Members of the Fresno Football Club wear jerseys featuring the El Mexicano. Image via Fresno Fuego
Professional soccer may once again be returning to Fresno after a brief hiatus.
The City of Fresno announced Monday a new agreement between Fresno and the United Soccer League (USL).
Mayor Jerry Dyer will hold a news conference Tuesday morning at city hall announcing the exclusive deal with USL and how it could help Dyer’s long-time goal of bringing life back to Downtown Fresno.
Professional soccer has had an up-and-down history with Fresno, with many of the issues coming from the lack of a soccer-specific stadium over the years. Many of the teams played their games at Chukchansi Park.
Fresno last hosted a professional soccer team from 2022-2024 with Central Valley Fuego FC, who played its matches at Fresno State. Prior to Fuego FC, Fresno had the Fresno Fuego and Fresno FC.
In recent years, Fuego ownership has continued to look at soccer stadium options. While the media advisory from the City of Fresno states how if soccer were to come to Fresno “how it could support ongoing revitalization efforts in Downtown Fresno,” there have been rumblings of a stadium outside of downtown.
According to an April 2025 Fresno Bee article, one of the proposals would have put a privately developed soccer-specific stadium on a portion of the 15-acre Blackbeard’s Family Entertainment Center property near the airport.
Blackbeard’s owner and Fuego managing partner Juan Gerardo Ruelas Jr told the Fresno Bee that the preliminary plans for the stadium would include a 4,000-seat venue with the ability to expand to 15,000 seats. The stadium would be used as a multipurpose facility that would be able host additional sporting events.
Ruelas has said the stadium would serve as home for the Fuego’s men’s and women’s teams and could also be used by other soccer programs throughout the Valley. Fuego announced in November 2024 that it will not field a men’s professional USL team in 2025 and will instead compete in the amateur League For Clubs during an organizational restructuring.
The media advisory does not mention if a potential team would be the Fuego.
While the City of Fresno has promoted downtown stadium concepts as tools for economic revitalization, however such projects have drawn scrutiny nationally.
A New York Times review this past November showed examples of soccer-specific stadium developments that found that mixed-use projects tied to stadiums are often delayed or only partially completed, raising questions about their long-term economic impact.
Additional details will be available following Dyer’s news conference.