ORLANDO — French soccer superstar Antoine Griezmann scored a goal and added an assist in just over 60 minutes in his Orlando City SC debut, a 6-0 friendly victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies at Inter&Co Stadium.
The performance came less than 24 hours after the club formally introduced Griezmann at a welcome event at Full Sail Live on July 7 — a fitting date for the new No. 7. Nearly 11 years after Orlando City introduced Kaká as the club’s first Designated Player, the Lions welcomed another global icon to Central Florida.
“A signing like this doesn’t happen by chance,” General Manager and Sporting Director Ricardo Moreira told the crowd at the welcome event. “It happened with a couple of trips to Madrid. Antoine’s family and himself opened the doors of their house to myself, and I got to live a little with the Griezmann family there in Madrid, I think the human connection was right there, and from that moment on, I knew I was certain that at some point we were going to get him signed.”
Club Owner and Chairman Mark Wilf called the signing a statement about Orlando as a soccer market. “We want to have a championship-caliber, first-class Club, and with this signing, we really are where we need to be,” Wilf said. “We’re showing we’re a world-class soccer market and a soccer club, and this puts us on the map in a unique way.”
Griezmann, who dyed his hair purple for the occasion, struck in the 32nd minute of the July 8 friendly, weaving through the Rowdies’ defense and finishing across the face of goal on the north end of Inter&Co Stadium. Moments before leaving the match, he pressured the Rowdies’ goalkeeper into a turnover and set up Iván Angulo for Orlando City’s third goal.
At the welcome event, hosted by Gabby Amado, Griezmann described the personal connection that drew him to Orlando. “Ricardo came, and just the fact that he came all the way to Madrid, to my house, already touched my heart, and it was a really good conversation,” Griezmann said through translation. “Someone who gives everything for his Club, who works every day, who always gives 100 percent, and is so humble, it was a huge surprise for me.”
Griezmann said he sent his wife to scout the city and schools before committing. “She came back with a smile, and so I said, ‘That’s it, now we have our city, our club,’” he said. He praised his new teammates as well: “The group is fantastic. Players with a lot of quality, with a lot of heart. They’ve welcomed me incredibly, and I already feel at home. It feels like I’ve been here for months in the locker room, and that’s thanks to them.”
Moreira added that the signing required collaboration across the organization. “He’s a guy that helps us in the locker room with his training habits, with his experience, with his hunger for trophies and his passion for soccer,” Moreira said. “We worked together, Mark, myself, our business operations, to make a signing like this happen.”
Griezmann closed his remarks with a message to Orlando City supporters: “That they keep doing what they’ve been doing for years, which is pushing the team forward. That goal chant is incredible; I love it. Hopefully I can score a lot of goals on that side of the stadium so we can enjoy it together.” Orlando City’s next regular-season match at Inter&Co Stadium will mark Griezmann’s first competitive appearance in purple.