Oly Town

FC Olympia did not grow out of a long tradition of local sport. In 2014, Ryan Perkins, Brandon Sparks, and Tim Smith built the club to give players in Olympia a home ground. They started as Oly Town Artesians FC. The name stuck for a decade, but by 2024 the founders were ready to shed the nickname and become FC Olympia. That rebrand coincided with their tenth anniversary.

They have played in many places. They began at the Well 80 Pitch in Lacey, then moved to South Sound Stadium at North Thurston High School, and later to Black Hills High School in Tumwater. Now they return to the SPSCC Clipper Soccer Field, where the capacity sits at just 750. The ground is small, but it is home. The team plays in USL League Two, having earlier founded the Western Indoor Soccer League. Their colours are light blue and navy blue.

Success has come in bursts. The women’s team won the NWPL Championship in 2022, beating Capital FC 3-2 in regular time before taking the match 4-2 on penalties. Four years later, the men claimed the USL League Two Western Conference title, though they finished seventh in the Northwest Division that same season. The club has sent players abroad—Kat Asman to Orlando Pride, Mariah Lee to Vancouver Rise, and others to clubs in Portugal and Greece. Some even reached the Paris 2024 Olympics for New Zealand and Japan. These players left Olympia, but the club remains, waiting for the next generation to step onto the field.

The rivalry with Oly-Pen Force runs deep, a cross-county fight in the indoor leagues. South Sound FC is another familiar foe, with playoff history between them.