The NPSL welcomes three new teams in just three days. Lansing, Michigan was the first, followed by California’s Temecula FC. Now we have Storm FC from Florida. Here’s the official announcement from the NPSL:
The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is proud to announce that Storm FC of Broward County, Florida has joined the NPSL as an expansion team. They will compete in the Sunshine Conference in 2014.
“With the addition of Storm FC in Broward County, the NPSL Sunshine Conference continues to grow and get stronger while providing a new local rival for Miami United,” NPSL Commissioner Michael Hitchcock commented. “Florida is an important NPSL market with impressive numbers of great players and passionate soccer fans. We’re excited to add a quality ownership group in Broward County to provide another option for the local soccer community to support a team in their backyard while allowing talented local players to have another outlet to develop.”
The Sunshine Conference already includes Miami United, Cape Coral Hurricanes, Jacksonville United, Georgia Revolution, and Tampa Marauders.
Storm FC is led by a group of experienced soccer professionals including President/CEO Jose Alfredo Reygadas, Soccer Advisor Jose Francisco Garcia Quevedo, Director of Soccer Enrique Cortina, Marketing Director Leandro Martinez, and Administration/Finance Director Alejandra Diaz Valdes.
“We are very happy and excited for being part of this league,” Reygadas stated. “We believe that the NPSL is going through the path of yearly growth.”
The team will play all home games at Central Broward Regional Park Stadium, a facility with 5,000 covered seats.
The facility is just the beginning of Storm FC’s involvement in the Florida soccer community. The club has already partnered with The West Pines Strikers FC, an organization with over 500 players and 100 coaches.
“The purpose of Storm FC is to take the natural talent of players and mold it into a set of skills that belongs to the elite level,” Cortina added. “We will develop players and turn them into educated athletes ready to compete in high levels of competition both locally and internationally.”
The club can be found on Twitter @StormFC13 or on Facebook at www.facebook.com/StormFC13.
Storm FC joins Virginia Legacy, Cincinnati Saints, Flower Mound FC, and Lansing as expansion clubs for the 2014 season.
The NPSL is a national league that operates in the 4th Division of the U.S. Soccer pyramid. NPSL teams are eligible to participate in the U.S. Open Cup through their affiliation with the U.S. Soccer Federation (USSF) and the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA). The NPSL is the fastest-growing national soccer league in the U.S., operating in 60+ markets across the country. Two Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs, D.C. United and the New York Red Bulls, operate U-23 squads in the NPSL.
