The Atlanta Silverbacks are an American professional soccer club who currently play in the USL First Division, a division of the United Soccer Leagues, and the second division in the US Soccer hierarchy.
They currently play in DeKalb Memorial Stadium, in Atlanta, Georgia, although the team is constructing a soccer-specific stadium as part of an integrated soccer complex. The team is currently coached by David Vaudreuil , and finished fifth in the A-League Western Conference in 2004, barely missing the playoffs with a 14-11-3 record.
The franchise began as the Atlanta Ruckus in 1995. The club was re-named the Silverbacks in 1998, after a change in ownership. The name comes from a silverback gorilla named Willie B. , who was a main attraction of Zoo Atlanta until his death.
