Georgia FC 2024 NISA Season Recap
A Recap of the 2024 Georgia FC Season In NISA.
Head Coach: Joao Garcia
Venue: Silverbacks Park (Also played 3 matches at Dalton Stadium in Dalton, GA this season)
2024 Regular Season: 5W-2D-13L, 14 pts, finished 5th in the NISA Eastern Conference
2024 Season Recap:
Georgia FC was announced as an expansion club last January. At the time, the club was announced as Georgia Lions FC. Still, it had undergone two ownership changes and two rebrands (the club was briefly known as Georgia Lions SC last February). NISA temporarily took over ownership of the club, changed the club's name to what we now know as Georgia FC, and announced the organizational changes for the club last April. Georgia FC had a rough start, having to withdraw from the 2024 U.S. Open Cup and having a short window to build a roster for their inaugural season. Georgia FC's first match was a 1-1 draw against Club de Lyon FC. Georgia FC got a good start in their first five league matches, going 2W-1D-2L. Georgia FC hit a roadblock from May through the end of July, winning only one out of seven matches before stunning the Michigan Stars FC with a 1-0 win on July 20. In the NISA Independent Cup, Georgia FC won their first-round matchup 4-1 against UMA FC but forfeited their next match against Golden Ball FC, which resulted in a three-point deduction in the NISA table. Georgia FC closed out the rest of its season, going 1W-1D-4L down the stretch to end its 2024 campaign. Georgia FC's head-to-head record against their in-state rivals, Savannah Clovers FC, was 2W-0D-2L this season against their Georgia Derby rivals. Despite finishing last place in the Eastern Conference with 14 points, Georgia FC was able to find some hidden gems with their youth talent from the North Georgia Soccer Academy, with players like Grayson Rockhill, Uriel Zarracan, Hugo Martinez, and Patrick Okonkwo finishing as the club's top goal scorer with six goals.
Offseason Updates
The off-season has been quiet so far for Georgia FC, but the club had to cope with tragedy as their captain, Modou Jadama, passed away last October. The club's future looked uncertain, with no primary club ownership present, sorting out player pay/salaries issues, roster turnover, and dealing with multiple front-office staff changes throughout its inaugural season. Despite all the problems Georgia FC had to deal with off the field, it was able to fill in the gap in its roster with amateur players from the North Georgia Soccer Academy, and some of those players, like 15-year-old Grayson Rockhill, stepped up and played well down the stretch. That will be something to watch to see what youth talent the club will bring up from their academy. In a recent interview on BT90, Kartik and Calum asked NISA Commissioner John Prutch for any updates regarding Georgia FC's future in part 2 of their interview series. Commissioner Prutch stated that the league is moving forward with Georgia FC and confirmed the club has new owners coming in and that they'll be in place in the next 60 days or so. With that situation sorted out, questions remain on what's next for Georgia FC. Will their head coach, Joao Garcia, return for another season? Is the club returning to Silverbacks Park in Atlanta, or will Dalton Stadium in Dalton, GA, remain in play as their future long-term home? What type of players will the club bring in to improve for next season after it finished at the bottom of the NISA Eastern Conference table? There are many questions, but we'll have to wait and see how this plays out during the off-season.
What are your thoughts on Georgia FC's 2024 season in NISA? Let me know in the comments section below.