Last Season

It’s no surprise to anyone who follows NISA that expansion side Club De Lyon is a bit of a mystery. Slow to post to social media, playing as an amateur side last season, not ramping up their operations in an obvious way heading into an inaugural professional campaign, it leaves a lot of us guessing as to what club we’re going to see in 2023. Hilariously, when you click on the “About Us” link on their website, which has hardly been updated since the move to pro, you’ll find an empty webpage. Make of that what you will.

For backstory on this club, we lean heavily on the work of Florida-based (and legendary soccer journalist) Kartik Krishnaiyer in his Beyond the 90 substack. “The club formerly known as the Orlando Lions is going professional. The club was forced to change its name in early 2022 to Club de Lyon FC, and has continued rising like Phoenix since then. The club will bring independent, professional soccer to Central Florida and has creatively found partners in Volusia, Seminole and Orange Counties to work with.” Later in his short profile of the club, Kartik mentions its success in NISA Nation and UPSL Premier. The amateur club played well enough last season to qualify for the US Open Cup, which complicated things now that it’s pro, as the club’s players were all tied to the amateur entry and not the pro entry (that amateur side lost in the first round of the Open Cup to Nona FC 1-0). The pro CDL will play against USLC Champion San Antonio FC in Round 2.

Off Season

As mentioned previously, the club has been mostly silent as the season has approached, leaving many fans of the league wondering what the product will look like on the field. Plenty of rumors have been circulating about the team, which have cast doubt on how prepared the club is for the rigors of the season.

From what we can tell, the roster is, for the most part, the amateur roster from last season. One exception is former FC Tucson forward (and NISA veteran), Yuki Shibata. Argentinian striker Ignacio “Kini” Ten Lopez has some experience in the NPSL and does have his own highlight reel on YouTube. From that video, he looks like the kind of attacker that can find his spot and finish his chances. Obviously, given the results of the amateur version of Club de Lyon, they are a talented team. Are they talented enough to go up against professional clubs in NISA? They seem to be banking on that. The majority of the roster, however, is unknown to soccer fans outside of Florida.

This Season

Trying to predict what’s going to happen with this club is damn near an impossibility. CDL has fallen into the NISA category of clubs who seem to not understand or appreciate what social media transparency could do for their support. So instead of excitement or buzz about this team, we’ve got nothing but questions. Will this club make a mark this season? Who knows and how could we?

Some questions should be answered early as Club De Lyon will be one of the first NISA clubs we get to see in the regular season when they face LA Force this Friday in the league opener. While LA Force was a garbage fire last year, it is a large organization that could offer a lot of problems for a newly organized club finding its feet in a professional league. I think CDL could pull off a win in this opener, but I am 100% guessing because who knows how good this team is.

They say you should keep your opponents guessing, but I don’t think THIS is what they meant.

- Dan Vaughn