When was your club founded, by whom, and what is the mission?
Zilker FC was founded by our captain, Fate Chernoff, in the summer of 2022. Fate formed the team with the goal of getting back into playing football regularly, and wanted to do so with a good group of people. So he grabbed a couple friends, who then grabbed a couple of their friends, and thus Zilker FC was born. Our mission has always been to play good football and to do it while having fun with our friends. Whether it's a kit release party, post match meetup, making funny content on our instagram, or even the matches themselves, what we are the most proud of is creating an atmosphere where our community can come together and have fun around football.

Tell us about your badge and colors – what is the inspiration, and does it connect to your community in any way?
The inspiration for our logo and color scheme combines our love of old school football with our love for our home, Austin, Texas. Our goal for our badge and colors was to reimagine that old school Premier League vibe right here in Austin. The Zilker badge features a claret and blue color scheme with 3 Bluebonnets in the center. The color scheme is a nod to the Sean Dyche Burnley teams of the 2010s, who we look to as a blueprint for their no-nonsense, results driven approach to the game. The color scheme also doubles as a reference to our home, with the claret and blue symbolizing Bluebonnets against a violet Austin sky at sunset.

What league or leagues do you play in? Why did you choose that league?
We currently play in AMSA (Austin Men's Soccer Association) Division 2, which is the main competitive league in Austin. We chose this leage because they offer 6 separate divisions that are linked via promotion and relegation, with the top division featuring semi-pro teams that play in competitions like the UPSL and US Open Cup. This offers us great quality opponents on a regular schedule, as well as gives us a path forward in terms of playing at incrementally higher levels. With the lack of a well defined lower tier pyramid beneath leagues like USL League 2 in America, we find that this league is a great substitute.

Your shirt is genius and landed at #14 in our Top Tops list - do you sell them or other merchandise; if not, do you have plans to?
Thank you! Our friends at Icarus FC did an incredible job helping us design it. We launched our first ever kit last year and sold them in group pre-orders here in Austin. Icarus do offer that shirt on our club shop on their website, but we can only sell them in group pre-orders through our instagram and in person. Up until now, our home shirt has been our primary focus in terms of merchandise, but that will be changing in 2024. We've recently designed an entire line of merch, have begun work on our website, and will be launching our new away kit in the very near future. So stay tuned by following us on Instagram @Zilker_FC!

How has this season gone for you? What were the goals and aspirations heading into it? What is something to work on for the future?
Our league is an 18 game season spanning from September to May, with the top 2 teams earning promotion, and the bottom 2 teams going down. Last season, we earned promotion to division 2 from division 3, and then followed that up with a summer league title, going invincible in the process. Going into our first season in division 2, we have high expectations of earning another promotion. With 9 matches played so far, Zilker currently sit in 3rd position, 4 points off of the leaders and 1 point out of a promotion spot. With the final 9 matches due to start up in February, the boys from Zilker Park have everything to play for. Looking forward, our goals are to continue getting better as a squad, continue to move up the divisions, and take it as far as we can go.

If there were one or two teams, within a 100 miles of you, to play a friendly against – who would you play and why?
Austin FC is definitely top of the list. An Austin derby is the stuff of dreams for soccer loving Austinites like ourselves. Add the fact that one of our players has a younger brother that plays for Austin FC, a brother vs. brother match up, and it is simply too good to pass up. It would be box office stuff.

Want to know more or get involved?
Follow Zilker FC on Instagram HERE