Miami FC and Kingston Stockade FC of the NPSL are currently in the middle of a case challenging how the U.S. Soccer Federation is run and has set up the soccer pyramid in America. The case is on-going in front of the Court of Arbitration for Sport. Late last week more than 100 clubs from the lower divisions signed a letter in support of the two clubs and called for the introduction of promotion and relegation in the U.S.
If you’ve ever had the pleasure of attending a second division match in the United States, you've seen some real grassroots support. The USL Championship (formerly just the USL) has been around for quite some time, and has expanded to an eye-popping 36 teams this year. Austin Bold FC is one of the newest clubs making the rounds in the USL Championship, and the new boys travelled to Las Vegas for the start of the season.
The 2019 USL Championship season began this past weekend with the league welcoming over 90,000 fans across 17 games, including a sellout crowd of 12,896 to watch New Mexico United’s opening match at Isotopes Park (that's more than the Chicago Fire and Colorado Rapids drew to open their MLS campaigns).
In all, five clubs drew more than 8,000 spectators for their opening matches, an extremely promising sign for the health of the league as it enters its ninth season.
USL League One begins its inaugural season on March 29 with 10 clubs vying for the championship in America’s third division. One of those clubs will be Forward Madison FC, based out of Madison, Wisconsin.
The club was founded in 2018, and the 2019 season will mark its debut as a professional team. The club will play its home matches at 5,000-seat Breese Stevens Field, and back in December, Forward Madison announced a one-year affiliation agreement with Minnesota United FC.
We’ve got Mad Ants, Baby Cakes and Lights. There are Isotopes, Rowdies and Skyforce. And of course Steel, Go-Go and IronPigs.
When you’re not the best at something, you’ve got to come up with unique ways to promote yourself. I know this first hand from trying to find a romantic partner.
Minor league sports teams also know this well. It’s why lower-division clubs often have unique nicknames you just don’t find anywhere else.
So which of America’s top three lower divisions — in soccer, baseball and basketball — have the best team nicknames?
In some respects, 2018 was a marvelous year for U.S. Soccer. The USWNT went unbeaten, won its 500th game and qualified for the 2019 World Cup with ease.
In many other respects, 2018 was a poor year for U.S. Soccer. The USMNT didn’t record a single win of note and both the U-20 and U-17 women’s national teams flamed out in the group stage of their respective World Cups. Plus, U.S. Soccer had a divisive presidential election campaign, eventually settling on Carlos Cordeiro.
FC Cincinnati will make its Major League Soccer debut in 2019. While reasonably successful in the United Soccer League the last three years, MLS will present a far greater challenge for the Orange and Blue. Fortunately for fans in the 66th largest city in the U.S., a number of recent FC Cincinnati signings this week have the club trending in the right direction.
For the past four seasons, the United Soccer League has had tremendous growth, both on and off the pitch, growing from 14 clubs in 2014 to 33 during the most recent campaign. And while attendance in professional sports is a hotly contested topic, there is no denying that the league has seen a tremendous return on its investment. However, as the USL attendance star, FC Cincinnati, heads to MLS in 2019, can the league maintain the current heights?
On Monday, FC Cincinnati took the next step toward its inaugural 2019 MLS season by unveiling an overhaul to the crest it’s been using since the club’s 2016 debut in the United Soccer League.
The rebrand was headed by Interbrand, the same firm that accounted for the much-debated modernizing of Juventus’s crest.
Out with the old.
In with the new.
Former England, Chelsea and West Ham attacker Joe Cole has announced his retirement from football, bringing an end to a 20-year professional career that included three Premier League titles, two FA Cup triumphs and one banging goal against Sweden at the 2006 World Cup.
I can hear some of you claiming that you didn’t know the 37-year-old was still out here balling, but that’s a massive disservice to one of the cornerstones of Division II soccer in America, the Tampa Bay Rowdies.