Published for Bay FC fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
⚽ Bay FC Fans — Your Bay Is Waiting!
A club-record season from hometown star Karlie Lema, an Italy captain in the attack, and the bold new Poppy Kit turning heads across the NWSL. Two matches remain — wear the poppy, bring the Bay, and finish loud.
The Club
Bay Football Club — Bay FC to the world — represents the entire San Francisco Bay Area, deliberately carrying no single city’s name. The NWSL awarded the franchise on April 4, 2023, backed by San Francisco investment firm Sixth Street Partners for a then-record $53 million expansion fee, and the club was founded with Bay Area royalty at its heart: the “Founding Football Four,” former USWNT stars Brandi Chastain, Aly Wagner, Danielle Slaton and Leslie Osborne. The crest says it all — a gothic blackletter “B” whose form hides a Golden Gate Bridge support tower, with serif details nodding to Bay fog and street-art culture. The colors are dark navy, warm poppy red — for the California poppy — and fog gray.
Home is PayPal Park in San Jose, an 18,000-seat stadium shared with the MLS side San Jose Earthquakes. Bay FC sold out its first-ever home match in 2024, and the South Bay has embraced the club as its own — while a new Sports Performance Center rises on Treasure Island, due to open ahead of the 2027 season, that will give the club a San Francisco home base of its own.
The dugout changed hands this season. Albertin Montoya, the inaugural head coach, stepped down after the 2025 campaign, and Emma Coates — previously head coach of England’s Women’s U-23 team — took over for 2026. Her captain is Sydney Collins, the Canada international defender and UC Berkeley product, with Hannah Bebar and Claire Hutton as vice-captains.
Bay FC announced itself to the world in February 2024 by signing Racheal Kundananji from Madrid CFF for what was then a world-record transfer fee for a women’s player, reported at around $805,000. Kundananji departed in mid-October 2026 for Chicago Stars as the club’s all-time leader in goals and assists — but the identity she helped launch is bigger than any one player now. Fans searching for the Bay FC roster, the Bay FC schedule or the new Bay FC jersey all land on the same story: a young club, rooted in community, powered by connection, and building something meant to last.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#5 Karlie Lema — Bay FC Style Jersey
$59.99
The record-breaker in the Poppy Kit. Radiant poppy orange with the tonal bridge pattern woven through the fabric, black BFC crest, and LEMA 5 in solid black on the back — fan-inspired apparel made for the Bay.
Last Season (2025): The Hard Second Year
Year two was a grind. Bay FC finished 13th of 14 in the NWSL with 20 points — four wins, eight draws and 14 defeats — and missed the playoffs a year after their fairytale debut run. The numbers told the story: 26 goals scored, 41 conceded, and a brutal 15-match winless run to close the season after the club’s final win on June 7, 2025. The campaign ended with a 1–0 defeat at Racing Louisville on November 2, 2025, and head coach Albertin Montoya stepped down soon after.
There were still sparks worth remembering. Penelope Hocking led the team with six goals, and defender Caprice Dydasco played every single minute of the season — the first “iron woman” in club history, a standard of durability the whole squad could point to. The lesson of 2025 was clear: the Bay’s love was never in doubt, but the roster needed stars, steel and a new voice. All three arrived for 2026.
Best Players Right Now
Karlie Lema — #5, forward. The star of this team and its top scorer: eight goals in 2026, a club single-season record that passed Asisat Oshoala’s seven from the inaugural year. A Morgan Hill native playing twenty minutes from home, Lema has been Bay’s most dangerous attacker all season — and she is doing it for the U.S. U-23s too, scoring at international level in October 2026.
Cristiana Girelli — #10, forward. Italy’s captain and one of the most decorated strikers in the women’s game, Girelli joined Bay FC in 2026 on loan from Juventus and brought instant pedigree to the front line. Her movement, heading and big-game calm give Bay a reference point up front that few NWSL defenses enjoy dealing with.
Claire Hutton — #8, midfielder. A 2025 NWSL Best XI First Team selection acquired in a trade with Kansas City Current, Hutton runs Bay’s midfield and wears the vice-captain’s responsibility with it. She is firmly in the USWNT picture — featured against Spain in October 2026 — and plays like it every single week.
Taylor Huff — #7, midfielder. The ever-present creative outlet, Huff scored Bay’s goal in the March 21 California clash with Angel City and keeps the attack ticking between the lines. When Bay FC move the ball well, it usually travels through Huff.
Jordan Silkowitz — #29, goalkeeper. On September 20, 2026, Silkowitz became just the sixth goalkeeper in NWSL history to record 100 saves in a single season — and she has kept a club-record seven clean sheets behind a defense that has asked plenty of her. Bay’s last line has been one of its best.
Sydney Collins — #16, defender, captain. The Canada international and UC Berkeley product leads Emma Coates’ side from the back, and scored her first international goal in 2026. Alongside Argentina captain Aldana Cometti (#21), Collins gives Bay a spine of captains — leadership has never been this team’s problem.
Star Spotlight
The night the record fell. October 3, 2026, at Kansas City. The match itself was one to forget — a 5–1 defeat against the Current — but the fourth minute wrote Bay FC history. Karlie Lema scored early, and that goal was her eighth of 2026, passing Asisat Oshoala’s single-season club record of seven set in the inaugural year. A kid from Morgan Hill, twenty minutes down the road from PayPal Park, now owns the most productive scoring season this young club has ever seen.
Two assists, one statement. If the record was the headline, October 18 was the performance. Portland Thorns came to PayPal Park and Bay FC — already eliminated, playing only for pride and their people — twice fought back in a 2–2 draw. Lema assisted both Bay goals, Kennedy Fuller scoring one of them, and the No. 5 tormented the Thorns from the first minute to the last. Eliminated teams are supposed to fade. Lema created instead.
The hometown star is just getting started. Lema’s 2026 has stretched beyond club football: she has been scoring for the United States U-23s in October 2026, wearing her country’s colors in the same month she broke her club’s record. Bay FC built this franchise to give Bay Area talent a world-class stage at home. In Karlie Lema, the stage has its first homegrown headliner — and every fan in poppy knows the best chapters are still unwritten.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
More Bay stars, same poppy and black.
This Season (2026): The Rebuild Year
Bay FC sit 14th of 16 with two matches to play — seven wins, six draws and 15 defeats for 27 points, 30 goals scored and 44 conceded. The playoff dream ended on September 27, 2026, in a 3–1 home defeat to Orlando Pride, and the autumn has been about pride and foundation-laying: a heavy 5–1 loss at Kansas City on October 3, then that spirited 2–2 draw with Portland at PayPal Park on October 18 that showed exactly what Emma Coates is building.
The 2026 additions changed the ceiling of this squad. Italy captain Cristiana Girelli arrived on loan from Juventus, Argentina captain Aldana Cometti anchored the defense, Best XI midfielder Claire Hutton came from Kansas City, and Jenna Nighswonger arrived from Arsenal in August — even as injuries, maternity leaves and Kundananji’s October departure kept reshaping the team. The record will say 14th. The film says something better is coming: a club-record scorer up front, an elite young midfield, a 100-save goalkeeper, and a performance center opening on Treasure Island in 2027. Two matches remain to say it out loud.
🧡 Love Bay FC? Wear it. Shop Fan Sportswear at Toxlay Sports →
Mark Your Calendar
Saturday, October 24, 2026 — at Angel City FC, BMO Stadium, Los Angeles. Bay’s final road game of 2026, and a California rivalry rematch with a score to settle after the spring defeat at PayPal Park.
Sunday, November 1, 2026 — vs San Diego Wave FC, PayPal Park (2:00 p.m. PT). Decision Day and the Fan Appreciation Match — the season finale, against the California rival Bay finally beat for the first time in May. One last afternoon in poppy to close the year.
November 6–21, 2026 — the NWSL Playoffs. Bay FC’s season ends on Decision Day, but the league’s tournament runs through the quarterfinals (Nov 6–8), semifinals (Nov 13–15) and the NWSL Championship on Saturday, November 21 at Audi Field in Washington, D.C., on CBS — the stage Bay are building toward for 2027.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Angel City FC — the California rivalry. The battle for the state, north against south. The first 2026 meeting went Angel City’s way, a 3–1 win at PayPal Park on March 21 — Sveindís Jónsdóttir scored twice and Gisele Thompson added another, Taylor Huff replied for Bay, and the hosts finished with ten players. The rematch closes Bay’s road schedule on October 24 at BMO Stadium, and there is nothing friendly about it.
2. San Diego Wave FC — the one-goal war. Every meeting in club history between Bay and the Wave has been decided by a single goal — and for two years, every one of them went San Diego’s way. That changed on May 3, 2026: Bay won 1–0 at Snapdragon Stadium, Kundananji striking in the fifth minute and Silkowitz saving a penalty to protect the lead, for the club’s first-ever win over the Wave. The final word comes on Decision Day, November 1, at PayPal Park.
3. Portland Thorns FC — the West Coast test. Six all-time meetings, only one decided by more than a single goal — this fixture never breathes. In 2026 Bay lost 2–0 at Providence Park on May 20, then produced one of their best performances of the season in the return: a 2–2 draw at PayPal Park on October 18, with Lema setting up both goals. Portland remain the measuring stick on the West Coast, and Bay are closing the gap.
4. Washington Spirit — the bogey team. The one opponent Bay FC have never beaten. Washington have won every meeting in club history, including the 2024 playoff quarterfinal that ended Bay’s dream debut season, and the 2026 edition was no kinder: a 2–0 defeat at PayPal Park on April 5. Every young club has a mountain it has not climbed. This is Bay’s — and climbing it will feel sweet.
Frequently Asked Questions
When do Bay FC play next?
Bay FC close the 2026 season with two matches: away at Angel City FC at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, October 24, 2026, then the Decision Day finale at home against San Diego Wave FC at PayPal Park on Sunday, November 1, 2026 (2:00 p.m. PT). Bay have been eliminated from playoff contention; the NWSL Playoffs run November 6–21, ending with the Championship at Audi Field on November 21.
Who is Bay FC’s best player in 2026?
Karlie Lema. The No. 5 forward from Morgan Hill leads Bay with eight goals in 2026 — a club single-season record, passing Asisat Oshoala’s seven from 2024 — and set up both goals in the October 18 draw with Portland. Italy captain Cristiana Girelli (#10) and Best XI midfielder Claire Hutton (#8) complete Bay’s star trio.
Where do Bay FC play their home games, and how do I get tickets?
Home matches are at PayPal Park in San Jose (capacity 18,000), shared with MLS side San Jose Earthquakes — Bay FC sold out their first-ever home match there in 2024. Tickets are sold through the club’s official site, and NWSL matches air across the league’s broadcast partners, including Prime Video, ION and the free NWSL+ app.
Have Bay FC ever made the NWSL playoffs?
Yes — in their very first season. Bay FC finished seventh in 2024 with 34 points and an NWSL-record 11 wins for an expansion team, becoming just the second expansion club ever to reach the playoffs in its debut year. The run ended in the quarterfinal, a 2–1 extra-time loss at Washington Spirit on November 10, 2024; Bay missed the postseason in 2025 and 2026.
⚽ Bay FC Fan Shop
The full Bay trio — Lema, Girelli and Hutton in the poppy Poppy Kit, fan-inspired apparel for the nine counties.
Sources & official links: Bay FC official site · NWSL official site · Bay FC tickets
Poppy shirts, full voice, nine counties one club — bring the Bay, always.
