On Tuesday afternoon, there was a sense of excitement flowing throughout Wall Street Plaza and it wasn’t strictly because of the USA World Cup fixture that was set to take place against Belgium in the Round of 16.

Earlier that morning, Orlando City made a monumental move by formally introducing global soccer icon Kaka as the Club’s first-ever MLS Designated Player, while also announcing that the Brazilian superstar would be presented to fans during halftime of City’s World Cup Watch Party at Wall Street Plaza.

With word quickly traveling through the City, fans arrived to ‘Soccer Central’ hours in advance to reserve their spot to catch a glimpse of Orlando’s new marquee signing. As the match approached the 40 minute mark, the excitement began to brew and chants of ‘We want Kaka’ began ringing all throughout downtown.

When Kaka finally entered the stage, the chants turned into cheers as the Brazilian greeted his new supporters. Kaka spoke to the fans about how happy he is to be in Orlando and even employed the go-to USA rally chant ‘I believe that we will win’ to send the crowd into pandemonium.

To cap it all off, the former Real Madrid and A.C. Milan midfielder took a selfie with Orlando City Owner Flavio Augusto da Silva, Orlando City President Phil Rawlins and all 11,000 fans before exiting the stage.
So what does this all mean for the budding franchise with big time ambitions?

Kaka’s arrival to the City Beautiful has now inserted Orlando City and MLS into conversations worldwide even further, simply because a player who has won almost every award possible, both individually and collectively, chose to assist in growing the game stateside, despite having a multitude of options in various countries.

With a resume that includes a FIFA World Cup title (2002), FIFA World Player of the Year and European Player of the Year honors (2007), Orlando has arguably the best player in MLS on its roster heading into the inaugural 2015 campaign.
City has created a winning culture in the minor leagues and having the opportunity to build a team around one of the most creative players to ever grace the pitch gives the Lions a chance to achieve new success in the highest level of football in the United States.

On-Field Accomplishments: