New Pro Soccer Team Queensboro FC Coming To Southeast Queens

JAMAICA, QUEENS — A professional men's soccer team is coming to the world's borough.

A group of investors that includes Spanish soccer star David Villa has been awarded a United Soccer League franchise to establish the Queensboro Football Club, according to a press release.

Queensboro FC will start playing in 2021 as part of the USL Championship, the second division of professional soccer after Major League Soccer.

"I know what a special place Queens is," Villa, the Spanish national team's all-time leading goal scorer, said in a statement. "There is no other place like it in the world. It's a dream to help build this football club in Queens and I couldn’t choose a better location."

The team will play home matches at a new stadium at York College in Jamaica, which will have a capacity of about 7,500, according to an ESPN report. The team will also host select home games at Citi Field, the home of the New York Mets.

York College will likely be a temporary home for Queensboro FC, according to City Council Member Francisco Moya, who has long advocated starting a professional soccer team in Queens. Funded by the team's owners, the new modular stadium will consist of little more than bleachers.

A permanent soccer stadium that could seat up to 25,000 fans is one proposal for the city's massive Willets Point redevelopment in central Queens, but it's unclear whether officials will move forward with that plan.

"We are thrilled to bring professional soccer to Queens," Alec Papadakis, the USL's CEO, said. "Soccer is second nature to many who call this borough home, and with a strong sense of community in the most culturally diverse area in the world, a USL Championship club in Queens is the perfect fit."

New York businessman Jonathan Krane, CEO of asset management firm KraneShares, is leading the investment group that owns the team, according to the press release.

Moya, who has teamed up with Villa to bring free soccer clinics to kids in his central Queens district, said he hopes the team will provide opportunities to local athletes.

"It's going to have a profound impact on this borough," he said. "That kid playing soccer in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park can one day be wearing the Queensboro FC jersey and playing in front of his neighbors."