ORLANDO, Fla. -- Monday night marked a special moment in Orlando City history.
The Lions' players, coaches, and front office staff were presented championship rings at Exploria Stadium, celebrating the club's 2022 U.S. Open Cup trophy.
Every player that was a part of the team last year was called up on stage individually and presented with a unique, custom championship ring.
For midfielder César Araujo, it was his first championship in his professional career. One that he now gets to celebrate with wherever he goes.
"The rings are a great way to celebrate what we were able to do last year," he told OrlandoCitySC.com. "It's not something that's too common in South America, so we don't know a whole lot about the tradition but it was a great night and it's a beautiful thing to be able to celebrate the club's first championship and it's MLS era and personally my first championship as well.
"To be able to commemorate that with the ring was fantastic."
Head coach Oscar Pareja was equally excited to relive the six-match Cup run, culminating in his team's 3-0 victory over Sacramento Republic on Sept. 7.
"We're very grateful to the Wilf family and with the support that they gave us. And also sharing that moment where are the fans than Orlando City has supported this club, this project, and they're part of that. We're happy, the boys are happy, I know we've have a lot of duties to do right now, but it's great to have those memories from last year."
Both Araujo and Pereja have special places where they'll be keeping their rings in their house. César has carved out a space in his house for it and any future ones he will win.
"I'm gonna try to collect them," he said.
As for Pareja, he's already given the ring to his wife, who has a special storage space to keep it, along with the ring he won back as head coach of FC Dallas when they won the Open Cup in 2016. He hopes that he'll be able to show his future grandchildren someday and tell them all about the journey the Lions team went on last year.
"It's a lot of work behind those things," he said. "It's not just one game or one result. It's a lot of work. And when you get back to those images and to remember all of what you overcame that we had to do, the rings really represent that. That's why we're us where we very grateful with our ownership, just to give us that memory."
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