Louisville City FC, the city’s new professional soccer team, will kick off its inaugural season Saturday at Louisville Slugger Field.
“March 28th will be an exciting and historic day for professional sports in Louisville,” FC General Manager Amanda Duffy said in a press release earlier this month. “A 3 p.m. kickoff for our inaugural season home-opener allows our fans the opportunity to join us at Louisville Slugger Field."
Louisville City FC is an expansion team - one of 10 added this season - in the 24-team United Soccer League (USL), which was founded in 2010 and is the third tier (behind Major League Soccer and the North American Soccer League) in what is known as the American soccer pyramid. Louisville City FC is affiliated with Orlando City SC, which plays in MLS. Louisville City FC will play in the 12-team Eastern Conference.
Louisville City FC will play 14 regular-season home games at Slugger Field, beginning on March 28. The club will also host a friendly, or possibly a U.S. Open Cup match, to fulfill the 15 matches offered to season-ticket holders.
Season tickets can be purchased at www.LouisvilleCityFC.com/tickets. Single-game tickets can be purchased by visiting www.louisvillecityfc.com/schedule. The hashtag #SellOutSlugger was introduced at a town hall meeting in February and the club is hoping to fill up the sections of Slugger Field that have been set aside for soccer for its season-opener.
“The support from the community has been outstanding to date and continues to grow,” Duffy said. “Our home-opener will be a key opportunity for our fans to send an important message about the city’s ability to embrace a high-level professional team. We want this game to set the standard.”
Louisville City FC went 4-0-1 in the preseason, including victories over the teams at Indiana University and the University of Louisville. FC outscored its opponents 13-3 in the preseason with a trio of shutouts.
“It will be an historic day for all of LCFC,” Louisville head coach James O’Connor said of the team's debut. “We have waited a long time for this and are really excited to get our season started. Our players have worked very hard throughout the preseason, it’s been a challenge with all the snow we have had, but we have been delighted with the players’ attitude and approach.”
Over the years Louisville has been home to several fledgling indoor soccer teams, most recently the Louisville Lightning, but has never had a pro outdoor team.
