By Paul Nicholson
August 28 – The United Soccer League (USL) the third tier of the US professional game has won over two teams from the second tier of US soccer, the NASL, for the 2017 season. Tampa Bay Rowdies and the Ottawa Fury will join Reno 1868 as expansion sides.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 21 – American marketing executive Aaron Davidson has pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in the US-led probe into football corruption and has had his trial set for April 24 next year.
By Andrew Warshaw
October 19 – Yet another of those arrested in the US-led corruption probe into football corruption has agreed to plead guilty. Agency reports citing court papers say Aaron Davidson, who headed Traffic Sports USA, the Miami-based business of Brazilian sports marketing group Traffic, is due to enter his plea on Thursday.
October 17 – Bahamas, host of the 2017 Beach Soccer World Cup, will also host the 2017 CONCACAF Beach Soccer Championship. That competition will qualify two teams to the World Cup finals, alongside hosts Bahamas.
By Paul Nicholson
October 10 – For the regular season just finished, the USL, the third tier of the US professional leagues, hit record aggregate attendances of 1.5 million for the season, a 40% increase on previous years. But it is not just attendances that are growing for this challenger league in the US.
By Paul Nicholson
October 5 – One of the leaders of football’s brave new world, CONCACAF president Victor Montagliani, has suggested that Russia and Qatar hosting the 2018 and 2022 World Cups could be the best thing to have happened to football in that it provided an accelerant for the clean-up of the game globally, and particularly in his region.
September 30 – The third tier of US professional football is reporting an increase in attendances of 33% for the 2016. The figures show the boom in interest in the game is filtering through the whole football pyramid and is not confined to MLS teams or high-profile international friendlies between the world’s giant clubs.
September 14 – LigaMX clubs Cruz Azul and Club Atlas will play a friendly in San Antonio, Texas, at the Toyota Field October organised under the MoneyGram SocioMX banner.
By Paul Nicholson
September 8 – The Washington Spirit took the unusual step of playing the US national anthem before the players had entered the playing arena last night at the National Women’s Soccer League play-off match against the Seattle Reign.
September 7 – Guatemala’s Carlos Ruiz has become the highest scorer in World Cup qualifying history after bagging five goals in his final international appearance against St Vincent and the Grenadines.
September 8 – US women’s national team head coach Jill Ellis has spoken for the first time about the full reasons behind the decision to ban Hope Solo, the best-known goalkeeper in women’s football, for six months and terminate her contract.
August 30 -Toronto FC have apologised to rivals Montreal Impact after a “disgraceful” banner portraying a woman seemingly performing a sex act was displayed during Saturday’s Major League Soccer clash.
By Andrew Warshaw
August 25 – Hope Solo, the world’s best-known and most decorated women’s goalkeeper and a household name across the sport, has been suspended by US Soccer for six months for describing Olympic opponents Sweden as “a bunch of cowards”.
By Paul Nicholson
August 23 – The leading coaching body in the US is proposing a shake-up of the College calendar, turning it into a 10-month season rather than the currently compressed four month competition format.
August 17 – A US study into how fans rank their experiences at big league sports in the US has found that Major League Soccer teams rank no lower than second in each of America’s four largest markets of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Houston against the NFL, MLB, NHL and NBA teams in those markets.