Fredericksburg Football Club (FFC) Is Formed
American soccer is changing and growing stronger each day as new affiliations and mergers are formed. Here is the news at NPSL:
NPSL clubs RVA FC (Richmond, VA) and FXBG FC (Fredericksburg, VA) recently merged with the Fredericksburg Area Soccer Association (FASA) to form Fredericksburg Football Club (FFC).
“We are excited to announce the merger of these fine soccer organizations,” NPSL Chairman Joe Barone stated. “Fredericksburg, Virginia is a great market for the NPSL and we are excited about having a presence there for many years to come.”
RVA FC is best known for winning the 2013 NPSL National Championship in their first season in the league.
“This is a very exciting and rare opportunity to have a full pyramid structured club on both the men’s and women’s sides,” Fredericksburg FC President/Executive Director Grover Gibson commented. “There isn’t a single club in Virginia that provides these opportunities. We are looking to compare our programming to the rest of the world, not just based on the competing clubs around us.”
Gibson, the winner of the 2013 Alexander Arellano Memorial Trophy as the NPSL’s top coach, will also serve as head coach for Fredericksburg FC’s NPSL squad. FFC Technical Director David Shaw will be head coach for the club’s WPSL team.
Home matches will be played at the University of Mary Washington in downtown Fredericksburg.
Fredericksburg FC operates with 1600 year-round players with nearly 400 more served by camps and community programs. The club has gone through extensive restructuring and now has full-time employees in both administration and soccer development. A newly built complex, which the club owns and operates, features seven fields. FFC has also partnered with Fredericksburg Field House to have an additional outdoor lighted turf field and a full-size futsal court.
“Fredericksburg is a sleeping giant in youth soccer in Virginia and we are looking to maximize its potential,” Gibson concluded.
FFC will attract players from all over the state and at the same time maintain a focus on developing homegrown players as well. NPSL, WPSL, and men’s reserve teams will all fall under the Fredericksburg FC umbrella.