Get ready, Brooklyn! Professional soccer is coming to Coney Island this summer.
The Brooklyn Football Club, or Brooklyn FC, had a ribbon-cutting ceremony at their new turf at Maimonides Park in Coney Island on Wednesday.
The club's professional women’s team will begin playing in August of 2024 in the United Soccer League. The professional men’s team will begin playing in 2025, according to a news release.
"What we’re trying to do here in Brooklyn is build a transformational hub for U.S. soccer and rethink soccer clubs in an innovative way," said Matt Rizzetta, the chief executive officer of the North Sixth Group and chairman of BKFC.
"We think Brooklyn is the perfect place to do that, right here in our backyards. To us, this is really a project where we need to join hands. We need to join hands with the community, we need to join hands with the people who identify with Brooklyn. Small business, large business, hospital, schools, and we need to do this together," he said.
The organization also owns Two Bridges FC, a youth soccer development nonprofit, which provides free professional development and training.
Maimonides Park is also home to the Brooklyn Cyclones, a farm team for the New York Mets.
