Published for Indy Eleven fans — October 2026
By Toxlay Sports Editorial Team · Last updated October 23, 2026
🔵 Indy Eleven Fans — Your Boys in Blue Is Waiting!
The league’s all-time assists king, a ten-goal Cuban striker and one win-or-out finale — Indiana’s Team lives on the edge. Wear the navy and stand with the Brickyard Battalion.
The Club: Indy Eleven, Indiana’s Team
Indy Eleven were founded on January 16, 2013 and debuted in the NASL in 2014 before moving to the USL in 2018 — 2026 is the club’s 13th season and ninth in the USL Championship. The name honors Indiana’s 11th Regiment of Indiana Infantry from the Civil War, and the crest carries Lady Victory from the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument over navy checkers that nod to the city’s racing soul and its supporters. The red, white and navy are the colours of Indianapolis’s civic flag. Home is Michael A. Carroll Stadium — “The Mike” — on the IU Indianapolis campus, capacity 10,524, where the Brickyard Battalion (founded in 2011, before the club itself) drives one of the league’s best home crowds. The Indy Eleven schedule is Indiana soccer’s heartbeat.
Head coach Sean McAuley, the longest-tenured coach in club history, coached his 100th Indy match in August 2026. The Indy Eleven roster he leads is a veteran core kept together from 2025 — and its captain, Aodhan Quinn, just became the USL Championship’s all-time assists leader. The Indy Eleven roster’s spearhead is Bruno Rendon, whose 10 league goals carried the attack. If the Boys in Blue are your team, the fan-inspired Indy Eleven jersey designs in our Fan Favorite block below wear the checkers proudly.
⭐ FAN FAVORITE
#27 Rendon — Indy Eleven Style Jersey
$59.99
Ten goals from a one-man front line. A fan-inspired checkerboard jersey honouring the Cuban carrying Indy’s attack.
Last Season: The Step Back
After the breakthrough of 2024, Indy slid in 2025: ninth in the East on 35 points (10 wins, 5 draws, 15 losses), no playoffs, and a leaky defence — 52 conceded — that wasted a productive attack. The individual honours papered over it: Jack Blake’s 10 league goals tied the club best, and Aodhan Quinn won the league’s Golden Playmaker Award with a franchise-record 11 assists, the first Indy player ever to win a league statistical category. The cups offered moments — an Open Cup Round of 32 run and a USL Cup quarterfinal — but a club with Indy’s crowds expected October soccer and didn’t get it. The core was kept together for 2026 to put that right.
The cups kept 2025 respectable even as the league season sagged. In the U.S. Open Cup, Indy reached the Round of 32, the Third Round win a 1-0 stoppage-time victory over Miami FC on Hayden White’s goal from a Cam Lindley assist on April 16, 2025. In the USL Cup, Bruno Rendon assisted in the group-clinching win over FC Tulsa and again in the quarterfinal against Greenville Triumph. And the crowds never wavered — Indy’s average home attendance of 9,465 in 2025 was among the league’s best, a fanbase the Brickyard Battalion leads with a loyalty the results have not always repaid. The history says this club can rise: the 2016 NASL Spring Championship and a Soccer Bowl appearance that year, the 2019 USL Eastern Conference Final, and the 2024 Open Cup semifinal all sit in the cabinet of near-glory.
Best Players Right Now
Bruno Rendon — #27, Forward. Indy’s top scorer with 10 league goals in 2026, plus three assists — third in the league for shots on target at an October checkpoint and top-10 for duels won. A one-man front line, and the Fan Favorite.
Jack Blake — #8, Central Midfielder. The club’s USL-era record goalscorer, still producing: six league goals in 2026, a team-high 45 shots, the team’s best tackles-won mark and four assists. He scored in August’s LIPAFC win over Louisville.
Aodhan Quinn — #14, Midfielder, Captain. The record-breaker: 67 career USL Championship regular-season assists — the all-time league record, set October 17, 2026 — and a team-high six assists this season. The only player in league history with 50+ goals and 60+ assists.
Cam Lindley — #6, Midfielder. The minutes-and-creation partner: 43 chances created, 126 crosses and a team-best 26 interceptions by the October checkpoints. An Indianapolis-area product in his second spell with the club.
Paco Craig — #37, Centre-back. A USL Championship all-time great defender — first in league history for clearances and aerial duels won — with a team-high 132 clearances in 2026. The veteran anchor of the back line.
Eric Dick — #1, Goalkeeper. The 2025 USL Championship Final MVP — won with Pittsburgh — now Indy’s No. 1: fifth in the league for saves at the October checkpoint, with 36 career USL clean sheets. Indy signed the keeper whose shootout heroics decided last year’s final.
Star Spotlight: Quinn Takes the All-Time Crown
October 17, 2026, Lynn Family Stadium, 71st minute of the LIPAFC derby. Aodhan Quinn swung in a corner, Makel Rasheed volleyed it home — and Quinn’s 67th career regular-season assist passed Kenardo Forbes to make the Indy captain the USL Championship’s all-time assists leader. It was only a consolation in a 4-1 loss, but the record is Indy’s moment of the season. The home chapter of the rivalry was happier: on August 22, Rendon and Blake scored in a 2-1 win over Louisville at Carroll Stadium that snapped LouCity’s six-game unbeaten run in the series. And Quinn’s crown sits on a decade of production — 57 career goals alongside those 67 assists, a combination no player in league history can match.
🔥 More Fan Favorites
Two more navy shirts Indy fans are wearing this fall.
This Season: Win or Go Home
The 2026 Indy Eleven schedule comes down to one night. Indy sit ninth in the East on 34 points (9 wins, 7 draws, 13 losses) — but eighth-placed Miami FC, on 36, have already finished their season. The Indy Eleven standings equation could not be simpler: win at Charleston on Saturday and Indy take the East’s eighth and final playoff place on 37 points; anything less ends the season. The autumn slide — winless in six, two goals in five matches across late September and mid-October — makes it a tall order against a Charleston side locked into a home quarterfinal. But this squad beat Charleston 2-0 at home on July 4, and a team with the league’s all-time assists king pulling the strings is never out of a game.
The strangest part of the slide is where it happened. Indy were unbeaten in league play at Carroll Stadium from August 31, 2025 to July 24, 2026 — nine wins and a draw — turning The Mike into a fortress behind an average home crowd most of the league envies. The autumn undid it: a 1-4 defeat in the LIPAFC at Louisville on October 17, however historic Quinn’s record assist, was the sixth match without a win, and the attack that produced 44 goals in 2025 has managed 35 this season with Rendon carrying an outsized share. And yet the door is still open. Miami cannot add to their 36 points. Charleston, already locked into a home quarterfinal, have nothing but pride to play for. Ninety minutes, one win, and Indy’s season lives.
🔵 Love the Boys in Blue? Wear it. Browse the full fan-inspired range — every design in the red, white and navy. Shop Fan Sportswear →
Mark Your Calendar
Sat, Oct 24, 2026 — at Charleston Battery, Patriots Point, Mount Pleasant, 6:00 p.m. ET on ESPN+. Win and Indy take the East’s final playoff place; draw or lose and the season ends. The only date left that matters on the Indy Eleven schedule.
Oct 30 – Nov 1, 2026 — USL Championship Playoffs, Conference Quarterfinals. If Indy win at Charleston, they enter as the East’s No. 8 seed — the pairing is set once Saturday’s results are final.
Nov 6–8, 2026 — Conference Semifinals. The round Indy reached in their best USL runs — survive the quarterfinal and anything is possible.
Nov 13–15, 2026 — Conference Finals. Indy played in this round in 2019 — still the club’s best USL finish.
Sat, Nov 21, 2026 — USL Championship Final, 12:00 p.m. ET on CBS. The trophy game — and the big USL-era silverware this club is still chasing.
Biggest Rivalries — The Wars
1. Louisville City FC — the LIPAFC. The Louisville–Indianapolis Proximity Association Football Contest: a gloriously tongue-in-cheek name for a genuinely fierce derby, 26 meetings deep with a fan-made Barrel Trophy. The 2026 split was perfect — Indy 2-1 at home in August (Rendon, Blake), Louisville 4-1 at home in October, when Quinn’s record assist was Indy’s consolation. The highest-scoring edition, Louisville’s 5-3 win in April 2024, was the first USL Championship match ever broadcast on CBS.
2. Detroit City FC. The Rust Belt / I-69 corridor clash with Detroit’s travelling army — Indy’s 2026 home opener was set against Le Rouge at Carroll Stadium on March 21. A rivalry of supporter culture as much as geography.
3. Hartford Athletic. The East’s most reliable needle match of the past two seasons: Indy won 2-0 at Hartford in September 2025, snapping a nine-game unbeaten run, and the sides drew 1-1 at Carroll Stadium on August 9, 2026 — the day McAuley coached his 100th Indy match.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why are they called Indy Eleven?
The “Eleven” honors Indiana’s 11th Regiment of Indiana Infantry from the Civil War — not just the eleven players on a team. The crest shows Lady Victory from Indianapolis’s Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument over racing-style checks, in the red, white and navy of the city’s flag.
Where do Indy Eleven play?
At Michael A. Carroll Stadium on the IU Indianapolis campus, capacity 10,524 (expanded to 12,111) — “The Mike.” The club played at Lucas Oil Stadium from 2018-2020 and returned to Carroll in 2021; a proposed 20,000-seat Eleven Park stadium remains a long-term ambition, not the current home.
Have Indy Eleven ever won a trophy?
One: the 2016 NASL Spring Championship. Indy were Soccer Bowl runners-up in 2016 and reached the USL Eastern Conference Final in 2019 and the U.S. Open Cup semifinals in 2024 — the big USL-era trophy is still missing, and the club missed the USL playoffs in 2025.
Who holds the USL Championship’s all-time assists record?
Indy’s captain, Aodhan Quinn (#14) — his 67th regular-season assist, at Louisville on Oct 17, 2026, passed Kenardo Forbes. Quinn is the only player in league history with 50+ goals and 60+ assists, and he won the league’s Golden Playmaker award with Indy in 2025.
🔵 Indy Eleven Fan Shop
All three navy shirts — Rendon, Blake and Quinn. Fan-inspired designs, made for matchday at The Mike.
Sources & official links: Indy Eleven official site · USL Championship official site · Indy Eleven tickets
Indiana’s Team, one win from October. Whatever Saturday brings in Charleston, the Brickyard Battalion will be singing — and the Boys in Blue will leave everything on the pitch. Come on you Boys in Blue!
