Charlotte Eagles

The Charlotte Eagles are an amateur soccer club from Charlotte, North Carolina, founded in 1991. They compete in USL League Two, which sits at the fourth level of the American Soccer Pyramid. Home matches are held at the Sportsplex in Matthews. The team’s colors are orange, white, and blue.

The club began as the Charlotte Eagles Soccer Club and turned professional in 1993 when it joined the USISL. After a short stint in the A-League, financial difficulties forced the team back to a lower division. The Eagles operate under Missionary Athletes International (MAI), a sports ministry that uses soccer to share Christian teachings. They are a sister club to the USL League Two side Southern California Eagles and also field a women’s team, the Charlotte Lady Eagles, in the Women’s Premier Soccer League.

In 2016, The Guardian profiled the Eagles, focusing on the team’s policy of discriminating against openly gay and bisexual players.

The team receives written coverage from The Charlotte Observer, and highlights appear on local news broadcasts. All games stream live on the club’s official YouTube channel, with Harrison Raby handling play-by-play for home broadcasts.

Key staff include president David Urban, executive director Spencer Lewis, head coach Chris McClellan, and assistant coach Walter Gomez. Notable former head coaches include Brian Davidson (1993–1996), Mark Steffens (1997–2014), Dave Dixon (2014–2017), Luke Helmuth (2017–2018), Garrett Bireline (2018–2020), and Michael Kovach (2020–2024).

The Eagles have won several titles: the USL D-3 Pro League championship in 2000, the USL Second Division championship in 2005, the Premier Development League championship in 2017, and multiple division and conference titles. They were also USL PRO Championship finalists in 2013 and runners-up in the Hank Steinbrecher Cup in 2018. The club has won the Southern Derby four times (2001, 2012, 2013, 2014).