On Sept. 28, Atlanta’s new professional women’s soccer team unveiled their name, crest and colors. The 17th team in the NWSL, Atlanta City FC is expected to begin playing in 2028.
Atlanta City FC’s crest is a phoenix, drawing off of the phoenix emblem that Atlanta adopted during the Civil War Reconstruction. The phoenix has feathers that form an “A”, and wings that rise up to imitate flames of a fire. The team’s main color of light red is seen in the center of the phoenix, but as the wings extend, they turn into shades of Georgia peach.
Atlanta City FC’s branding looks different from the Atlanta’s men’s soccer team Atlanta United, whose logo is a deep red and black. This visual difference is important to Paideia women’s soccer captain Callie Roumanis ’29, who believes “It is important that the women’s team is their own team, and not just a branch off of the men’s program.”
This isn’t Atlanta’s first women’s soccer team however. The Atlanta Beat began playing in 2001, and was successful until issues related to budget and management resulted in its dissolution.
In the past 20 years, soccer has become a huge piece of Atlanta’s culture. “Going to games, watching games at local places, and celebrating a team with people around is amazing. Finally getting to do all of this for a women’s team is even more exciting,” Roumanis says. Roumanis’s view is not singular however. Hundreds of soccer fans showed up to Atlanta City FC’s launch party in October, eager for the beginning of a new era of women’s sports.
