Surfers spend their lives searching exotic locales for the perfect wave. Phil Rawlins, who is from Stoke, found his in Florida, if with a different sporting vision that involves a lot of football serendipity.

Admittedly, not many surfers would head to Orlando. But there, on a seven-year odyssey, the president of Orlando City is relishing a success story thanks to the steady progress of Major League Soccer, a breakthrough World Cup, an intense local appetite for football and a booming local industry in attracting Brazilian tourists.

It is an unlikely combination, but in the theme park capital of the world the team nicknamed the Lions have brought every element together before their MLS debut in 2015. Earlier this month, the superstar the Brazil midfielder Kaká became their first marquee player, signed from Milan.

For Rawlins, it is only exactly where he expected to be after sitting down at his kitchen table in Austin, Texas, in 2007, to draw up a route to the big time.

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