The state of New Mexico gained its first professional soccer team in the 1990s, the New Mexico Chiles of the American Professional Soccer League and later the USISL. The team was runner-up for the league title in 1995 and attracted an average home attendance of 3,854, but was folded by its owners in 1996. The Chiles was replaced the following season by the Albuquerque Geckos, who entered USISL's Division 3 with new owners and played at a new soccer stadium shared with the collegiate New Mexico Lobos. The Geckos won the Division 3 championship and were promoted to the second division A-League in 1998, but struggled to win matches and were unable to pay players and creditors. The team had an average attendance of 1,200 and announced their move to Sacramento, California in October 1998. A semi-professional team, the Albuquerque Sol, was established in 2014 to capitalize on the area's interest in soccer. The team's owners stated that their goal was to earn a USLexpansion team within a few years and eventually move to Major League Soccer. The Sol commissioned a study in 2016 to analyze a potential downtown soccer-specific stadium with 10,000 seats to support a USL expansion in 2018 and a MLS expansion by 2024. The stadium study identified three potential locations in downtown Albuquerque for a stadium, which would cost $24–45 million.
USL franchise
On June 6, 2018, the USL announced an expansion club from Albuquerque that would begin play in March 2019. The club announced its name, New Mexico United, and colors on October 9, 2018, following fan suggestions that generated 226 total names. The team played its opening match on March 9, 2019, with 12,896 fans in attendance at Isotopes Park. Devon Sandoval scored the team's first-ever goal in a 1–1 draw against Fresno FC. New Mexico United enjoyed popular success in its inaugural season, leading the USL Championship in average attendance and selling out Isotopes Park with 15,023 spectators on May 5, 2019. In the 2019 U.S. Open Cup, the team defeated two MLS clubs before losing in the quarterfinals to Minnesota United FC; for the match in Minnesota, the club organized a charter flight from Albuquerque that carried 180 away fans.
Club crest and colors
The New Mexico United crest is a simple yellow shield with four black lines that represent the Zia symbol, found on the state flag and used with permission from the Zia tribe. The crest also has a black diamond with the number "18", representing the year the club was founded. The yellow-and-black color scheme was colored to reference the state flag while differentiating itself from other local clubs.
Sponsorship
Stadium
The club plays at Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park, known as only Isotopes Park in 2019 and nicknamed The Lab, a baseball stadium that is primarily home to the Albuquerque Isotopes of the Pacific Coast League. New Mexico United will play at the facility until a soccer-specific stadium is built. The Isotopes will remain the primary tenant and the USL team will schedule its home games during away games for the Isotopes. The stadium seats 13,500 spectators for baseball games.
The club's majority owner and team president is New Mexico resident, Peter Trevisani. The club's other owners have ties to New Mexico and include investor Ian McKinnon, TEAM8, Ed Garcia, Ben Spencer, and Jason Harrington.
Team Records
Year-by-year
1. Top Scorer includes statistics from league matches only.
Head coaches
Includes USL Regular Season, USL Playoffs, U.S. Open Cup. Excludes friendlies.
Coach
Nationality
Start
End
Games
Win
Loss
Draw
Win %
Troy Lesesne
Present
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Average attendance
Top goalscorers
Players in bold are still active with New Mexico United; includes all competitive matches
On Jan 23, 2020 New Mexico United announced that it will field a U23 team in the USL League Two for the 2020 season. The club will compete in the Mountain Division. The U23 team will bridge the gap between the High Performance Youth Program and the first team.
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