Defender Anderson Rosa makes a play on the ball. Provided photo.

In a season of firsts, the Sarasota Paradise are attempting to do what many deemed impossible: earn a spot in the 2026 USL League One Playoffs. The Paradise currently sport a 9-12-6 record, slotting the first-year franchise at 10th place in the 17-team league. The top eight teams will earn a spot in the playoffs. With just five games left in the regular season, the Paradise have been doing everything possible to climb in the standings. The club is riding a seven-game undefeated streak heading into its matchup with Charlotte Independence this Saturday, racking up four wins since August 19. A 6-0 drubbing of Greenville Triumph on September 19 marked the largest home victory in USL League One history. To say the Paradise are hot, would be an understatement.

“The number one thing that’s fed into this is the belief in what you’re doing and what you’re building,” says head coach Mika Elovaara. “From the very first game, we’ve competed in spells against the best in the league. Over the course of time, when we’ve stayed true to ourselves and our objectives and ways of teaching and coaching, the outcomes have started to go our way.”

Part of what makes the team’s push for the playoffs so significant is that the Paradise are a first year club. None of the players have been teammates with each other before. The team has benefited recently from two new additions, in forward Romain Gall and defender Kisa Kiingi. “Both Kisa Kiingi and Romain Gall have been excellent additions,” says Elovaara. “They’ve been added to the roster based on what we identified were the needs, and when you look at how well they’ve come in and started to play, they were very important for us to add.”

For Elovaara, the message to the team is to not get caught up in the standings, but each game one at a time. “You can use the analogy of the ladder—we have a ladder to climb, but if you climb too fast, you can slip and fall. We have to climb one rung, one game at a time,” says Elovaara.

Sarasota Paradise vs Charlotte Independence, October 3, 7:30pm, Premier Sports Campus, at Lakewood Ranch, 5895 Post Blvd, Lakewood Ranch.

Defender Anderson Rosa makes a play on the ball. Provided photo.

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