If there’s anything I have learned since getting into soccer over the past decade, it’s that the sport loves trophies, and there are several that clubs can win during a season.
This season, F.C. Cincinnati has made runs for several of them. They came one match short of playing for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and made it into the knockout stage of the inaugural Leagues Cup. Since joining the league in 2019, F.C. Cincinnati had always finished at or near the bottom of the standings, finally turning a corner as the 2022 season went on, making their first MLS Cup Playoff, winning that first playoff match, eventually falling to the Eastern Conference champion Philadelphia Union 1-0.
2023 has been a dream season for the orange and blue. They have spent nearly all of it a top the MLS Standings, locking up the first postseason berth of the campaign, and just this past weekend, secured the best regular season record, winning the Supporters’ Shield, which goes down as the first trophy the club has won since becoming an MLS club.
With that being the case, the club is rightfully celebrating the accomplishment with champagne celebrations in the dressing room and numerous social media posts showing the trophy.
That’s great, but that’s not the ultimate prize, right?
Hockey was one of the first sports I fell in love with as a kid, and in the National Hockey League, your team’s season is a successful one if you raise the Stanley Cup in June.
Now, there are other trophies that get handed out on the way to the Final. This includes the Supporters’ Shield equivalent: the Presidents’ Trophy. Introduced in the 1980s, most of the “regular season champions” who get this trophy don’t go on to win the Cup. The historic 2022-23 Boston Bruins can tell you about that. There’s also the Prince of Wales Trophy and the Clarence S. Campbell Bowl that are presented to the Eastern and Western Conference champions, which teams will take a picture with, but a majority of the time, never touch.
It’s the hockey fan in me that gets nervous watching all the celebration over the Supporters’ Shield with the MLS Cup Playoffs still to be played.
Maybe I just need to lighten up and understand that soccer embraces trophies more than hockey fans do.
Regardless of my superstitious tendencies, F.C. Cincinnati deserves to boast and post about the Supporters’ Shield until the MLS Cup Playoffs start.
After all, two trophies are better than one.
Sean Gallagher 
Leave a comment