On Thursday soccer fans in STL rejoiced, as their city now has a professional soccer team to call their own.
An announcement from the USL Pro, the third-tier in the US soccer pyramid, welcomed the soccer-loving city back to the party after four long years without pro soccer in St. Louis. There has been a huge show of support to help get St. Louis back on the soccer map and with a huge turnout of almost 50,000 for a friendly between Chelsea and Manchester City at Busch Stadium last year, the city’s appetite for the sport is there for all to see.
Painstaking work has been going on behind the scenes and St. Louis has been awarded a USL Pro expansion franchise that will begin play in 2015. Longtime St. Louis business executive and soccer advocate Jim Kavanaugh will serve as CEO and the club will play at a 5,000 capacity stadium at Soccer Park in Fenton, Mo. The team will be led by veteran coach Dale Schilly.
USL CEO Alec Papadakis had the following to say about handing St. Louis a USL Pro franchise.
In the past STL has had several soccer teams who have either been relocated or gone under, as the city has struggled to keep fans of the beautiful game supporting their local team. In the NASL days the St. Louis Stars shone brightly from 1967-1977 but were then relocated to California. After that came the MISL side the Steamers, from 1979-1988 and then the Storm who also played in the MISL from 1989-1992. Following that there was the St. Louis Ambush from 1992 -2000 and then AC St. Louis who only lasted one season in 2010.
All of those teams show there is a love for the game in this area, with several U.S. soccer Hall of Fame inductees an incredibly strong collegiate level of soccer and plenty of international soccer fans based in Missouri. Famous U.S. players such as Brad Davis, Chris Klein, Pat Noonan, Matt Pickens, Steve Ralston, Mike Sorber, Tim Ream, and Taylor Twellman all hail from STL as the soccer loving city now aims to rekindle its passion for the beautiful game.
The big question remains whether or not they can become the next MLS expansion franchise. It’s too early to speculate if that will happen but if the fans get behind their new team, the sky is the limit for soccer in St. Louis.
