Charioteers

Abbreviation
 Division
 City
 Ground
 Manager

The **Louisville Charioteers** are an NSL club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The club was founded in 2011 and played at Forest Park Stadium from its formation up until 2018, sharing the grounds with its parent club, the Thunderbirds, and its own offspring club, the Knights. In July of 2018, a move was agreed to relocate the franchise to Louisville, as the teams could no longer share the same home ground due to increased attendance and popularity. The Charioteers have won two league titles since the NSL's establishment, a feat matched only by the Texas Terminators.

## History

The Charioteers were founded in 2011 following a large influx of players into Millard Fosstentraitor's Thunderbirds squad. Fosstentraitor decided it was time to split the club in two as well as step down as manager, to dedicate his full attention to the role of NSL Commissioner. After a brief dispute involving himself and Brad Rivers, Fosstentraitor decided to put his former assistant Joe Redd in charge of the Thunderbirds, and delegated the responsibility of managing the new club to his brother, Alexander. The team won the NSL 1st Tier in its debut season as well as the following season. The Charioteers are one of two teams to have one the NSL 1st Tier during its two year existence, the other being the Texas Terminators. The also have one NSL title from before the days of the tiered league.

## Colours and badge

The Charioteers have always worn red as their home jersey color and white as their away jersey color. Prior to the inception of the NSL League in 2013, the team wore black for their third jersey colors, before changing to a light blue color in the summer of 2013.

The Charioteers crest consists of a knight wearing golden armor (as a tribute to the Thunderbirds yellow home jersey color) with red accessories. The knight is overlaid on a heraldic shield symbol with wings and crown, and the knight is stabbing a soccer ball with his sword.

## Stadium

The Coliseum is one of the newest and largest stadiums in the NSL, with a capacity of 76,000.

### **Rivalries**

The Charioteers longest-established rivalry is with fellow ASC South team the Thunderbirds. It is one of the few local derbies which do not enforce fan segregation, and hence is generally a good-tempered, but still competitive rivalry. The Charioteers rivalry with the Scouts follows the same lines for the most part, a heated but friendly event.

Since the inception of the NSL League in 2013, the Charioteers have begun to develop a rivalry with the Pink Nightmare. The clubs were often high up the table competing head to head at the end of the season, which has produced some interesting matches. The most notable of these came on the final day of the 2014-15 season, with the Pink Nightmare and Charioteers fighting for the title; the Charioteers needed a draw to clinch the title, while the Pink Nightmare needed a win. Thought the Pink Nightmare lead with a 1-0 lead for the majority of the game through an early Sean Colton goal, it was ultimately decided when Pink Nightmare defender Andreas Räder slipped as he went to make a challenge in injury time, inadvertently creating a hole in his own defense, allowing Charioteers forward Marco Jiménez to take the ball to goal and score.

## Players

### **Club captains**

Since the establishment of the club in 2011, Nikomachos Stavropoulos remains the only player to have ever captained the team.