Tell us the origin story of your club - when was the club founded? By whom and what was its mission?
River Light FC was founded in 2023 by Chad Swieca, Charlie Latshaw III & Heather Bickerton.
Chad Swieca - Aurora, IL (Owner) - owns Soccer Speed a private training company across multiple towns and cities.
Heather Bickerton - Aurora, IL (General Manager) - owns a marketing and consulting firm for youth and adult clubs across the USA. Has been in the soccer industry in Chicago for 10+ years. Originally from Blackburn, England. Has previously worked in the USL Ecosystem at two different organizations.
Charlie Latshaw - Palatine, IL (Sporting Director) - has been in the soccer landscape for 15+ years in youth, college and adult roles. Lead Chicago City to the Highest Points per game in the USL2 during the summer of 2023.
Mission: To create a culture of excellence in professionalism from the front office, coaching staff and players. To achieve the pinnacle of winning in every sense of the term.

We saw an excellent opportunity to bring something that the community is hungry for in a fantastic mid-size city in the Chicagoland metropolitan area. We felt like with our experiences as well as the communities passion for the game it felt like a great fit.

Tell us about your badge and colors – how does it connect to the community and has it evolved over time or always been the same?
River Light FC was the name that we all came up with together to represent Kane County and the City of Aurora, where we are calling home. River represents Fox River, which runs through the heart of Kane County and Light represents the City of Lights (Aurora) which got its namesake from Aurora being the first city in America to have public street lights. The colors formed from the City of Aurora logo and represent our organization as a whole.

River Light FC has focused on signing players for both squads from around the Chicagoland area - each dot on the map of Chicago represents a local player.

What league or leagues does your club participate in and why did you choose those to join?
We have entered USL League Two and USL W League for our inaugural season. Chad, Charlie and Heather have years of experience within the USL in multiple roles and it was a move that made sense for us, our goals to move into a professional entity in the future.

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?
We will be focusing on merchandise and replica kits throughout the year. We want to make this a club that Kane County residents can be proud of and wear the crest year round. With that, filling the stands will be vital for us to succeed. We want to create an essence of lower league English football and bring it to Aurora, IL!

How has this season gone for you? What were the goals and aspirations heading into it? What is something to work on for the
We are incredibly excited to field teams purely built on local talent. All of our players are from the local area and play in top programs across the country. We want to be a meaningful pathway to the professional game for local talent. Our goals are high for our inaugural season both through performances on the pitch as well as building a culture for our club off the pitch - a team that locals can get excited about. We hope to be the first pre-professional team in Chicagoland that can bring meaningful crowds to the games.

Want to know more or get involved?
Follow River Light FC on Instagram HERE
And give them a shout on X/Twitter HERE