Bay Area Seals
 |
|
| Full name | San Francisco Seals |
|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | The Seals |
| Founded | 1985 as San Francisco United Soccer Club 501c3 |
| Stadium | Negoesco Stadium USISL and Kezar Stadium A-League |
| Capacity | 3,000 USF 10,000 Kezar |
| Chairman |
 Tom Simpson
|
| Manager | Tom Simpson 1985–2006, 2008; Paul Aigbogun 2007; San Simpson 2009 to present |
| League | USISL 1992-1995, USISL Pro D3 1996-1997, A-League 1998-1999, PDL 2006-2008 |
| Website | [[1] Club home page] |
San Francisco Seals began as the senior team of the San Francisco United Soccer Club founded in 1985, a 501c3. The club is based in San Francisco, California. In 1992, the SFUSC youth team started playing as the "All Blacks" in the top tier of the USISL when Cal North Soccer, the governing body of youth soccer closed the youth program by blocking the movement of players across boundaries. The team played its home games at Negoesco Stadium on the campus of the University of San Francisco. The team's colors were black, red and white. After the first season and for five straight seasons the Seals dominated soccer on the West Coast winning 5 division titles, 3 regional titles and went to 3 national championship finals. In 1997 the Seals was called the "Team of the Year" by USA today after beating the Seattle Sounders, the Kansas City Wiz (now Sporting), and the San Jose Clash (now Earthquakes) in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. The Seals continued in the A-League until 2000 when the franchise stopped professional soccer and returned to youth development. The Seals continued as members of the Y-League and expanded their youth development to include college level players in 2006 by entering the PDL. Since 2009 the Seals have concentrated on youth development from U6 to U23 soccer.
The San Francisco United Soccer Club (SFUSC) was first organized as a youth soccer club in 1985 for Tom Simpson's two children. SFUSC was the first San Francisco club to ever travel to the prestigious Gothia Cup in 1987. Drawing on talented players from throughout the Bay Area, SFUSC soon became a "super club" and a dominant force in California state youth soccer. In 1991 the club created two teams, the Red Team and the Blue Team, who both advanced deep into the California Youth Soccer Association – North (Cal North Soccer) State Cup. The 1991 Red Team won SFUSC won the Cal North Soccer State Cup and continued on to take the Region IV title before advancing to the National "McGuire Cup" final losing to the Minnesota Thunder.
However, the rise of "super clubs" such as SFUSC sparked a counter reaction from smaller Northern California youth teams and in 1992 Cal North Soccer-North implemented rules to block SFUSC from competition. Faced with this opposition, the SFUSC decided to forsake the traditional path to amateur success, through the state competitions, and enter a team in the U.S. Interregional Soccer League, the forerunner of today's United Soccer Leagues.
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