By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
Queens\u2019 soon-to-be hometown soccer team, New York City Football Club, will play their first match at Etihad Park in summer 2027, the team announced this week. <\/p>\n
NYCFC outlined their schedule for their first full season in the World\u2019s Borough at Etihad Park, the city\u2019s first soccer-specific stadium, which is currently under construction. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot wait to welcome our fans for the first-ever New York City FC match at Etihad Park,\u201d said NYCFC CEO Brad Sims. \u201cConstruction is progressing incredibly well, and we remain on schedule.\u201d <\/p>\n
NYCFC\u2019s inaugural season in Willets Point will coincide with Major League Soccer\u2019s new season schedule, which will start in the summer rather than winter, to align with other international leagues. <\/p>\n
\u201cWith Major League Soccer transitioning to a new competition calendar, we believe the right moment to open Etihad Park is at the start of the 2027-28 season \u2014 aligning our new home with the beginning of a new era for both our league and our club,\u201d added Sims. \u201cOpening alongside a full season ensures our fans can experience Etihad Park from day one, rather than in the middle of a transition year. This approach allows us to properly celebrate our final matches at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, prepare thoughtfully for the move, and build toward a definitive and historic opening that reflects what this moment means for us and our city.\u201d<\/p>\n
The team also said that they will be holding \u201ctest events\u201d in the lead up to Etihad\u2019s ultimate opening for the 2027 season. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe are incredibly grateful for our fans\u2019 continued support and look forward to beginning this next chapter together at Etihad Park,\u201d said Sims. <\/p>\n
The city broke ground on New York City Football Club\u2019s future stadium in Willets Point in December 2024, a little more than two years after then-Mayor Eric Adams first announced that the soccer club would one day build its future home in Queens.<\/p>\n
Once finished, the $780 million Etihad Park will seat 25,000 soccer fans and will be the first fully electric professional sports stadium in New York City.<\/p>\n
MLS will play a \u201ctransition\u201d season in early 2027. NYCFC will play those home games at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, where the squad has played since its first season in 2015. <\/p>\n
The 2026 MLS season will stick to the normal calendar, and will begin this Sunday against Los Angeles Football Club in California. <\/p>\n
NYCFC finished 5th in the Eastern Conference in 2025, but lost in the conference finals to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami. <\/p>\n
2026 will be the second full season for head coach Pascal Jansen, who will lead a squad that includes team legend Maxi Moralez on a new contract, and stars Nico Fern\u00e1ndez Mercau, Thiago Martins and United States Men\u2019s National Team goalkeeper Matt Freese. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach Queens\u2019 soon-to-be hometown soccer team, New York City Football Club, will play their first match…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":142923,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-142922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142922","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142922"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142922\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142923"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142922"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142922"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142922"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}