New York City FC and Goal Click have teamed up to share the traditions, emotions, and community that define the NYCFC experience, while highlighting the role of\u00a0MetroPlusHealth\u00a0in making every matchday even more memorable.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Erica, Gabrielle, and Melissa are lifelong friends united by their love of soccer. As season ticket holders, they proudly support NYCFC and the community that surrounds the club.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A Team That Felt Like Ours\u00a0<\/p>\n
We are Erica Eisenberg, Gabrielle Albanese, and Melissa Albanese from Oyster Bay, NY. We are 30 years\u00a0old\u00a0and all teach special education on Long Island. Gabrielle and Melissa work with preschoolers with autism and speech delays, while Erica\u00a0teaches\u00a0young adults with disabilities.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Gabrielle and Melissa are twins, and Erica has been our \u201chonorary triplet\u201d since we met at age 10 trying out for the Oyster Bay U10 travel soccer team. We all made\u00a0the\u00a0team and played together until graduating high school.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
From carpools to post-game pizza at Mario\u2019s in Oyster Bay (one of our staples since we were young), we grew inseparable. After high school, we went to different colleges and played club\u00a0soccer, but\u00a0missed having a team that felt like ours. That changed in 2015 with the launch of New York City FC, which gave us a local club to rally behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Soccer has always been special to us. Gabrielle and Melissa’s dad, Sal, who immigrated from Italy, passed his love of the game to us. We spent weekends watching Juventus and AC Milan with\u00a0him, and\u00a0always gathered for US National Team matches and World Cups. He even came with us to our first NYCFC game to see Sebastian Giovinco and David Villa.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Sal unexpectedly passed away in\u00a0March 2025, and\u00a0losing him has been\u00a0very difficult. Soccer reminds us so much of him and his enthusiasm fueled\u00a0ours. Every time we watch, we know he is still cheering right there with us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our first game was against Toronto FC at Yankee Stadium in 2015. We went\u00a0mainly to\u00a0see our\u00a0favourite\u00a0players, but we left as NYCFC fans. The energy of the players, the passion of the supporters, and the win that night instantly hooked us.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From there, we attended as many matches as possible, and our love for the team grew so much that we eventually became season ticket holders. Now we never miss a home game, and when the team is away, we watch together at home, at local bars, or at official watch parties. We also try to travel to one or\u00a0two away\u00a0matches every season, supporting NYCFC across the country.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of our favorite memories include every Hudson River Derby (because New York will always be blue!) and celebrating NYCFC\u2019s 2021 MLS Cup win against Portland. Once penalties were over, the celebrations began and everybody was ecstatic.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Beyond that, one of the things\u00a0that\u2019s\u00a0so special about the Club is that\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0more than 90 minutes of football.\u00a0It\u2019s\u00a0about building a healthier, stronger community together.\u202fNYCFC is for the city, even with their partner brands.\u00a0<\/p>\n
We first learned about\u00a0MetroPlusHealth\u00a0through the team and realized they were doing something\u00a0really important\u00a0by helping New Yorkers get affordable, quality healthcare.\u00a0MetroPlusHealth\u00a0is truly \u201cNew Yorkers for New Yorkers.\u201d You feel that presence at every match, whether\u00a0it\u2019s\u00a0health resources, giveaways, booths, or community events. They\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0just put a logo on things. They show up, support the fans, and make our NYCFC experience more meaningful by sharing real resources for staying healthy. They\u00a0don\u2019t\u00a0just show up on game\u00a0day,\u00a0they show up for New Yorkers every day.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
Our gameday routine has become\u00a0tradition. We start at the twins\u2019 house, grab sandwiches and drinks for the train, and head into the city. Before kickoff, we meet other fans at Stans to join the supporters\u2019 march,\u00a0chanting as\u00a0blue and orange smoke fills the street.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Stans\u00a0is\u00a0one of the many sports bars around Yankee Stadium, but it has a chill vibe. It is the kind of spot where fans grab a drink, catch up with friends, and talk about the game before heading out for the supporters\u2019 march. The playlist is always a mix – anything from old-school rock and 90s throwbacks to today\u2019s hits – which sets the perfect pregame mood. On a nice sunny day, they have seats outside for people to mingle and enjoy the fresh air.\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the stadium, we cheer nonstop, catch up with friends in our section, and take in the atmosphere.\u202f\u00a0<\/p>\n
After the game, we usually head to either the Dugout Bar or Twin Bar to celebrate a win or shake off a loss. That is where the real party starts as we meet up with supporters and dance the night away.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When traveling for away games, we link up with supporters\u2019 groups, keeping that same feeling of community wherever we go.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Supporter groups not only bring incredible energy on matchdays, but they also come together off the field to give back to the community. The \u201cclean sheet, clean park\u201d tradition is the perfect example. Whenever NYCFC finishes a game with a shutout (no goals scored on us), one of the supporter groups organizes a park cleanup somewhere in the city. It is a simple but meaningful way to celebrate on the field while also taking care of our community.\u00a0
One of the best parts of NYCFC is the camaraderie among fans. We all come from\u00a0different backgrounds\u00a0and neighborhoods, but in the stands, we come together and go hard at the game.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York City FC and Goal Click have teamed up to share the traditions, emotions, and community that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":118021,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1882,9,11,10,12],"class_list":{"0":"post-118020","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-community","9":"tag-new-york","10":"tag-new-york-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-news","12":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118020","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=118020"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118020\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/118021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=118020"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=118020"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=118020"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}