page_title: New York City FC
section_title: 2015–present: Inaugural season and progress
hierarchical_section_title: New York City FC / History / 2015–present: Inaugural season and progress
caption_attribution_description: David Villa heads to the locker room at the half.
context_page_description: New York City Football Club are an American professional soccer club based in New York City that competes in Major League Soccer, the highest level of American soccer, as a member of the league's Eastern Conference.
  New York City played its first game in 2015, as the twentieth overall expansion team of the league; it is the first franchise to be based in the city, and the second in the New York metropolitan area, after the New York Red Bulls, with whom they contest the Hudson River Derby. Since 2015, the club have played at Yankee Stadium in The Bronx.
  Jason Kreis was appointed as the club's first coach, remaining for a single year prior to being replaced by Patrick Vieira. Vieira guided New York City to their first MLS Cup playoff appearance the following season, as well as a runner-up berth in the Supporters' Shield in 2017. Vieira's teams also set Major League Soccer records for the largest improvement in wins for a consecutive season.
  Based on attendance from the 2019 regular season, New York City's attendance was ninth-largest in the league. In 2019, Forbes estimated the franchise was the seventh most valuable in MLS, worth over $385 million.
context_section_description: An up-and-down pre-season saw them dominate their first ever exhibition match, played against Scotland's St Mirren, with Villa scoring the club's first ever goal in a regulated match, while in the Carolina Challenge Cup, they finished second out of four teams after a slow start ruled out their chances of picking up the non-competitive silverware. Their first ever league game was played on March 8 against fellow expansion side Orlando City, with Mix Diskerud scoring their first ever competitive goal in a game which finished 1–1 in front of a packed Citrus Bowl stadium. A week later in their first home game, Villa and Patrick Mullins scored in their first home win against New England Revolution in front of a crowd of 43,507. The team eventually suffered an eleven-game winless streak which ended on June 16, after defeating the Philadelphia Union 2–1.
  New York City faced the New York Cosmos in the fourth round of the 2015 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, and were eliminated on penalties after playing overtime. The team finished 8th in the Eastern Conference, 17th overall. After the season ended, Kreis was relieved from his head coaching duties on November 2. The team's failure to make the playoffs and the team's second lowest points in the league, were the main factors in his release. A week later, Patrick Vieira was announced as the new head coach of the team.
  Under Vieira's stewardship, the club had a remarkable season in 2016. The club began pre-season trading for Jack Harrison, the first overall pick in the 2016 MLS SuperDraft. Harrison made an immediate impact and became a core component of the club in his first year with the team, forming a formidable partnership with Villa. Villa also regained his striking form, eventually becoming the recipient of the league's MVP Award after scoring 23 goals. New York City qualified for the playoffs for the first time in franchise history, eventually losing to Toronto in a two-game series in the Eastern Conference semi-finals. Following the season's conclusion, the club parted ways with Lampard, who had become injury prone during his time with the club. 2017 saw a similar season, with the club replacing Lampard with the arrival of Argentine midfielder Maximiliano Moralez as their new, third Designated Player. The club, however, became runners-up for the 2017 Supporters' Shield, finishing the regular season with a record of 16–9–9, as well as a record points total of 57. The club again, however, were once again eliminated from the playoffs in the conference semi-finals, losing to the fifth seeded Columbus Crew by a 4–3 goal aggregate.
  New York City had then utilized the following off-season in order to undertake an aggressive overhaul of the squad, with ten senior players departing, including perceived starters Mikey Lopez, R. J. Allen, Frédéric Brillant, and Ethan White. Designated Player Andrea Pirlo also departed, announcing his retirement prior to the club's final playoff game against Columbus Crew. He was then replaced with the addition of Paraguayan international Jesus Medina on New Year's Eve, as New York City's third Designated Player. The club further began upon replacing other departing players with the promotions of both Jonathan Lewis, the third-overall pick in the 2017 MLS SuperDraft, and James Sands, the club's first ever Homegrown Player. Sands also grew up in the nearby city of Rye, New York. Soon after, 2016's Defensive Player of the Year, Rónald Matarrita, extended his contract to remain with the club beyond the 2018 season. The club then made its first acquisition on December 13, with the signing of defender Anton Tinnerholm, who joined from Allsvenskan champions Malmö. Tinnerholm, a Swedish international, is typically deployed as a right-back. The team then acquired another right-back in the form of Saad Abdul-Salaam in a trade with Sporting Kansas City, trading former second overall pick Khiry Shelton, largely considered a bust, on December 14. The club then rounded out the roster with a trio of internationals, as striker Jo Inge Berget, central defender Cédric Hountond
caption: David Villa is the club's all-time top goalscorer.
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