Rangers struck up a link with Orange County in 2019.
Rangers have formed a strong bond with a number of clubs over the years, but mostly from a fan perspective rather than anything else.
Linfield and Hamburg are notable clubs who are popular with Rangers fans, but the club moved to strike an official partnership with an American side last year.
In December 2019, Rangers announced a strategic partnership with Orange County SC, with the clubs joining forces for ‘programs, activities and player movement’.
That saw three Orange County trio Francis Jacobs, Aaron Cervantes and Diego Lopez being given trial spells at Ibrox, playing in academy matches for Rangers.
The deal has also seen Rangers send Matthew Shiels, Danny Finlayson and Cammy Palmer on loan to Orange County, giving them valuable first-team football.
The partnership should work for both clubs, and Executive Vice President of Soccer Operations for Orange County Oliver Wyss has been speaking about the deal.
Wyss has told Rangers’ official website that Orange County actually had talks with teams in the Premier League and the Bundesliga, but they chose Rangers over all of them.
Wyss praised the history and infrastructure at Rangers, whilst believing they showed the passion to make the partnership thrive long-term.
“We had talks with teams from the Premier League, from the Bundesliga and from Portugal and even though they were all great clubs, we felt that Rangers was the one for us,” said Oliver Wyss. “When you look at the entire club, not only is Rangers one of the most successful and historic clubs in European football history, it is a great club all around from the first team to the Academy, which is world-class. You put all these pieces together and there was a real willingness from the Rangers leadership to work with us and truly build a partnership that has merits on every single front,” he added.
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