Charleston Battery are an American professional soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship.
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15 Facts About Charleston Battery
2.
Charleston Battery are one of the more successful lower division soccer clubs in the United States, having won the USISL Pro League in 1996, the USL A-League in 2003, and the final season of the USL Second Division in 2010.
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3.
Charleston Battery are the most successful club in the history of the unofficial Southern Derby competition with nine first-place finishes.
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4.
The club hired experienced college coach and University of South Carolina graduate Tim Hankinson to develop the team, and the Charleston Battery started as a member of the USISL, which eventually evolved and came to be known as the USL in 1995.
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5.
In 1997 Charleston Battery became one of the original clubs of the newly branded A-League.
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6.
In 1999 the Charleston Battery moved into what is known as MUSC Health Stadium, becoming the first non-Major League Soccer professional club in the United States to build its own stadium, and forged a reputation as one of the country's most well-established lower division clubs.
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7.
The Charleston Battery hired veteran English coach Alan Dicks and signed many experienced domestic players such as Paul Conway, Dan Calichman and Eric Wynalda while bringing in notable foreign signings such as Terry Phelan and Raul Diaz Arce.
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8.
In 2008 the Charleston Battery reached the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup final for the first time, playing against Major League Soccer team DC United at RFK Stadium.
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9.
At the start of the second half Charleston Battery conceded early again, but in the final seconds of extra time Marco Reda put the ball in the back of the net for Charleston Battery, only to have his goal controversially disallowed as offside.
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10.
Charleston Battery remain the most recent non-MLS club to play in the Open Cup final.
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11.
In 2010 Charleston was invited by several other USL clubs to join the breakaway league eventually known as the North American Soccer League, but the Battery chose to remain in the USL system and self-relegate to the USL Second Division, which eventually became the chief USL professional division.
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12.
In recent years the Charleston Battery have had loan affiliations with several Major League Soccer clubs, beginning with a one-year deal to become the USL Pro affiliate of Vancouver Whitecaps FC in 2014.
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13.
The new logo featured crossed cannons on a black circle, with the iconic crescent shape, with Charleston Battery emblazoned across the top and 1993, the year the club was established at the bottom.
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14.
In 2019, under new ownership led by Rob Salvatore, the club announced that the Charleston Battery would move off Daniel island to Patriots Point in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina.
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15.
Charleston Battery competes for the Coffee Pot Cup every time it faces their rival team DC United of Major League Soccer, a trophy established by the two sides' supporters and currently held by DC.
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