Florida Tropics SC is a professional soccer club based in Lakeland, Florida. They are owned by Central Florida Sports Ventures, LLC, led by Dr. Panos Iakovidis, and former USL commissioner and Rochester Rhinos owner Chris Economides. The organization was originally founded in 2015 as a team in the Major Arena Soccer League[1] before expanding into other leagues.

Florida Tropics SC

Founded	2016; 6 years ago (2016)
Stadium	RP Funding Center Lake Myrtle Sports Complex
Capacity	5,137 (MASL)
Owner	Central Florida Sports Ventures, LLC
Head Coach	Clay Roberts Evans Frimpong
League	Major Arena Soccer League United Premier Soccer League
2021	1st, MASL Playoffs: Eliminated from Semis
Website	Club website

The Tropics organization operates three senior teams across two different leagues. The first team is Florida Tropics SC, which plays in the professional Major Arena Soccer League. The club also fields two men's outdoor teams. The top outdoor is Tropics SC, which plays in the United Premier Soccer League First Division. There is also a Tropics Reserves team playing the UPSL's Second Division.

The club previously fielded a USL League Two team known as the Lakeland Tropics, and a Women's Premier Soccer League team.[2]

In addition to the senior squads, the Tropics organization also oversees two youth clubs in Central Florida. Lakeland Tropics FC in Lakeland, and Celebration FC Tropics in Celebration.

History

On May 3, 2016, the Tropics, in conjunction with the newly formed IPL, held a press conference at the RP Funding Center and stated they would be joining the IPL alongside the Baltimore Blast, Harrisburg Heat, and St. Louis Ambush.[3][4] However, on August 29, 2016, it was announced that all IPL teams including Florida would be joining the MASL.[5] The team finished 3rd in their division in their inaugural season, and averaged over 2,500 fans a game including one sell out. In their second season in the MASL, the Tropics again fell just short of the playoffs, finishing 3rd in the Eastern Division. It was in 2017 that the club fielded their first USL League Two franchise, and in 2019 a new squad was created to play in the UPSL Pro Premier Florida Division, who went on to win the leagues national championship. The official supporter group of the Tropics organization is the Swan City Syndicate.

The Tropics succeed the Tampa Bay area as the local indoor soccer club. The team is unrelated to the original Tampa Bay Rowdies, who were notorious for their indoor soccer success, as well as their outdoor. A current Rowdies team began to play in 2010 and is also unrelated to that club; the team exclusively plays outdoor soccer. Indoor soccer by the original Rowdies had officially ended when the team played in the American Indoor Soccer Association for one season (1986–87). For two seasons, another Tampa Bay area team played in the same league, from 1995 to 1997, called the Tampa Bay Terror; however, the team did not last more than two seasons, despite having some members of the Rowdies on the roster. It would not be until the Tropics first season that indoor soccer would return to the area.

Personnel

2022–23 roster

Active players

• As of June 17, 2022[6]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 3 DF  USA Chad Vandegriffe 5 DF  BRA Lucas Teixeira 7 FW  BRA Victor Parreiras 9 FW  BRA Ricardo Diegues 11 FW  BRA Ricardo Carvalho 12 FW  USA Taylor Walter Bond 13 GK  USA Chris Frederick 14 FW  TRI Kiel Williams

No. Pos. Nation Player 16 DF  USA Drew Ruggles 18 DF  BRA Ben-Avir Espinal 20 FW  USA VcMor Eligwe 22 MF  USA Anthony Arico 33 DF  BRA Rafael Alves 89 DF  USA Joshio Sandoval 90 DF  BRA Lucas Montelares

Inactive players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — FP  BRA Thiago Freitas 1 GK  BRA Hugo Silva

No. Pos. Nation Player 19 DF  BRA Guilherme Dos Santos

Staff

• Clay Roberts – Head coach, (2016–present)
• Kevin Curtin – Assistant coach, (2022–present)
• Chris Frederick – Assistant coach, (2022–present)
• Nick Olgee - Trainer, (2021–present)
• Dr. Panos Iakovidis - Team owner, (2017–present)

Notable players

• Rodrigo Fernandes Alflen – MASL
• Robbie Aristodemo - MASL
• Marko Bedenikovic – MASL
• Christian Blandon – MASL
• Lucas Coutinho – MASL & PDL
• Gordy Gurson – MASL
• Daniel Mendes – MASL
• Pascal Millien – UPSL
• David Paul – MASL
• Tosan Popo – MASL
• Victor Rojas - MASL & PDL
• Raheem Taylor-Parkes – PDL/League Two
• Juan Tejada – PDL

Venues

• RP Funding Center, Lakeland (MASL; 2016–present)
• Bryant Stadium, Lakeland (USL2 & WPSL; 2017–2019)
• St. Petersburg High School Stadium, St. Petersburg (WPSL; 2018)
• Lake Myrtle Sports Complex, Auburndale (UPSL & USOC; 2019–present)
• Tournament Sportsplex of Tampa Bay, Tampa (WPSL; 2019)
• Premier Sports Complex, Lakewood Ranch (WPSL; 2019)

References

External links

• Official website - MASL team
• Official website - PDL team