San Francisco City FC

Tommy Thompson came through San Francisco City FC before San Jose Earthquakes signed him, Tanner Beason, Manny Padilla, Miguel Berry, Andrew Wheeler-Omiunu among them. None of that was the plan when Jon Wright, Jacek Banas and a third partner started the club in 2001; the three stars on the crest still mark the founders. What they built runs on a "50+1" structure, with the San Francisco City FC Members Organization holding at least 51 percent of the shares, so the people who watch the games also own the club that plays them.

The nickname Fierroyoro, the Iron & Gold, borrows its colours from the city itself — black and gold are San Francisco's own municipal shades. The club now competes in USL League Two, soccer's fourth tier in the United States, playing out of Negoesco Stadium on the University of San Francisco campus, a ground with 3,000 seats. Before that it played at Kezar Stadium in Golden Gate Park.

Derby day means San Francisco Glens SC, the other club with deep roots in the city's amateur game, and the fixture between them is known simply as the San Francisco Derby. A second, geographic rivalry has grown with Burlingame Dragons, framed as the Peninsula Derby. Across the San Francisco Soccer Football League, the club won Third Division titles, Majors Division titles, a Premier Division title — before reaching USL League Two, where it qualified for the U.S. Open Cup in 2015, 2016 and 2018 and won the regional qualifying tournament in 2015. The supporters' group El Lado Norte was named Supporters Group of the Year in 2019.

In 2026, San Francisco City FC won the USL League Two NorCal Division.