Rugby team

Phoenix Rising

Club · United States · USL Championship

«The Rising»

236 Matches

91 wins

64 draws

81 losses

366–336 Goals

+30 Difference

1.6 Scored per game

Form D L W D W D

The USL Championship title arrived in November 2023, and it took penalties to settle it: Phoenix Rising beat Charleston Battery 3-2 from the spot after the final would not break either way.

The club began in 2014 as Arizona United SC and became Phoenix Rising in 2017, the same year it moved into the ground it still uses. What followed was a run of near-misses with silverware attached — Western Conference titles in 2018 and 2020, and the regular-season crown in 2019, which measures a whole campaign rather than a night.

Didier Drogba played here and part-owns the club, an arrangement rare enough at this level to have drawn attention on its own. Berke Bakay holds the majority stake; Drogba's fellow investors include the producer Diplo and the musician Pete Wentz. Chris Cortez, less widely known, stood as the club's all-time leading scorer as of 2018.

The 2018 Mobile Mini Sun Cup is the sort of trophy that would normally go unmentioned — a pre-season competition — except that Phoenix Rising won it by beating New York Red Bulls 2-1.

New Mexico United provide the fixture supporters mark first, a derby with no love lost and no official name; Orange County SC are the other regular. San Diego Loyal SC were on that list until the club folded in 2022.

Phoenix Rising FC Stadium holds 10,000.

Latest results

All matches

6 Sep	USL Championship	Monterey Bay A	1:1	D
30 Aug	USL Championship	Indy Eleven H	2:1	W
23 Aug	USL Championship	Sacramento Republic A	2:2	D
20 Aug	USL Championship	Colorado Springs H	3:1	W
9 Aug	USL Championship	Lexington A	0:1	L
2 Aug	USL Championship	Las Vegas Lights A	1:1	D