Coachella SC: USL League Two’s International Club | OneFootball

Soccer will return to the Coachella Valley in 2025 with Coachella Soccer Club set to begin play in USL League Two in May.

In 2024, owner, Rolando Inostroza, owned a club called Coachella Football Club which participated in the same division, but trademark disputes caused a rebrand and internal revamping.

Inostroza is an ex-player. The Chilean international now uses the connections from his playing days to help build something bigger than just a club.

Coachella SC is founded on the phrase, “la pelota no se mancha,” which is translated to English as “the ball is not stained,” but the meaning is closer to “the sport is not stained.”

The phrase was immortalized during Diego Maradona’s farewell match in 2001 in which he noted his struggles outside of the sport, but that the sport itself was never tainted. Football still had its ideals, it was still beautiful, it was still a unifier, it was still creative – it was still football. Coachella wants to reflect that same ideology.

General manager, Rafael Soto, said, “We have that Latin American mentality, that is what Rolando [Inostroza] wants to bring.”

However, those at Coachella SC understand there is more to building a club than just the right attitude.

Soto added, “Everything…our training, facilities, methodology, will be run like a first division club.”

In its early days, no trait has defined Coachella SC like ambition. Those at the organization dream of fielding a USL W League side and getting Coachella SC into USL League One in the coming years.

In 2024 Inostroza was quoted as saying, “I can take this club to the top of MLS.”

Those at Coachella SC are dreamers, but they are also realistic. They know that if an MLS spot were to open up to them it would be years down the line. For now, they work on how to improve the club day-to-day, but even this is done with extra creative ambition.

A lone dirt road cuts through the desert in Riverside County, Calif. on Saturday, Jan. 18, 2025 (Photo/Oliver Tensley)

Inostroza owns Professional Sport Agency Team Soccer Inc. (PSA Team Soccer) which is the legal owner of Coachella SC. PSA Team Soccer has recently signed a deal with Chilean top-flight club, Universidad de Chile, which will see academy players at both organizations be able to move freely between them.

Universidad de Chile is the second most successful franchise in the country’s history with 18 Chilean Primera División titles. Inostroza also owns a stake in AC Barnechea and Deportes Melipilla who, in 2024, competed in Chile’s second and third divisions respectively.

It is this multinational identity that Coachella SC hopes can set them apart in USL League Two. USL League Two has over 120 clubs from all over the United States. Being the fourth tier of American soccer, all clubs have the same “pre-professional” status, meaning players cannot be paid. This can make setting one club apart from the rest very difficult. Coachella proves they are different by being proudly international.

The club’s badge speaks to this by featuring a swath of dark blue with a white star in it next to a swath of red – quite reminiscent of the pattern of the Chilean flag. Last season the club fielded four players from abroad including a Dominican captain alongside players from England, Italy, and Kazakhstan. But, most notable is their launching of PSA TV, a digital TV channel covering football. The channel will hinge on Coachella SC and USL League Two, but is set to send staff to Chile in the Fall for the u-20 World Cup and plans to cover more international football in future.

PSA Team Soccer also plans to launch an affiliate club in Spain.

While ambition has been important to the club’s early days, the most important aspect is still its home – the Coachella Valley. Outside of allusions to the Chilean flag, the badge is unapologetically of the desert. A roadrunner sits in the middle, a fixture of the Mojave Desert’s wildlife. Behind the roadrunner is two different shades of gold.

Soto said, “if you look at the soil here in the valley, it’s not just one color, it is actually two.”

Inostroza picked the Coachella Valley in particular for his American soccer project. He has never lived in the U.S., but travelled all around it to find the perfect home for his dream. This led him to the Coachella Valley, a place where he saw undervalued talent. Those at the club believe they are playing on a soccer hotbed, they just have to get that talent on the pitch.

This love and belief shines through. Soto, originally from Acapulco, Mexico, moved to the Coachella Valley over 20 years ago. Outside of working for the club, he is a guitar player and values the talent in Coachella on all fronts.

Soto said, “This Valley has a lot of talent in different ways…arts, sports, everything.”

Soto lives in Cathedral City, Calif., the soon-to-be home of Coachella SC. The club’s stadium at Cathedral City High School is quintessential Coachella Valley. Looking out from the stadium the San Jacinto Mountains feel practically on top of you and the barren hills of the San Bernardino Range are only a head’s turn away.

Soto said, “If you look at a map of the Coachella Valley, Cathedral City is the middle. That is why we wanted to play here, we think this is the best place for our home.”

The club intends to field a roster of mostly Coachella locals but wants to keep some international pieces on the field.

Tryouts for the 2025 season will begin in March.