Gotham FC assistant goalkeeper coach and Queens native Michelle Betos says it is a “dream come true” to take part in the historic Queens Classic Wednesday night, with Gotham FC and Washington Spirit set to draw more than 30,000 fans in the first ever women’s professional sporting event held at Citi Field.

The game, which is a rematch of the 2025 NWSL Championship, is also anticipated to be the largest ever women’s sporting event in New York City. The Queens Classic has also taken on increased significance in recent weeks after Gotham announced that it would be moving into the soon-to-be-completed Etihad Park in Willets Point in 2028

For Betos, who was born in Queens and attended St. Francis Prep, the Queens Classic and the imminent move to Queens are symbolic of the growth of women’s soccer in the borough.

“Growing up in Queens, there weren’t even that many teams for me to play on,” Betos said. “Once I got more serious about soccer, there wasn’t the same access and exposure, so I had to go to Long Island.”

She hopes that Gotham’s move from New Jersey to Willets Point will inspire the next generation to take up soccer and challenge basketball’s hegemony in the city.

“I just know that there’s so many incredible athletes in the city that now are going to start looking at soccer, going to start going to the games on the weekends. It’s honestly incredible.” 

Betos added that this is an “exciting time” for women’s soccer in the United States but believes that the sport still has plenty of room to grow.

“It’s not even near it’s pinnacle,” she said. “It’s really an honor to be a part of it all.”

She believes that the growth of the game will only be fueled by the 2026 World Cup, which has been co-hosted by the United States, as well as the 2031 Women’s World Cup, which America will also co-host alongside Mexico, Costa Rica and Jamaica.

“It’s been so fun to see the country rallying around soccer,” she said, adding that the US Men’s National Team has helped unify the nation over the past six weeks.

Betos pointed to the 1999 Women’s World Cup, which was hosted by the US, and said the tournament proved an inspiration for her and several other players of her generation.

“If you ask one out of every two players my age why they started playing soccer, it’s because we saw those women doing incredible things.” 

In the five years before that tournament, however, Betos hopes to see a “shift in the narrative” around pay-to-play in America, adding that prohibitive costs are preventing talented young players from reaching their full potential, which leaves the United States at a disadvantage. Both the NWSL and the US Women’s National Team stand to benefit from making the sport more accessible, she added.

“Soccer, around the world, is the one sport everyone plays because everyone has access,” she said. “There’s a pay to play model in America, especially on the girls’ side. So I’m hoping that as the country buys more and more into the sport, we’re looking around the world, looking at what the best national teams in the world are doing.”

In the short term, though, Betos is looking forward to a historic night on Wednesday and a historic move to Queens in two years, although the move will be bittersweet because it means Gotham will leave its long-term home of New Jersey.

Betos joined the club in 2022 – winning the NWSL Championship the following year – before joining the club’s coaching staff following her retirement in 2024.

Although her stint at Gotham has been relatively short, Betos is under no illusions as to how significant the Queens Classic and the move to Etihad Park will be. She recalled playing against Gotham when at Rutgers when the club was known as Sky Blue and said the upcoming game is a testament of how far the club has come.

“To be doing something like this, especially in the middle of the World Cup when there’s obviously enough soccer to be going around, is just something special for the club and a testament to how far we’ve come,” Betos said. “(The move to Etihad Park) is symbolic of the growth of this league. The motto of the club is ‘always building, never finished,’ and this is just another step in such a cool direction.”