Founding and inaugural season (2014–2018) (now BMO Stadium) in 2016
The founding Los Angeles FC was founded on October 30, 2014, as a result of
Major League Soccer (MLS) awarding a
new expansion team to Los Angeles after the complete dissolution of
Chivas USA. On September 15, 2015, the club announced that Los Angeles Football Club, which had previously been used as a placeholder name for the club, would be the official team name. Henry Nguyen, Los Angeles FC's principal owner at the time, hinted at this possibility shortly after the club was announced in describing the name as "timeless". LAFC announced
Bob Bradley as its head coach in July 2017, joining general director
John Thorrington in a search for players. Mexican forward
Carlos Vela was signed as the club's first
designated player on August 11, 2017.
Inaugural 2018 season On March 4, 2018, LAFC played its first MLS game, a 1–0 win against
Seattle Sounders FC at
CenturyLink Field in Seattle. LAFC designated player
Diego Rossi scored the club's first competitive goal in the 11th minute, assisted by Vela. LAFC suffered its first MLS loss on March 31 against the
LA Galaxy, losing 4–3 to their crosstown rivals in the inaugural edition of "
El Tráfico". Despite the loss, LAFC won 4 of the 6 games on their road trip to start the season, becoming the first team to earn 12 points from a season opening road trip of 6 games or more. They finished the season with 7 road wins which is the most for an expansion team in the post-shootout era. LAFC accomplished the best regular season for an MLS expansion team, earning 57 points. The total surpassed the 56 picked up by the
1998 Chicago Fire, also coached by Bob Bradley, as well as the post-shootout era record of 55 set in 2017 by
Atlanta United FC. LAFC's seven road wins also tied for the most ever by an expansion team in the pre or post shootout-era with the '98 Fire who had two road wins come via the shootout. They finished second all-time in goals scored by an expansion team in a season, with 68, just behind Atlanta's 70. finishing third in the West, but were knocked out at home in the first round in a 3–2 loss to sixth-place
Real Salt Lake.
First Supporters' Shield title and pandemic seasons (2019–2021) 2019 season LAFC won the 2019
Supporters' Shield with a record-setting 72 points;
Carlos Vela won the
MLS Golden Boot with a league-record 34 goals and was also named the
league MVP. In the playoffs, LAFC defeated their
El Trafico rivals
LA Galaxy for the first time 5–3 in the Western Conference Semifinal. In the Western Conference Final, LAFC were eliminated in an upset loss at home by Cascadia rivals Seattle Sounders 3–1.
2020 season The
2020 MLS season was suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and resumed with the
MLS is Back Tournament, a special tournament with all teams at the
ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in
Orlando, Florida. In the group stage, LAFC earned five points and qualified for the knockout rounds. The team defeated Seattle Sounders FC but lost to
Orlando City SC in a penalty shoutout. The regular season resumed after the tournament with matches played
behind closed doors. LAFC saw 47 goals with 14 coming from Golden Boot winner
Diego Rossi. The team finished with a 9–8–5 and were eliminated in the playoffs by Seattle Sounders FC.
2020 CONCACAF Champions League Los Angeles FC qualified for
CONCACAF Champions League for the first time in
2020. After going down 2–0 in the first leg against
Club León, LAFC came back and won 3–0 in the second leg, advancing (3–2 on aggregate) to the round of 16. Shortly after that, due to the
COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was put on hold. When the tournament resumed in December, under a new one-off format, Los Angeles FC defeated
Cruz Azul (2–1) after going down 1–0. In the semi-finals LAFC defeated
Club América (3–1), again in comeback fashion. They became the third MLS side to advance to the Final, where they were defeated by
Tigres UANL (2–1), who had been runners-up in previous editions of the tournament, and who went on to become the runners-up in the Club World Cup.
2021 season LAFC rebuilt their roster for much of the
2021 MLS season and missed the MLS Cup playoffs. Diego Rossi was transferred to
Fenerbahçe S.K. in September 2021.
Carlos Vela was injured for most of the year and only appeared in 27 matches during the 2020 and 2021 seasons. After missing the playoffs,
Bob Bradley was fired as head coach on November 18, 2021. He was replaced by
Steve Cherundolo, the head coach of the team's USL affiliate
Las Vegas Lights FC, on January 3, 2022.
MLS Cup championship (2022) LAFC spent the majority of the
2022 MLS season pushing for the league's all-time points record (73, set the previous year), but had five losses in their final nine matches. The team finished with 67 points and won their second
Supporters' Shield, but fell short of the record. This total was equal with the
Philadelphia Union, who lost the Shield on a wins tiebreaker. LAFC defeated the Galaxy 3–2 in the conference semifinals before knocking out
Austin FC 3–0 to advance to their first
MLS Cup. Los Angeles FC won the
2022 MLS Cup by defeating the Union in a
penalty shootout following a 3–3 draw through
extra time. The two latest goals in
MLS Cup Playoffs history were scored in the match, with
Gareth Bale scoring an equalizer in the 128th minute to take the match to penalties, which LAFC won 3–0. LAFC substitute goalkeeper
John McCarthy made two saves in the shootout and was named the
most valuable player of the match.
Recent seasons (2023–present) 2023 season Coming out of the successes of the 2022 campaign, Los Angeles FC had qualified to the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League. The team had a congested schedule with the Champions League and U.S. Open Cup taking most of the breaks from regular season play in the first half of the season. MLS also had introduced the
Leagues Cup. LAFC finished as runners-up in
MLS Cup 2023 to the
Columbus Crew and the
CONCACAF Champions League to
Club León. The team traveled over over the course of the season and played 53 matches—a record at the time for an MLS team during a single year.
2023 CONCACAF Champions League During the team's 2023 season, Los Angeles had advanced to the
2023 CONCACAF Champions League final for the club's second time in four years. Their road to the finals consisted of victories against
Alajuelense,
Vancouver Whitecaps FC, and
Philadelphia Union. Los Angeles FC would face
Club León in the final, who the team had faced before in the 2020 tournament. Los Angeles FC were the favorites, heading to the final. In the first leg, Leon would win 2–1 with a late goal by
Denis Bouanga to keep the hope alive for Los Angeles FC. In the second leg, Los Angeles FC fell flat and would lose the match against Leon 1–0 and lose on aggregate 3–1.
2024 season With the 2024 season, LAFC acquired
Lewis O'Brien,
Eduard Atuesta,
Olivier Giroud,
Hugo Lloris,
David Martínez,
Kei Kamara, and
Maxime Chanot in response to the departures of
Maxime Crépeau,
Carlos Vela (The club negotiated a small contract at the end of the season),
Denil Maldonado,
Giorgio Chiellini,
Kellyn Acosta,
Filip Krastev,
Diego Palacios, and
Stipe Biuk. The team was able to clinch the Western Conference (Regular season) by goal difference against the
LA Galaxy. LAFC had a rocky start to its season dealing with a first loss of the season against
Real Salt Lake in a snow game 3–0. By the middle of the season, LAFC saw an unbeaten streak of 13 games. That streak would end with a defeat by the
Columbus Crew 5–1. LAFC would reach the final of the
2024 Leagues Cup getting out of the group stage against
Vancouver Whitecaps FC and
Club Tijuana and then knocking out
Austin FC,
San Jose Earthquakes,
Seattle Sounders FC, and
Colorado Rapids. In the final they would face
Columbus Crew once again losing 3–1. After the Leagues Cup tournament, LAFC would go on to lose against
Houston Dynamo FC,
LA Galaxy, and
FC Dallas in the 2nd half of the regular season. In the
2024 MLS Cup playoffs after knocking out
Vancouver Whitecaps FC in the Best of Three Round, LAFC faced
Seattle Sounders FC. The match would go on to extra-time where
Seattle Sounders would eventually defeat LAFC 2–1 ending LAFC's 2024 season.
U.S. Open Cup title (2024) LAFC qualified to the
2024 U.S. Open Cup and began their campaign in the Round of 32. Their first opponent was against USL Championship side
Las Vegas Lights FC where after chippy play, LAFC came out victorious 3–1 at
Cashman Field. In the Round of 16, LAFC played at home as they faced USL Championship side
Loudoun United FC. LAFC easily beat the team 3–0 to move on to the Quarter-finals. Their next opponent, was the leading USL Championship side
New Mexico United. LAFC would go on to win the match 3–1. The Semifinal round brought LAFC to play against their rivals
Seattle Sounders FC. The match was very defensive with no goals until
Denis Bouanga scored a penalty kick on the 83rd minute securing a LAFC win. With the victory, LAFC would be the third team along with
San Jose Earthquakes and
Portland Timbers to beat the Seattle Sounders at the 5,000 seater
Starfire Sports Complex where the Sounders had a fortress record of 25–1–3. As a result of winning against Seattle Sounders, Los Angeles FC would advance to the U.S. Open Cup Final to face
Sporting Kansas City at home. LAFC would then go on to win the 2024 U.S. Open Cup becoming the fourth team from the Los Angeles area to win the U.S. Open Cup, following the
Los Angeles Kickers,
Maccabee Los Angeles, and
LA Galaxy. The
Dewar Cup was presented by three members of the
Los Angeles Kickers, an amateur team that won the
1958 and
1964 editions of the tournament.
2025 season With the 2025, the club acquired
Jeremy Ebobisse,
Yaw Yeboah,
Mark Delgado, and
Nkosi Tafari. The club signed
Igor Jesus and
Artem Smolyakov while acquiring
Odin Thiago Holm from
Celtic and
Cengiz Ünder from
Fenerbahçe on loan. It was in response to the departures of
Jesús Murillo,
Ilie Sánchez,
Mateusz Bogusz,
Cristian Olivera,
Kei Kamara,
Eduard Atuesta, and
Lewis O'Brien. Los Angeles FC qualified for the
2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup defeating the
Colorado Rapids in Round 1 and the
Columbus Crew in the Round of 16. Los Angeles FC would then advance to the quarter-finals and face
Inter Miami. In first leg, Los Angeles FC would win 1–0 but would lose to Inter Miami in the second leg 3–1 with an aggregate of 3–2 thus eliminating LAFC from the tournament. On April 18, 2025, Los Angeles FC announced that head coach Steve Cherundolo would step down after the 2025 season for personal reasons. Faced with being eliminated from the
2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup, having a 4–1–4 record and a low goal difference, LAFC acquired midfielder
Frankie Amaya and
Ryan Raposo. On August 6, Los Angeles FC signed Korean star
Son Heung-min from
Tottenham Hotspur for a MLS transfer record of $26.5 million.
FIFA Club World Cup 2025 On March 21, 2025, the FIFA Appeals Committee ruled that
Club Leon which had won the
2023 CONCACAF Champions League, was removed from the
FIFA Club World Cup 2025 due to having multi-club-ownership criteria conflicts along with
CF Pachuca winners of the
2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup. Both clubs are under the ownership of Grupo Pachuca. As a consequence, Club Leon's berth was vacant. Club Leon appealed to the
Court of Arbitration for Sport but was unsuccessful. On May 16, 2025, FIFA announced a play-in game to determine the last berth to the
FIFA Club World Cup 2025 between the
2023 CONCACAF Champions League runner-up
LAFC and the top-ranked team of the 2024 Club World Cup Ranking by Confederation
Club America to be played on May 31, 2025. LAFC would go on to win the match with 1-1 on regular time and 2-1 after extra time. LAFC thus was placed in Group D with
Chelsea FC (England),
Espérance Sportive de Tunis (Tunisia), and
Flamengo (Brazil). ==Colors, badge, and sponsorship==