Columbus Crew

Columbus Crew
Full nameColumbus Crew[1]
Nickname(s)The Crew[2]
The Black and Gold[3]
FoundedJune 15, 1994 (1994-06-15)
StadiumLower.com Field
Columbus, Ohio
Capacity20,371[4]
OwnersDee and Jimmy Haslam
JW and Whitney Johnson
Pete Edwards
PresidentTim Bezbatchenko
Head coachWilfried Nancy
LeagueMajor League Soccer
2023Eastern Conference: 3rd
Overall: 3rd
Playoffs: Champions
WebsiteClub website
Current season

The Columbus Crew is an American professional soccer club based in Columbus, Ohio. The Crew competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference and began play in 1996 as one of the 10 charter clubs of the league.[5] The team is currently operated by an ownership group led by the Haslam family (also owners of the Cleveland Browns and Pilot Corporation) and former team physician Pete Edwards. The Haslam/Edwards group is the third ownership group in club history.

The franchise was founded in 1994. Its stadium is Lower.com Field, opened in 2021. From 1999 to 2021, the Crew played home games at Historic Crew Stadium (formerly Mapfre Stadium and Columbus Crew Stadium), the first soccer-specific stadium built for an MLS team, with a seating capacity of 19,968 as of the 2015 season. From 1996 to 1998, the Crew played its home games at Ohio Stadium on the campus of Ohio State University.[5] In 2023, the team set club attendance records for both most cumulative attendance and most sellouts.[6]

The Crew have won seven major trophies: the MLS Cup in 2008, 2020 and 2023; the Supporters' Shield in 2004, 2008, and 2009; and the 2002 U.S. Open Cup. The Crew have qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup (or its predecessor, the CONCACAF Champions League) five times, reaching the quarter-finals on every occasion. In 2021, the club won their first continental trophy by winning the Campeones Cup.

  1. ^ "Columbus Crew to remain team's official name after meeting with Nordecke Supporters Group". MLSSoccer.com (Press release). Major League Soccer. May 17, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2021.
  2. ^ MLSsoccer staff (January 29, 2020). "Columbus Crew respond to a report of a potential club rebrand". MLSSoccer.com. MLS Digital. Archived from the original on March 2, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
  3. ^ Hall, Clayton (March 3, 2019). "Crew SC: Black and Gold's return might have trumped even a three-point win". ABC6. Retrieved November 13, 2023.
  4. ^ Jacob Myers (June 29, 2021). "Columbus Crew's new stadium officially opens ahead of first match Saturday". dispatch.com. The Columbus Dispatch. Archived from the original on July 12, 2021. Retrieved July 7, 2021.
  5. ^ a b "History". ColumbusCrewSC.com. MLS Digital. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  6. ^ Tonoli, Amanda (December 11, 2023). "Record MLS Cup crowd tops big year for Columbus Crew attendance at Lower.com Field". www.bizjournals.com. Archived from the original on December 11, 2023. Retrieved December 11, 2023.

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