SAN DIEGO -- Sunday marked San Diego Wave’s fourth Pride Night, the club’s annual celebration of the LGBTQ+ community. With a fashion show and a seemingly endless list of small nods to the community, the club made an extensive effort to make the night special. However, what truly brought the celebration to life were the fans.
Such an occurrence is no surprise for an organization so grounded in this community. A stroll around any other Wave game would undoubtedly yield a Pride flag — the supporter section never fails to wave one or two at any given home match.
“I’m biased, but we have the best fans in the country,” defender Kennedy Wesley said. “For us to give back in whatever way we can to the LGBTQ community is exciting, and it’s a really cool opportunity that I don't think every club in this league has.”
The community’s support has made the club nearly synonymous with the demographic, which has produced an abundance of Pride-related apparel and items throughout its first four seasons. Such merchandise was on full display on Sunday, from scarves to bucket hats to jerseys.
The organization made a concerted effort to honor the community during Pride Night, beginning outside the stadium with a slew of pregame activations. Dedicated stations for local LGBTQ+ organizations and other community partners peppered the East side lawn for fans arriving hours before the game.
With minimal Pride-centered branding and pregame activities inside the stadium, the festivities took an intermission inside the stadium. What initially looked to be a sparse Pride focus soon turned the way of color and energy as more fans began filing into the stadium. Pride flags, big and small, caught the breeze as rainbow colored shirts found their seats along the first level of the stadium. A rainbow unicorn stood guard in the supporter’s section.
On the field, the Wave prepared for the game in minimalistic Pride-themed league shirts. Head coach Joan Eidevall sported the same white shirt during the match. During the game, the team wore specially-created Altamar jerseys with numbers outlined in the patented rainbow hues. At halftime, the “all-gender and body-inclusive” clothing brand Dapper Boi held a fashion show with an array of its newest pieces.
rocking the Altamar blues with Pride 🌊🏳️🌈 pic.twitter.com/A0TpGiIuQj
— San Diego Wave FC (@sandiegowavefc) August 24, 2025
Shining brighter than the cornucopia of colorful shirts and handhelds, however, was the sheer energy in the stadium. The supporter’s section, while scattered, never stopped chanting, waving their flags, and banging their drums. The game’s “Wavemakers,” Dapper Boi founders Vicky and Charisse Pasche, requested a chant that would be heard throughout San Diego as they struck the drum out for each letter, W-A-V-E. The stadium teemed with a certain heightened buzz in the lead-up to the match and remained this way throughout the match.
Even after the opposing Racing Louisville scored in the 59th minute, every half-chance — a corner, a sequence near the box, even a substitution — prompted a rise around the stadium. The energy only grew more intense with each passing minute.
The game’s result, staying at 1-0, extended the Wave’s home win drought to five games — all the way back to May 25th. No matter, fans filed out with smiles, content by an evening well-spent with contagious energy and flair both on and off the field.
“We're super grateful for them and all of the support and energy that they brought tonight; it ultimately propels us,” Wesley said. “So we’re going to do what we need to do to get a win at home on September 7th.”
Eidevall added: “Of course, we’re not happy we're not winning … We want to do it for ourselves, for the club, for the owners, but also for the fans … So my message to them is invest in us. Keep coming back. We need you. And together, we can achieve it.”