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. He was financially independent, having sold his consulting business after 12 years living and working in the US. He and his wife, Kay, were looking for their next big project. Given Phil’s background as a Stoke City board member, the idea of creating their own team in their new home was a powerful one.

“I had really became interested in soccer in the US and how it was progressing,” Rawlins says. “I did my research and it was clear the game was poised to take off here. The more I looked into the game in the States, the more intrigued I became and the possibility of being involved and contributing to its success began to take root.

“The club started on our kitchen table in Austin. Kay and I sat down with a pad and pen and brainstormed just how we would build the ideal club, what it would stand for, how it would play and develop young players. We even thought about how it could contribute to the local community. Many of those first ideas are still the tent poles of the club today.”

It soon became apparent the project had the right basis but the wrong base. The Texas state capital was a thriving city but not a soccer one. It was back to the kitchen table.

“We had been living in Austin for about four years when we started the Aztex,” Rawlins says, “and didn’t do a tremendous amount of market research first. Big mistake.

“As we were already in the market, we just thought soccer would take off there. We worked hard to establish the team for three years but there were some strong fundamentals working against us, like the lack of a quality stadium, two other MLS teams [Dallas and Houston Dynamo] already in Texas, and others.

“By this stage we had taken on a couple of smaller investors and it was really they who first led us to question whether Austin was the right market. We knew we could build a really good club but also knew we needed the market to make the jump to MLS and realise everyone’s ambitions for the club.”

This time, the Rawlins did their research and went against the old American advice of “go west”. For extremely good reasons, they went east – south-east. Rawlins recalls: “We knew there was a vacuum in terms of MLS clubs there, so we looked at the region as a whole. Orlando wasn’t initially top of our list but the longer we looked at the facts, the higher it went on the wishlist.

“This is basically what we saw – a young, multicultural population, where the average age is 34, perfect for MLS; a large and growing city, with the 19th-largest TV market in the States; lack of competition, with only one other major sports team, the [NBA] Orlando Magic; and the most visited city in the US. There are 60 million visitors forecast for 2014, many coming from soccer-loving countries from across the world.

“On top of all of this, when we visited, it was obvious the city was looking for an identity, that it was more than just the theme parks. There is a really vibrant and fun vibe in Orlando that people enjoy living and working in. We felt we could represent that really well.”

So the Austin Aztex became Orlando City. When the transplanted franchise arrived in The City Beautiful in 2010, Rawlins set out an ambitious five-year plan:

1) Win championships, plural

2) Create a fervent fanbase

3) Put together concrete plans for a soccer-specific stadium

4) Earn an MLS franchise

5) Attract a world superstar

The home of Walt Disney World and Universal Studios may have been used to fantasy and imagination but this sounded a bit far-fetched.

As it turns out, there was nothing fanciful about Rawlins’ plan. Orlando won two championships in their first three years and are firmly on course for No3 in the third-tier USL Pro League this season, currently unbeaten in their first 18 games after a 0-0 draw at Sacramento last Thursday that keeps them eight points clear at the top of the table with a game in hand on nearest challengers Richmond.

The fans have also turned out in bigger numbers than anyone could have predicted, including more than 20,000 for a 2013 title shootout. The league took notice and two months after that match, City were certified as the 21st MLS franchise, preferred to David Beckham’s Miami and an Atlanta operation bankrolled by NFL billionaire Arthur Blank.

Orlando City celebrate a 6-2 aggregate I-4 Derby victory over the Tampa Bay Rowdies earlier this month. Photograph: Nigel Worrall/Demotix/Corbis Photograph: Nigel Worrall/ Nigel Worrall/Demotix/Corbis

By this stage, two other key figures had become intimately involved with the team: the head coach Adrian Heath, a former midfielder for Stoke, Everton and Manchester City and manager of Burnley and Sheffield United, and a new Brazilian majority owner, Flavio Augusto da Silva.

“I was visiting Stoke for Christmas with my family,” Rawlins says. “Adrian accosted me in a pub. Effectively, he didn’t let me go until I agreed to give him an interview. He was very persuasive.

“Adrian has therefore been with me effectively since day one and has been critical to building our success on the field and establishing our identity as a team. When we first sat down to talk about the job, I asked him how he ideally wanted to play the game. He described an attacking, possession-oriented and exciting brand of football. ‘I want to play like Arsenal do,’ he said. That did it for me. We both grew up with the ‘footballing’ Stoke teams of the 1970s and that’s how I wanted to see my team play.

“I’ve been really lucky, I guess. I’ve only ever interviewed and appointed one coach – Adrian. He wanted the job from the beginning and, listening to his passion, I wanted him. We were in grave danger of losing him about two years ago, though. We were still working on the MLS franchise and Toronto came in for him. They offered him a great deal and made it really hard for him but he decided he wanted to see the project through to the end. I am so grateful he did because this is his team as much as mine. We’ve been at it together for seven years now, so the first MLS game will be pretty emotional for both of us.”

In early 2013, with the wins piling up on the field, there was still a key piece missing – financial muscle. And this is where mere sound planning passed into the realm of the incredibly opportune. For several years, Orlando had been building a major tourist profile in Brazil, and Da Silva, a Brazilian businessman, had been reaping the benefits with his astonishingly successful Wise Up English language programme. With City looking for new investors, businessman and club found each other at the ideal moment.

“We knew we needed our own stadium to crack the MLS franchise deal,” says Rawlins, “and it was really the combination of two things – collaboration in the community to get the project built and attracting a major investor who also believed in our dream. The two came together with perfect timing. Without both we wouldn’t have been able to succeed.”

The mayor of Orlando, Buddy Dyer, and his Orange County counterpart, Teresa Jacobs, were equally convinced that the team’s stadium concept was a positive one for the city and gave the project their whole-hearted support. Ultimately, the MLS simply could not say no to a return to the Sunshine State, from where the poorly backed Miami Fusion and Tampa Bay Mutiny had bowed out in 2001. The process has continued to gather speed.

This summer has seen American interest in the game reach record levels on TV and social media. Suddenly, soccer is not only cool but seemingly omnipresent. Millions of US sports fans now know Neymar, Messi, Robben and Suárez. Furthermore, this World Cup was in Brazil. Da Silva went into overdrive.

A long-time friendship translated into Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite – to give the Kaká his full name – officially becoming the Lions’ first MLS Designated Player. The deal was done on 1 July, the same day US soccer fervour reached new levels as the national team took on Belgium in Salvador, a World Cup game that saw Orlando hit No5 among TV-watching markets in the country.

At the same time, the Visit Orlando tourist bureau announced record visitor levels from Brazil; City’s Facebook page picked up a legion of Brazilian followers; and another former Brazil international, the striker Robinho, revealed that he would quite like to join his former Milan team-mate in Orlando.

Phil Rawlins with the I-4 trophy. 'I sometimes think I need to pinch myself,' he says. Photograph: Nigel Worrall/Demotix/Corbis Photograph: Nigel Worrall/ Nigel Worrall/Demotix/Corbis

“I do sometimes think I need to pinch myself to make sure I’m not dreaming,” Rawlins says. “Everything has suddenly happened so fast but it has all been part of the plan. I knew from the start we had to move quickly and stay ahead of our competitors if we were going to make this work. We just kept checking our achievements off the list.

“Our fanbase has grown every year and they have been amazing. If you’d have told me we would get almost 21,000 for a minor-league championship game, I would have thought you were crazy. But we did, and the fans were incredible. I believe we have some of the best and most committed fans in the country; the atmosphere next year at MLS games will be very special.

“Of course, the Brazilian fanbase has really taken off since Flavio came on board as our primary owner. We have worked hard to build awareness in Brazil and today we have over 700,000 Facebook followers there. Our goal is to be the world’s second-favourite team. We have a long way to go but it’s another accomplishment I look forward to checking off the list.”

The MLS has been put on notice – the Lions will arrive in 2015 and they aim to take a big bite out of the league. Rawlins already has another item on his checklist: “We aim to be a winning team in our first season, not the third or the fifth. We’re aiming for the play-offs.”

With more than 5,000 season tickets sold (towards a target figure of 12,000, which would comfortably top local rivals the Magic) and a world superstar in the ranks, there seems little doubt the Orlando wave will keep rolling. Phil Rawlins will ride it as far as it takes him.