FC Gold Pride

FC Gold Pride was an American professional women's soccer club based in the San Francisco Bay Area, which participated in Women's Professional Soccer. The club replaced the San Jose CyberRays of the defunct Women's United Soccer Association as the top-level women's soccer team in the San Francisco Bay Area. FC Gold Pride moved to its final home of Pioneer Stadium on the campus of CSU East Bay in June 2010 after opening their 2010 home schedule at the Castro Valley High School Athletic Stadium. The club ceased operations in November 2010 after struggling financially and being unable to find new investors. Team history Founding FC Gold Pride was founded on September 3, 2008, as the seventh and final team to join the new top-tier Women's Professional Soccer league. The team was owned by a group led by Brian and Nancy NeSmith, the former being the CEO of Sunnyvale-based internet technology company Blue Coat Systems. Former San Jose Clash midfielder and local youth coach Albertin Montoya was named the team's first head coach, while former CyberRays and Brazil national team player Sissi was announced as the team's first assistant coach on September 29, 2008. On November 13, 2008, the team announced that it would play its home matches at Buck Shaw Stadium in Santa Clara, which it shared with the San Jose Earthquakes of Major League Soccer as well as the Santa Clara University soccer teams. The team revealed its official name of FC Gold Pride, and its logo of a lioness, to the public for the first time on November 19, 2008.