis Bouanga, the club's leading scorer in each of the last three seasons, remain the attacking focal points. Full squad list, the state of any continental or cup competitions in 2026, and the club's remaining fixtures were not established from the sources read here.
Sources
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_FC https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_MLS_Cup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Los_Angeles_FC_seasons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_Major_League_Soccer_season https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LA_Galaxy
Researched and written for not4quarters. Where a fact could not be established from the sources read, this page says so rather than guessing.