Birmingham’s Legion FC soccer club offers family-friendly environment
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — The most popular sport in the world is fútbol, also known as football and known here in America as soccer. Soccer is the fourth most popular team sport in America behind football, baseball, and basketball. It’s estimated at 30% of households in America have someone playing organized soccer living there.
While it’s often thought that “soccer” is a term Americans gave to the “World‘s Most Beautiful Game” (a Portuguese moniker for the sport), that is not true. The term soccer actually came from the British who invented the game. Football was a medieval game that was given rules when it was played at British universities. Different sets of rules, created different versions of football and each version needed a different name. The most popular versions of football were Rugby Football and Association Football. These names were then shortened to “Rugger” and “Soccer”. When soccer was introduced to the US the nickname stuck, probably because we already had a very popular sport that we called football.
No matter what you call it, soccer is a sport of skill, speed and athleticism unrivaled by any other team sport. Eleven players play for 90 minutes with only a 15 minute halftime break. There are no time outs, no breaks to reset the field, very few substitutions and the play doesn’t stop unless a player is down. The field can be flipped in a moment and advantage can be taken away in an instant. Players make amazing passes, refs miss calls and there’s always a player “faking it” to get the free kick. It has cheers, crowd-led chants, drums, flags and music, and it’s all right here in Birmingham.
Legion FC is the USL Championship professional soccer club here in Birmingham. Launched in 2018 Legion FC is the Magic City‘s first and only locally owned and operated professional soccer franchise. Legion holds their home matches at Protective Stadium. They offer a family-friendly environment where everyone can enjoy professional soccer and a variety of special events offered in conjunction with the matches. The USL regular season is happening right now and last through mid-October.
There are many outstanding players on the Legion FC squad. The 2021 Legion Defensive Player of the Year, goalkeeper Matt VanOekel, is also the team’s captain and goalkeeping coach. His amazing stops in goal are an exciting part of every match. Midfielder Anderson Asiedu is originally from Dormaa Ahenkro, Ghana. He is a fan favorite with his stunning ability to manipulate the ball and control the match. Another exciting player to watch is Mikey Lopez. Lopez had the ability to play both midfielder and defender, which makes him a tactical presence on the pitch. These three players are just a few of many dynamic leaders on the squad.
The excitement of professional soccer is great for our city but Legion FC is also part of the Dunnavant Valley community. For many seasons the team has met at the Dunnavant Valley Fields to practice on grass. Turf fields, like Protective Stadium, can be hard on knees, feet and joints, so practicing on grass is crucial to the health of the athletes. Practices are closed to the public but it’s nice to know that these professional athletes from all over the world feel welcomed when they come to Dunnavant Valley.
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