New York is full of soccer options, but if you’re based in Brooklyn, there may be no choice better than Brooklyn City FC - men’s, women’s, and youth programming is all available. The fairly young organization brings together the micro-communities under one banner and founder Jesse De Lorenzo and his front office team took the time to answer my questions quickly, as well as provide photos for the article.

Tell us how Brooklyn City FC got its start?
The club was founded by Jesse DeLorenzo, in 2017. Jesse has been a Brooklyn resident for nearly 30 years, including his wife and three daughters, all born and raised in Brooklyn.

The mission is really two-fold. 1) using the game of soccer to bring together and unite not only the dozens of micro-communities in this incredible borough, including all ages and genders, no matter if you’re a competitive player, recreational player, or fan, and 2) provide a pathway within the club to compete and represent Brooklyn on a national level.

Tell us about your badge and colors – how does it connect to the community?
We’re proud that our badge has been consistent from Day One, and do not foresee it ever changing. A consistent, authentic, organically-grown culture is a defining characteristic of the club, and the badge (and specifically the crown) has quickly become a defining visual representation of the club. We do thoughtfully take some liberties with deconstructing and adapting elements of the badge & logo for graphics and merch, maybe using creative or fresh alternative colors for novelty pieces, but do it in a way that never loses the club’s authenticity.

A lot of thought went into developing a badge that truly represented who we are, where we are, and who we represent.

Shape: We wanted the shape of the badge to be unique but consistent with traditional football badges, and not generic (like a circle).
Colors: The black, dark silver/grey, and white, are not only classic for NYC sports, but also authentic to our urban setting
Crown: The neon blue crown represents bright, loud, in-your-face color against a dark urban backdrop, not only a fundamental aesthetic of Brooklyn streets, but also a metaphor for the culture of our borough. Confidence and creativity in a challenging environment.
Simplicity: this was an important factor to us, and critical to helping making an impact in an environment full of distractions.

What league or leagues does your club participate in and why did you choose those to join?
We’re one of the only clubs in NYC that starts with multiple levels of Women’s and Men’s, with a youth system sitting below spanning all levels. So it’s a complicated question!

The women currently have a team in each o the following leagues: WPSL (summer), WPSL2 (summer), NYMWSL (year-round).
The men currently have 3 teams in the Cosmopolitan Soccer League, and will be entering a team into The League for Clubs in 2026.
On the youth side we play in every available league that meets the level of the team, from EDP (regional/local), CJSL (local), and USYS National League conference when appropriate.

Many clubs choose to sell hats, scarves or replica kits - how does your club keep the lights on and cover its league costs? How can interested people support you?
Our cash flow is supported from everything you mentioned above, however it’s a tiny percentage of expenses, as is the case for larger more complex clubs vs individual teams. As we are still an amateur club, our cash flow is supported by sponsorships, ticket sales at summer league matches, gifts/donations, barter/partnerships, and does include player fees at the youth level, and nominal players fees at the adult level that help offset some basic administrative expenses.

Anyone interested in supporting can do so a number of ways, including buying merch, attending matches, buying concessions at our Home match days or other club events, or donating to the club either financially or helping us purchase equipment, or providing a service to us at no expense.

How did you finish last year? What are the goals for this season?
In 2024-25, the women finished 3rd in the top flight of the NYMWSL league off a 4 game winning streak, and in the WPSL 2025 season they advanced to the Regional Playoffs in Niagara Falls, losing 3-2 in 2OT in the semi-final. Our goals are to win the league, and/or advance deeper in the tournament where applicable.

The men finished mid-table in both the D2 and D2 Reserves divisions of the Cosmopolitan soccer league. The goal here is to win the division and/or get promoted to D1. Our goal in TheLeagueforClubs is to of course win a trophy, which will be a monumental challenge as the National Champion, MetOval, is in our local conference!

The goals on the youth side from u8-u18 are to develop the individual players primarily, teams secondarily, and with that hopefully comes winning trophies at times, either in our league play or tournaments. As the youth progress into u14 and up there’s an increased focus on how to achieve individual match results, but its still a developmental process. You never stop developing.

How do you participate in, or give back to your community?
Our objective for building and growing the club is to provide something of significant value to the community, almost like an institution. We want to add value to our community and society, rather than be transactional or a gatekeeper/tollbooth that sucks value out for self-promoting purposes.

We also provide extensive and generous financial support to all levels of players that need and cannot afford player fees. We also offer income/work opportunities for players to earn $$ via coaching at the grassroots/rec level in the club.

We’ve often donated services (camps, private training sessions) or merch to local organizations for promotional use. We’ve donated full sets of kits to other local mens teams full of players who are refugees and immigrants with zero financial means, as well as field time or equipment to local school teams when we can.

If there were one or two teams, within a 100 miles of you, to play a friendly against – who would you play and why?
Ah man, what a question. I’d love to bring a women’s and men’s professional side to one of our local home venues as a showcase for our families and neighborhoods to come out, support, and celebrate the game the way it was meant to be enjoyed. Like the early rounds of FA Cup or Copa del Rey, where you have a champions club team playing at a local field in a neighborhood.

Follow Brooklyn City FC on Instagram HERE