THE SAVANNAH CLOVERS’ origin story traces back to a local adult recreation league team and the desire to do something bigger as a standalone amateur soccer club serving the community in 2016.
So the Clovers Football Club held a tryout.
“Twelve guys showed up. They all made the team because we needed the players,” recalls Brian Sykes, co-founder, co-owner and chief community officer of Savannah Clovers FC. “For our first game, a gentleman pulled up on a moped asking if there was a team forming. I said, yeah. I said [he] can play because we needed more players.”
From these, in Sykes’ words, “threadbare beginnings” sprouted the Clovers, who spent several seasons as an amateur club playing a Southeast region schedule in the United Premier Soccer League.
The Clovers have taken the next step in their growth by turning professional and joining the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) for 2023. Becoming Savannah’s first outdoor pro men’s soccer team was made possible with the addition of CEO Shane Folgado, who heads a South Africa-based investment group.
The team will play home games at Memorial Stadium in a season running from April into October in the NISA, which is Division III in the tiered system of the U.S. Soccer Federation.
The NISA has 10 clubs across the country. The league schedule was not released by early 2023, but the Clovers will be traveling to much bigger cities.
New head coach David Proctor has quite a soccer résumé. He was a pro player in his native England and the United States and later a coach for top-division Major League Soccer and other organizations, including the Statesboro-based South Georgia Tormenta FC of third-division USL League One.
Proctor says he formed a staff and scouting system to find former college and current pro players around the country and beyond our borders, including Costa Rica, Spain and South Africa. More localized talent from Savannah to Charleston will also comprise the squad with an average age of 23.
“When lightning strikes, you’ve got to strike along with it.” — Brian Sykes, co-founder, co-owner and chief community officer of Savannah Clovers FC
“It’s completely different now from what it was,” Proctor says, comparing the amateur club to the pro squad, with players training full-time and compensated with salaries as well as housing and utilities.
Sykes, who studied and “marinated” the idea of a Savannah soccer team from 2006-16, calls the timing perfect for the Clovers to raise their level as pro leagues and soccer awareness are growing. The Women’s World Cup is this summer, and North America hosts the next men’s World Cup in 2026.
“You have to take that leap of faith because you never know if it’ll come back around,” Sykes says. “When lightning strikes, you’ve got to strike along with it.”
For more information about the team, schedule and tickets, go to savannahclovers.com.
