Brooklyn's Soccer Scene Grows: New Women's Team Joins Professional Ranks

BROOKLYN, NY — A professional women's soccer team is set to kick off in Brooklyn in August 2024, the United Soccer League (USL) announced.

The new team, which is affiliated with the Brooklyn Football Club, will compete at the top level of women's professional soccer in the USL Super League.

The team, named Super League Brooklyn, will bring top-tier women's pro sports to the region for the first time, joining eight clubs in the league’s market announcement.

“The growth of women’s soccer is unprecedented, with record-setting TV viewership, sponsorship interest and youth advancement," USL Super League Brooklyn Chairman Matt Rizzetta said. “This marks a notable milestone for our club, our borough, and our city."

Super League Brooklyn will be the highest level of professional women’s sports to ever field a team with Brooklyn on its jerseys, officials said. The team will play home matches at Maimonides Park in Coney Island until a permanent, soccer-specific stadium can be built.

"We want to make it clear that this is for Brooklyn. From our attitude, our colors, our tone, our media, and our inclusion, I think we really want to be representative of our borough, where a lot of other sports teams, specifically soccer teams, sometimes miss the mark on that," Brooklyn Football Club CEO Mack Mansfield said.

Once sanctioned by the U.S. Soccer Federation as a Division One league, it will compete with other top professional sports leagues, featuring players who have represented their countries in international games such as the FIFA Women's World Cup and Olympic Games.

Brooklyn Football Club previously announced the arrival of a professional men's soccer team, which is slated to kick off in 2025.

“The time is now for professional women’s soccer, and we can’t wait to show the world the passion of Brooklyn’s women’s soccer community,” Mansfield said. “We are committed to meaningful engagement with the local community and will develop a brand and a team that authentically represent our home city and its vibrant soccer culture. We have a lot of work to do between now and August, and we are excited to ramp up and be ready to go when the USL Super League kicks off.”

Unique for soccer in the U.S., the USL Super League will play on a “fall-to-spring” calendar similar to most leagues around the world, providing the best possible experience for players and fans, officials said.

Mansfield told Patch on Tuesday that the club aims to strike a balance between acquiring local players to advance their careers and bringing in larger international players.

"We're in talks with players that have played in the Women's World Cup, so they are high profile, and people will get excited about some of them, but it's still in the infancy stage to talk names," Mansfield said.

Soccer is the fastest-growing major team sport in the U.S. The sport has seen a significant increase in popularity, gaining 52 percent more fans from 2012 to 2019, far outpacing the growth of other major team sports, including basketball, baseball and American football, according to a Gallup Sports Poll.

Brooklyn soccer fans can already pick up Brooklyn Football Club gear on the club's website, including hoodies, t-shirts and a club scarf with the team's logo.