{"id":8922,"date":"2015-11-06T15:00:15","date_gmt":"2015-11-06T15:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/?p=8922"},"modified":"2018-05-09T12:52:37","modified_gmt":"2018-05-09T12:52:37","slug":"new-professional-soccer-team-will-play-at-fiu-stadium-in-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/2015\/11\/06\/new-professional-soccer-team-will-play-at-fiu-stadium-in-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"New Professional Soccer Team will Play at FIU Stadium in 2016"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new partnership between Miami FC<\/a>, South Florida\u2019s newest professional soccer team, and FIU will bring the world\u2019s most popular sport back to campus this spring.<\/p>\n

Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium will be the home venue for Miami FC, which will begin play in the spring of 2016 as a member of the North American Soccer League (NASL)<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As part of the new partnership, Miami FC co-owner Riccardo Silva has given a $450,000 gift to FIU Athletics<\/a> and the team will provide university students with internship opportunities within the organization.<\/p>\n

\u201cLadies and gentlemen, I\u2019m excited to welcome professional soccer to Miami-Dade County,\u201d Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Gimenez told the crowd gathered at the FIU Stadium Club for the announcement. \u201cIt is fitting that our Miami-Dade based state university will be where Miami FC plays. This is a great win for soccer fans in this community and sports fans in general.\u201d<\/p>\n

Silva teamed up with former A.C. Milan and Italian national team star\u00a0Paolo Maldini to create Miami FC, which became the 12th<\/sup> member to join the expanding NASL in May.<\/p>\n

Now that the team has a head coach \u2013 Maldini\u2019s former teammate Alessandro Nesta \u2013 and a home stadium locked down, they will now shift their focus to building a roster with players from all over the world to help the new team be competitive right away.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a great university and we are honored and proud to be here,\u201d Silva said. \u201cThe stadium is perfect for us and we want the students to consider Miami FC as their team. We want them to feel like they are part of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FIU<\/p>\n

FIU Stadium was renovated in 2007 with soccer in mind and has been host to a number of international soccer matches since re-opening in 2008.<\/p>\n

The stadium was chosen as a host venue for group matches during the 2009 and 2011 CONCACAF Gold Cups and a previous version of Miami FC, now the Fort Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL, played a portion of its home games at the facility in 2009.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis stadium was, in part, conceived so that we can take advantage of the incredible energy around global soccer,\u201d FIU President Mark B. Rosenberg said. \u201cAnd here we are today, beginning to realize that vision. We know that South Florida is soccer hungry and we are pleased by\u00a0the exposure Miami FC will provide to this community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miami FC will be the fourth Florida franchise in\u00a0the league and NASL Commissioner Bill Peterson hopes that these natural rivalries \u2013 particularly with the Strikers, who play less than hour away to the north in Lockhart Stadium \u2013 will cultivate excitement among fans.<\/p>\n

Peterson said during\u00a0his remarks that he strives to kick off the 2016 Spring Season schedule with a match between Miami FC and the Strikers at FIU Stadium.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot many teams are able to launch with a stadium this nice and it will be a great partnership,\u201d Peterson said. \u201cThe game is built on these rivalries and it\u2019s important for the growth of the game. This is the right team in the right place at the right time.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more information on Miami FC, visit their website<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

via FIU News<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new partnership between Miami FC, South Florida\u2019s newest professional soccer team, and FIU will bring the world\u2019s most popular sport back to campus this spring. Ocean Bank Field at FIU Stadium will be the home venue for Miami FC, which will begin play in the spring of 2016 as a member of the North […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":21,"featured_media":8925,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[73],"tags":[310,401,381],"class_list":["post-8922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics","tag-fiu-athletics","tag-mens-soccer","tag-newsletter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/21"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8922"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14856,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8922\/revisions\/14856"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fiualumni.com\/stay-connected\/alumni-news\/newsroom\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}