Fort Lauderdale S

1977–1997: Fort Lauderdale Strikers legacy

The original Fort Lauderdale Strikers were founded in 1977 when the Robbie family relocated the Miami Toros north to Fort Lauderdale and rebranded the team. The team competed in the old North American Soccer League and played its home matches at Lockhart Stadium. Between 1977 and 1983, the Strikers fielded some the world's best players including Gerd Müller, Teófilo Cubillas, Elías Figueroa, George Best and Gordon Banks. The team was captained by Ray Hudson, who led the Strikers to the playoffs in each of their seven seasons in Fort Lauderdale. In 1984, the Strikers relocated to Minneapolis as the Minnesota Strikers.

Following the Strikers departure to Minnesota, former Striker Ronnie Sharp launched the Fort Lauderdale Sun of the newly formed United Soccer League in 1984. The team featured numerous former Strikers. In 1988, the Fort Lauderdale Strikers returned to professional soccer as part of the American Soccer League. During this period the Strikers enjoyed great success, including a national championship in the 1989 season, the only major trophy the Strikers have won. In 1991, the team merged with the Orlando Lions.

In 1994, another team began play in the United States Interregional Soccer League as the Fort Lauderdale Kicks. The next year, with the folding of the American Professional Soccer League Strikers, the Kicks took the name Fort Lauderdale Strikers for themselves. This only lasted one year as the team changed names again, becoming the Florida Strikers before the 1996 season. The team folded in 1997.

2006–2010: Miami FC

After Major League Soccer side Miami Fusion were folded in 2001, professional soccer returned to South Florida in the form of a United Soccer Leagues team in 2006 when Traffic Sports USA founded Miami FC. The club made headlines when former World Cup winners Romario and Zinho signed for the team.

In 2007, the team held a contest through public schools in the greater Miami-Dade area for a nickname and mascot. Shia Moreno, an elementary school student won for her nickname "Blues". Daniel Townsend, a senior at Robert Morgan Educational Center won for his mascot creation "Hotshot", a flaming Sonic-the-Hedgehog-like character.

In 2009, the team moved to Fort Lauderdale to play out of Lockhart Stadium. In summer 2010, Miami FC announced its intention to 'pay homage' to the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the former NASL by incorporating 'Strikers' into the team name from 2011. They rebranded themselves the Fort Lauderdale Strikers on February 17, 2011, and joined the newly established North American Soccer League.

2011–2016: Return of the Fort Lauderdale Strikers

Tim Robbie, son of original Strikers owner Joe Robbie, was named president of the Strikers ahead of the inaugural season. In their first season as the Fort Lauderdale Strikers, the club reached the 2011 NASL Championship Series, losing 3–1 on aggregate to the NSC Minnesota Stars (now Minnesota United FC).

In his second full season in charge, head coach Daryl Shore led the Strikers to the playoffs the following season. After a fifth place regular season finish in 2012, the Strikers were bounced from the first round of postseason action by Carolina RailHawks.

Ahead of the 2013 season, the Strikers named Tom Mulroy president of the club. Following a 2–2–7 record, coach Shore was let go by the club before the final match of the 2013 Spring Season. His replacement was Austrian Günter Kronsteiner, who led the club to a fifth-place finish in the Fall Season with a 5–3–6 record.

2014 was a momentous year in the history of the Strikers. A new ownership group was announced on September 19, 2014.^[] On the field, Kronsteiner took the Strikers to a place in the NASL Championship, finishing runner-up to the San Antonio Scorpions.

The club made global headlines announcing that Brazil soccer icon Ronaldo had joined the ownership of the club on December 11, 2014. In a press release, Ronaldo was quoted as saying, "I will be very involved with the management of the team and have already started to make introductions that will certainly help us to turn the Strikers into a global powerhouse." It was announced on January 15, 2015, that, if he could get fit, Ronaldo would begin playing for the Strikers.

On September 22, 2016 ESPN FC reported that "The Fort Lauderdale Strikers are in serious financial jeopardy, while the future of the entire National American Soccer League is also in doubt, according to reports." As reported by WRAL in Raleigh, North Carolina, and confirmed by Sun-Sentinel and the Miami Herald, Strikers principal owner Paulo Cesso stopped funding the team on September 1.

On January 6, 2017, the NASL announced that the 2017 season would move forward with eight teams. Fort Lauderdale was not one of the teams listed.

2017: Summary judgement and public sale

In November 2016, Tampa Bay Rowdies owner, Bill Edwards, filed a complaint against the Strikers' holding company, Miami FC, LLC, over money loaned to the struggling club. Edwards claimed that the team had failed to pay him back $300,000 in loans. He sought damages and foreclosure on the Strikers’ assets in the lawsuit. A signed promissory note showed that the collateral they put up to secure the loans included the team's patents, copyrights, trademarks, rights to use of the name "Ft Lauderdale Strikers" along with other tangible assets.

In May 2017 Edwards was awarded a summary judgement in the case, and after a June 20 public sale, gained control of the copyrights, trademarks and any rights to the use of the name "Fort Lauderdale Strikers" or any variation for $5,100. He has yet to announce what he plans to do with Strikers brand in the future. Since then, a new and unrelated team based in Ft. Lauderdale, Inter Miami CF II, has begun operations as the reserve team of Major League Soccer club Inter Miami CF.