Charlotte Pride FC is redefining local soccer. Here, there’s room for everyone

While Charlotte FC gears up for its second home playoff match of the season, a few miles away, another soccer club is quietly rewriting the city’s map of the sport. But it didn’t start that way.

In the early days of Charlotte Pride FC, founder and President Nick Stark’s greatest challenge wasn’t fundraising or field space — it was the simple math of assembling enough players for a practice that looked like a team.

“We’ve grown from six people in June 2023 to 75 players during the fall season,” Stark said, later adding that the growth has happened organically because “this is a community people want to be a part of.”

Charlotte Pride FC is Charlotte’s premier LGBTQ+ soccer club and a nonprofit that welcomes players and allies at all levels of ability, its website reads. The league offers seasonal competitive and casual leagues, free Sunday practices, social events and volunteer and leadership opportunities, all aimed at creating a safe, inclusive space to play, connect and belong.

I was one of 75 players who signed up this fall. On a thick September afternoon, I parked by Clanton Pavilion and followed the Irwin Creek Greenway until the trees opened up to reveal a pair of bright-green grass fields.

It could’ve been any practice, anywhere: players on the bench threading laces through their cleats, a few stretching, others sending passes back and forth or taking hopeful shots on goal. A few veterans stood out in the league’s pink-and-purple jerseys. It was a small detail, but oddly reassuring.

I was anxious, mostly because my own soccer skills had gathered more dust than I cared to admit. Later, I’d learn that “all levels welcome” wasn’t a polite fiction. Former college athletes from places like Wingate and South Carolina mingled easily with people who’d never kicked a ball before.

But one thing was obvious: Charlotte Pride FC was a community people wanted to join.

From ‘Kween City’ to Queen-sized dreams

Charlotte Pride FC started the way new ideas often do: with more hope than infrastructure.

What began as a hopeful Facebook page with the name “Kween City Soccer” in 2017 slowly gathered momentum. A few pick-up messages here and there, a partnership with Stonewall Sports (another LGBTQ+ sports organization in Charlotte) that came too early, the long lull of waiting for enough people to say yes.

“Were going to try to join Stonewall and just be a spring and fall Stonewall sport,” Stark said. “But leadership changed, and we kept asking our players what they wanted. They said, ‘We want to play winter and summer too.’”

“To join Stonewall, we had to show we were sustainable on our own — that we had the interest, the sign-ups and the commitment. We proved that.”

Then, in 2023, six players showed up to Cordelia Park one humid evening — and everything changed.

From those first scrappy sessions grew a full LGBTQ+ league, teams entering competition, a new name — Charlotte Pride FC — and, eventually, federal nonprofit status, with the pro-bono help of Lee Robertson, the managing partner of Robertson & Associates in Charlotte, Stark said.

In just two years, the idea has become a community of more than a hundred players and supporters, all convinced they’re building something worth belonging to.

Respect, pronouns and play

Before the first ball was kicked that warm September afternoon, we gathered in a loose circle for introductions – a ritual with one meaningful rule.

“We always do introductions — names and pronouns — and we stick to those pronouns,” Charlotte Pride FC Vice President Cord Flora said. “We want people to know that they can be their true selves.”

“The emphasis is community, no matter what you identify as,” Stark added.

From the very beginning, the league sets clear expectations about respect and behavior to create an environment where everyone can focus on the game, rather than worrying about judgment or exclusion.

“Most of the more skilled players naturally taper down how they play with beginners,” Flora explained, noting that this approach makes the space more welcoming for new players. “They’ll give people the space to dribble and a chance to grow their skills.”

The league also provides structured support for new players, including an orientation where participants learn the basics of soccer, from offsides to throw-ins in a pressure-free setting, and skills days that focus on different fundamental areas of soccer. Flora also described the group’s “gentle coaching” approach, where players get to try again after a faulty throw-in or bad kick.

I benefitted from these policies on numerous occasions. During one instance, I remember dribbling near midfield before taking a shot from 40 yards out. I only got a clean shot off was because the defenders around me — who could have taken the ball at any time — backed off.

My shot had the distance, but unfortunately sailed a good 20 feet over the crossbar.

All the board members say communication is key to maintaining that inclusive culture. They stay in constant contact with each other and recently started sending out surveys for players to offer feedback for league improvements. They’ve since implemented recommended changes, like hiring paid refs for games instead of trying to self-govern.

“Good feedback mechanisms are key,” Pride FC IT Director Ben Abrams said. “Results from our surveys, one-off conversations and anything we hear on the field can be useful for us.”

Fierce on the field

Despite inclusivity being one of the league’s core values, the drive to compete is unmistakable.

For those looking to push their game further, Charlotte Pride FC offers the chance to play in travel tournaments. About a dozen players made the trip to the 2025 Liberty Bell Classic in Philadelphia, finishing seventh out of ten teams.

J.D. Bray, the league’s growth and engagement manager and a member of the travel squad, said that balance of competition and community is a key part of the league’s success. But even in local league play, the competition is palpable.

Bray was the first person I interviewed from Charlotte Pride FC, a phone call scheduled a day or two after our opening games. I had played on the team that won 5-0; I didn’t record a single stat. One of the first things he said was, “I’ve never lost that bad in my life.”

I laughed at first, then stopped when I realized he wasn’t joking.

On the field, experienced players frequently offered guidance to newcomers, gestures that might seem purely generous but were often motivated by the same urge to win, and I loved it.

I hadn’t grown up playing soccer, though I’d done organized sports before. I can say with certainty the thrill of Pride FC’s competitive games, where skill meets strategy and levity, was unmatched.

More importantly, the league has become a sanctuary for those who discovered a love of the sport early on but were pushed away because of who they were.

A safe space to kick back

Bray, who grew up in South Florida, returned to the East Coast a few years ago after a stint in California, carrying with him a love of soccer that had once defined his childhood. But it was also a source of frustration and exclusion.

“I left the sport because of what a lot of folks on teams experience, like homophobia and a lot of just not-great feelings, and being on a varsity team, I had a bunch of college recruiters coming out and looking for folks, and I just gave up the sport,” he said. “I just knew that I wanted to find that place again in my adulthood.”

Flora remembered his high school experience with a mix of introspection and relief.

“Playing in high school, I was made fun of a lot for being too flamboyant. To be able to provide this space for people and have them feel safe and have them be their authentic selves has been absolutely amazing.”

The league, it seems, does more than offer a field to play on — it cultivates connection. When Macaluso missed the fall season due to an injury, teammates rallied around him.

“People from the club showed up with a gift card, they kept me company…they even came to my physical therapy appointments,” he said. “I’d never have crossed paths with these people otherwise.”

Off the field, social gatherings at local spots like Queen Park Social and Sidelines Sports Bar and Billiards (the Carolinas’ only LGBTQ+ sports bar, according to their website) cement those bonds. These are not mere happy hours; they are part of the scaffolding that holds the community together.

What’s next for Charlotte Pride FC?

Midway through the season, Stark unveiled plans to expand Charlotte Pride FC with a FLINTA league, welcoming anyone who identifies as a woman, lesbian, intersex, non-binary, trans or agender.

Stark also outlined a future goal: bringing in more sponsors to keep costs down and expand programming. Existing partners, including Sidelines and Robertson & Associates, have already been key to the league’s growth, he said.

Looking ahead, the Charlotte Pride FC board expects an even larger roster next season, and they have a simple message for newcomers:

“Just do it,” Flora said. “You won’t know if you like it until you try. Come to practice, meet the team. Worst case? You leave with a couple of friends.”

Want to join?

You can follow Charlotte Pride FC on Facebook and Instagram for updates about practices and games, or more information about the club.

This story was originally published November 7, 2025 at 7:45 AM with the headline "Charlotte Pride FC is redefining local soccer. Here, there’s room for everyone."

Evan Moore

The Charlotte Observer

Evan Moore is a service journalism reporter for the Charlotte Observer. He grew up in Denver, North Carolina, where he previously worked as a reporter for the Denver Citizen, and is a UNC Charlotte graduate.