AFC Cleveland

Cleveland's team was started in 2011, and they've hit the ground running. According to the team, AFC stands for "A Fan's Club". The team is very close with their fans, and try to be as close to their supporters as they can. The team played in the NPSL, selling out their 8,000 seat stadium on the campus of Cleveland State. After 3 losing seasons for the Indians, AFC Cleveland benefited, making Saturday nights a great time to go to a soccer game. The club was one of the first to actually establish a youth system. The movement was started by supporters looking to help the club in the future. In 2018, when the NASL mentioned how they want to get more teams, Cleveland was one that was rumored to make the jump. With Detroit, and Milwaukee, Cleveland made the jump. They paid for expansions to Cleveland State's facilities. For major games, they would play at FirstEnergy Stadium, when the Browns were in the off season. In honor of this, the traditional clash kit became Brown-Orange-Tan, as a reference to the other tenants. Rust Belt Derby games, and bigger NASL games would be used when Cleveland could easily sell 20,000 tickets. The team continued to get better, almost all from within. Akron soccer team worked as a youth team almost, feeding the club with players who didn't get drafted by MLS. It was the closest they could come to playing at home. To help the fans, a bus would run to and from Akron's campus. A new supporters group of Zips was started, opposite of the original fans. The team was competing with the likes of the Cosmos, and Rowdies in the playoffs nearly every year. The new NASL attendance record was set by 32,000 fans sowing up for a Detroit City-AFC game. More and more games were played at the Browns stadium. In 2027, the team finished 8 games over .500 and snuck into the playoffs. The team began a magical run to the championship, and beat the Rowdies in penalty kicks infront of 28,000 people. AFC Cleveland had an article published about the club with the title "Sounders East". They have a shot at promotion, and if they are promoted, they would have the support of the big clubs. This crest kicked my ass. I went with a half and half one like the current, but decided to go stripes. The crest shape is the Houston Dash's crest. The AFCC logo replaced a lion, just because of Dayton's logo. The stripes have a design like Dortmund's puma set, and the clash is just 3 pretty colors together.