Published for Athletic Club Boise fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
⚽ AC Boise Fans — Your First Season Is Already a Playoff Season!
An expansion club that sold out its first nine home games, broke league attendance records and clinched the playoffs in year one — and in 2027 it moves up to the USL Championship. Raptor Shadow shirts, full voice — this is the season to wear the first colors in club history.
The Club
Athletic Club Boise is Idaho’s first professional soccer club, announced by the USL on October 30, 2024 and revealed under its real name — crest and all — on June 27, 2025. The identity is pure Boise: a peregrine falcon shaped like a lightning bolt on a dark shield, a nod to the Treasure Valley’s raptor heritage and the World Center for Birds of Prey, with Basque-inspired typography honoring one of the largest Basque communities in America. The ownership group is led by Brad Stith, and it gained serious soccer pedigree when former U.S. national team goalkeeper Kasey Keller joined in July 2025.
Home is the Stadium at Expo Idaho in Garden City, a soccer-specific stadium built into the former Les Bois Park race track and opened on April 4, 2026. It holds 7,225 fans on FIFA-certified artificial turf, with a safe-standing south terrace for the River Guard supporters’ group. Boise fans showed up like nowhere else in the league: the club sold out its first nine home matches and averaged 7,216 per league home game, by far the best-supported home crowd in USL League One.
The man in charge is Nate Miller, the club’s first head coach, appointed on October 31, 2025 — a possession-based coach who built this entire squad from scratch in a single winter. And the story is only accelerating: on September 9, 2026, the club announced the men’s team will move up to the USL Championship for 2027, with a stadium expansion toward 10,000 seats to match. Year one was supposed to be about survival. Boise turned it into a launchpad.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#10 Kostyshyn — AC Boise Style Jersey
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The man who scored the first goal in club history. Raptor Shadow dark grey with the falcon-bolt pattern and Basque Green trim — a fan-inspired take on Boise’s first-ever home shirt.
Last Season (2025): The Build Year
There was no last season on the pitch — Athletic Club Boise did not play anywhere in 2025. The year was spent building a club from an empty lot: the 30-year Expo Idaho stadium lease was finalized in February 2025, the name and falcon-bolt crest were unveiled that June, and Kasey Keller joined the ownership group in July. Then came the number that told the league this market was real: season-ticket deposits passed 6,500, an all-time USL record across all its leagues, eclipsing Nashville SC and FC Cincinnati.
Nate Miller was announced as the first head coach on October 31, 2025, and in December the inaugural home kit — the dark “Raptor Shadow” hummel shirt with its reflective falcon-and-bolt pattern — was unveiled at a sold-out Egyptian Theatre event. The entire playing squad was assembled in January to March 2026. Everything Boise fans are living right now — the sellouts, the records, the playoff berth — was drawn up in that build year, and the blueprint worked faster than anyone outside Idaho dared to predict.
Best Players Right Now
Denys Kostyshyn — #10, attacking midfielder. The Ukrainian playmaker is Boise’s joint top scorer with eight league goals, and he owns the club’s founding moments: the first goal in club history, in the 1–0 win at Sarasota Paradise on March 7, and the late winner against Union Omaha in front of the league-record crowd on June 20. Signed from FC Drita in Kosovo, he is the creative heartbeat of Miller’s attack.
Tumi Moshobane — #11, attacking midfielder/forward. Level with Kostyshyn on eight league goals at 32 years old — remarkable output from the South African veteran signed from Charlotte Independence. He opened the scoring in the 4–0 rout of Westchester, scored in the USL Cup win over Sacramento, and struck the opener in the October win at Portland.
Nick Moon — #14, midfielder/wingback. Seven league goals make him the third leg of Boise’s scoring trio. Moon scored Boise’s goal in the home opener against Spokane on April 4, the early opener in the cup win over Sacramento, and goals home and away against FC Naples. Signed from the Tampa Bay Rowdies, he never stops running the flank.
Thomas Amang — #22, forward. Five league goals plus a team-high five assists in all competitions from the Cameroonian — including the 90+4′ winner at Portland Hearts of Pine on October 10, the kind of late strike that turns a good expansion season into a playoff season.
Jesús Barea — #36, forward. The mid-season game-changer. Signed July 20 from Real Monarchs, the Spaniard has five league goals in just 12 appearances, including two braces in the final month — both goals in the 2–2 draw at Spokane and both goals in the 2–1 win over AV Alta.
Blake Bodily — #7, midfielder, co-captain. The hometown face of the club: the Eagle, Idaho native was AC Boise’s first-ever player signing, arriving from Tampa Bay with nine years of pro experience including MLS time with Portland. Four league goals, five assists in all competitions, and the local hero every young Boise fan wants to be.
Star Spotlight
The first goal, the first win. March 7, 2026: AC Boise’s first-ever competitive match, away at fellow newcomers Sarasota Paradise, settled by the man wearing No. 10. Denys Kostyshyn scored the first goal in club history to win it 1–0 after a lightning delay — and he has owned the club’s big firsts ever since.
The 4–0 statement. April 18, 2026, at a rocking Stadium at Expo Idaho: Boise 4, Westchester SC 0 — the biggest win of the club’s young life. Moshobane opened it at 16′, Kostyshyn scored twice, and Luan Brito added the fourth. That was the night the rest of the league stopped treating the expansion team as a curiosity.
The record crowd and the rebound. Six days after the season’s worst result — a 5–1 defeat at Forward Madison — Boise hosted title-chasing Union Omaha on June 20 in front of 7,247 fans, a USL League One single-match attendance record. Kostyshyn’s very late winner made it 1–0. The Idaho Statesman called it the club’s biggest win yet, and it announced Boise as a genuine playoff team.
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More Boise stars, same Raptor Shadow and green.
This Season (2026): The Dream Debut
Boise sit fourth of 17 with 55 points from 31 matches — 16 wins, 7 draws, 8 losses, 49 goals scored — and the playoff place is already clinched with a game to spare, in the club’s first season of existence. The Players’ Shield belongs to Charlotte Independence, but nobody in the league’s top six has a better year-one story. The arc had everything: a debut win on the road, a sold-out home opener, a humbling 5–1 loss at Forward Madison in June that was answered a week later by beating Union Omaha before a record crowd, and three straight wins in October to lock up the postseason before the final day.
The cups added color rather than silverware: a USL Cup group run that included a wild 4–3 home win over Monterey Bay and a 2–0 win over Sacramento Republic ended in the group stage, and expansion clubs did not take part in the 2026 U.S. Open Cup. The loudest off-field headline remains September 9: this first-year club is already moving up to the USL Championship in 2027. First, though, there is a playoff run to make — and a final-day trip to a fellow expansion club with seeding on the line.
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Mark Your Calendar
Saturday, October 24, 2026 — at Fort Wayne FC, Ruoff Mortgage Stadium (7:30 p.m. ET). Decision Day, and an expansion-vs-expansion finale the league itself flagged when the schedule dropped. Fort Wayne won the first meeting 3–1 in Boise on May 23 — so there is a score to settle, with Boise’s final seeding, quarterfinal opponent and venue all decided by this result.
October 30 – November 1, 2026 — USL League One Quarterfinals. Boise are in; the seed, opponent and venue are set on Decision Day. The top eight qualify, the bracket is single-elimination, and the higher seed hosts round by round.
November 6–8, 2026 — Semifinals. Win the quarterfinal and Boise are one game from a Final in their first season of existence.
November 13–15, 2026 — the USL League One Final window. One game for the title. League One matches air across CBS Sports platforms, ESPN networks, ESPN+ and TUDN — every playoff game will be watchable nationwide.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Spokane Velocity FC — the Pacific Northwest rivalry. The league and both clubs bill this as the region’s rivalry, and all three 2026 meetings were tight: a 1–1 draw in Boise’s home opener before 7,211 fans, a 2–1 Spokane win in the USL Cup in June, and a 2–2 draw in Spokane in September where Barea’s first-half brace was hauled back by the hosts. Nearest neighbors, loudest arguments.
2. Fort Wayne FC — the expansion-class rivalry. The two 2026 expansion flagships, paired by the league on Decision Day. Fort Wayne won the first meeting 3–1 in Boise on May 23, with Kostyshyn scoring for the hosts — which makes the October 24 return in Indiana, with playoff seeding on the line, an instant grudge match.
3. AV Alta FC — the West’s new-school clash. Idaho and California’s Antelope Valley produced two of the season’s best games: a 2–2 draw in Lancaster in April where Kostyshyn scored twice, and a 2–1 Boise win on October 17 settled by Barea’s brace before a club-record home crowd of 7,254. With Boise leaving for the Championship in 2027, this pairing has a one-season-only League One chapter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where does Athletic Club Boise play, and what is the stadium like?
Stadium at Expo Idaho in Garden City, Idaho — a brand-new soccer-specific stadium built into the former Les Bois Park race track at the Ada County fairgrounds, opened April 4, 2026 with a capacity of 7,225. It has a FIFA-certified artificial-turf pitch, a safe-standing south terrace for the River Guard supporters, and it sold out its first nine home matches of 2026. An expansion to around 10,000 seats is planned for the club’s 2027 move to the USL Championship.
Who is Athletic Club Boise’s best player?
Ukrainian attacking midfielder Denys Kostyshyn (No. 10) — joint top scorer with eight league goals, scorer of the first goal in club history on March 7, 2026 and of the late winner against Union Omaha in front of the league-record crowd on June 20, 2026. South African veteran Tumi Moshobane (No. 11) matches him on eight league goals, and hometown hero Blake Bodily (No. 7) — the club’s first-ever signing — is its creative captain figure.
What trophies has Athletic Club Boise won?
None yet — 2026 is the club’s first season. Its year-one honors are a USL League One playoff berth, USL-record season-ticket deposits of more than 6,500, league attendance records, and an announced move up to the USL Championship for 2027.
How can I get tickets or watch Athletic Club Boise?
Tickets are sold through acboise.com. In 2026, matches streamed nationally on ESPN+ as part of the USL’s broadcast deal — CBS Sports Network, the CBS Sports Golazo Network, ESPN networks and TUDN also carry League One games — and AC Boise home matches were broadcast locally in Boise on KTVB, with several home games also shown nationally on CBS Sports Network and ESPN2.
⚽ Athletic Club Boise Fan Shop
The full Boise trio — Kostyshyn, Moshobane and Moon, fan-inspired in Raptor Shadow and green.
Sources & official links: Athletic Club Boise official site · USL League One official site · AC Boise tickets
Dark shirts, loud terrace, a playoff run in year one — Boise believes.
