FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.\u00a0\u2013 At a community town hall last night, the United Soccer League (USL) and Fort Lauderdale United FC (FTL UTD) announced that a USL League One professional men\u2019s team will kick off next year. With this addition, Fort Lauderdale United FC has complete youth-to-professional pathways for both men and women.<\/p>\n
“Fort Lauderdale United FC has made a positive impact on the South Florida soccer community, and with the addition of a USL League One team, the club is poised for even greater growth,”\u00a0said Justin Papadakis, USL Deputy CEO and Chief Real Estate Officer.” With a new proven CEO, a dynamic leadership team, and the strong inaugural season of their professional women\u2019s team, the club has shown its commitment to building a community-driven soccer culture. As they prepare to launch their men\u2019s professional team, the combination of a dedicated fanbase, new stadium, and a clear vision positions Fort Lauderdale United FC for long-term success.”<\/p>\n
Fort Lauderdale United FC currently competes in the USL Super League, a Division One- women\u2019s professional league, and continues to grow both on and off the pitch. This summer, the club will also field men\u2019s and women\u2019s pre-professional teams in USL League Two and the USL W League, respectively.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I started this club a couple of years ago, the vision was to develop a true pathway to the pros for girls and boys,\u201d\u00a0said Tommy Smith, Fort Lauderdale United Founder and Chairman.\u00a0\u201cGrowing up as a parent in youth soccer culture, I knew we wanted Fort Lauderdale United to be a unique club with clear standards that does things the right way, like the best leagues in the world. Adding a USL League One professional men\u2019s soccer team next year, to compete alongside our USL Super League professional women\u2019s soccer team, is a significant step toward achieving that goal.\u201d<\/p>\n
Last week, the club announced Sharon Lacey as its new Chief Executive Officer, responsible for all men\u2019s and women\u2019s operations. Lacey joins at a pivotal time for the club as it continues to expand at all levels and build Fort Lauderdale United FC into South Florida\u2019s premier soccer destination.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a historic day for Fort Lauderdale United as we continue to strategically execute on our ambitious vision and mission. The addition of a USL League One professional men\u2019s soccer team, along with the launch of our women\u2019s reserve team, will establish a complete pathway to pro pipeline for both boys and girls \u2013 providing tremendous opportunities for young people and their families,\u201d\u00a0said Sharon Lacey, Fort Lauderdale United FC CEO.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIn fact, our unique pathway to pro for girls doesn\u2019t exist anywhere else in South Florida.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla.\u00a0\u2013 At a community town hall last night, the United Soccer League (USL) and Fort Lauderdale…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63474,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[249,251,250,115],"class_list":["post-63473","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale","tag-fort-lauderdale-headlines","tag-fort-lauderdale-news","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63473","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63473"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63473\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63473"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63473"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}