Dayton Dutch Lions

The team from Dayton has a nice little history. The USL side currently plays in a high school, and have a link with the Dutch club Twente, who sends youth players there to play. In 2015, the team signed a former Dutch National player to manage the team. While many competitors made the jump to the NASL, the team really couldn’t. In 2018, a striker from Twente came over and led the USL with an unreal 42 goals. He was called to the big team and started playing immediately. Teams in the Eredivisie took note when th striker said that he learnt so much playing in Ohio. The club signed a deal with a few Dutch teams as a feeder club, the influx of great players led the Dutch Lions to 3 straight USL championships starting in 2020. The team built a 12,000 seat venue downtown. They were the ones to put into motion a yearly preseason “Ohio Derby” between Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati (spoilers!). Another championship was added in 2026, cementing Dayton as a soccer town. The Lions have a very good shot to jump to League One, thanks to basically being a Dutch U-21 team. I love hooped uniforms, and I played around with them here. The lion was from the Charlotte project, and I brought it in because it fit better. I put Dutch colors on the back collar as a design, as if the name and orange kits weren’t enough. The alternates follow what the traditional alternate kits look like for the national team.