For this week’s Under the Lights, we reached out to Elgin City FC to find out how they’re coming along and why they got started - they kindly and promptly replied with the following answers to their upcoming season…

When was your club founded, by whom, and what is the mission?
Elgin City FC was initially founded in 2020 (at least the idea was) by Jerzy Skowron. The mission of the club is to provide affordable, competitive soccer to the Elgin community and surrounding areas. There are too many talented players playing high school in the area, and then they don't go anywhere after high school to play other than local Sunday leagues. ECFC hopes to bring semi-pro/amateur exposure to the local talent. The original idea was meant for adults ranging from U19 all the way up to senior men's and women's teams, but has since been gaining traction to begin building the youth program to feed into and build the future first team. We want to be a full-fledged club similar to what you see everywhere else in the world and in the MLS. Local youth clubs here in our area provide everything up until college. Then it seems they're done with those players who have committed years and truckloads of money to the club. We're hoping that the club will continue to be a place for local talent and their families can call ECFC a true club built for the community, by the community, and of the community.

Tell us about your badge and colors – what inspired the choice or did it just fall into place?
The badge pays homage to the city of Elgin. A skyline of prominent downtown buildings grace the top of the badge, The fox symbolizes the Fox River Valley that Elgin is part of. The "old school" soccer ball signifies the age/history of the city, and the three waves underneath represent the Fox River and the club's motto of "club, community, culture". The color combination of red & black were chosen due to their striking play off of each other, and by total coincidence, are the same as Elgin City FC in Elgin, Scotland (didn't know there was an Elgin, Scotland until after the club was created. We're hoping one day to create some sort of joint collaboration with our much older big brothers across the pond). We are pronounced El-jin, while our Scottish counterparts are pronounced El-gin. Fun fact, Elgin was founded by a Scottish immigrant so it's a fitting tribute in some ways.

What league do you play in? Why did you choose that league and how often does the club re-evaluate where it plies its trade?
We haven't played any matches yet, as our owner is a 1-man wrecking crew trying to get things off the ground here. He has coached high school and youth club in the area over the last 10 or so years, and is hoping to get going in 2023 playing in the Midwest Premier League with a U-23, UPSL for the senior team, local amateur summer league with a U-21, and getting the women's side going with the same in their respective leagues.

Do you sell merch or have plans to? If so, where can we find it and what are you most excited about? If not yet, what are you working on?
Not quite at the merch stage yet, but it's definitely something we will be working on as we grow. We've already been asked a few times via Instagram for stickers, which we hope to have soon. We'll use those as our business cards to get the word out about us. We'll do the usual stuff (hoodies, beanies, shirts, jackets, etc.).

If there was one or two teams, within a 100 miles of you, to play a friendly against – who would you play and why?
I know John Hall over at Dekalb County United, as he has been assisting us with getting off the ground and into the Midwest Premier League. We've already talked about a "Plank Road Rivalry". Dekalb is about 40 minutes southwest of us and Plank Road runs from Elgin through Dekalb, so that will be fun to have once we're up and running.

Give Elgin City FC a follow on Instagram HERE
And follow the club on Facebook HERE