Miami FC moves to USL Championship, returns to FIU Riccardo Silva Stadium. Here’s why.

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https://www.miamiherald.com/sports/mls/article238277143.html

SOCCER

Miami FC moves to USL Championship, returns to FIU Riccardo Silva Stadium. Here’s why.

FIU renamed it's stadium, Riccardo Silva Stadium, after the President and co-owner of Miami FC soccer team. The field will be shared by the FIU Panthers football team and the Miami FC soccer team. The field and stadium were upgraded to help with t BY CHARLES TRAINOR JR.

Miami FC officials confirmed the team is moving up to the USL Championship division for the 2020 season, and will return to FIU’s Riccardo Silva Stadium, named after its owner, where the team enjoyed success on and off the field in 2016 and 2017.

The USL Championship division is the second-tier U.S. professional league, behind Major League Soccer.

With Miami FC’s new affiliation, South Florida will have three teams starting in March 2020. Inter Miami will play in MLS, Miami FC in USL Championship, and Inter Miami will enter a team in USL League One, which is the third-tier league.

Miami FC was able to enter USL by acquiring the franchise rights of Ottawa Fury FC, which disbanded. The club has won nine trophies since its establishment in 2015. It played its first two seasons in the North American Soccer League (NASL), won the Spring Season and Fall Season Championships in 2017 and set several league records.

Miami FC advanced to the quarterfinals of the 2017 U.S. Open Cup, beating MLS teams Orlando City and Atlanta United along the way.

In 2018, after the NASL didn’t have enough teams to continue, Miami FC moved to the lower-profile National Premier Soccer League, moved its games to smaller venues and won back-to-back championships. This season, they played in the inaugural NISA Showcase and won the East Coast title.

The move to USL Championship and FIU Riccardo Silva Stadium will raise the profile of the team and offer a league that is more financially stable. Miami FC is coached by Miami native and former Miami Fusion player Nelson Vargas, who took over for Paul Dalglish, son of the legendary Scottish player Kenny Dalglish, who was promoted to team president and general manager.

“We could not be more excited to join the USL Championship in 2020, playing regular professional soccer in the heart of Miami at Riccardo Silva Stadium,” said Dalglish. “The decision to join USL gives us two key things. First, it gives us a stable platform to further expand our academy program and community work, meaning accessible, inclusive fun-filled family events that bring together Miami’s soccer community.

“Second, it means we’ll be playing 17 homes games at Riccardo Silva Stadium in Miami, providing a fantastic experience for the army of loyal fans that have stood by us. We can’t wait to get started and begin teh campaign to add to our trophy haul.”

Dalglish was the former coach and GM with Ottawa. Under his leadership, Miami FC has won 29 of its past 33 matches and is unbeaten in the last 20.

Miami FC won the Spring NASL championship and the Fall championship in 2017

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https://www.socceramerica.com/publications/article/84489/miami-fc-bolts-nisa-before-full-launch-to-join-usl.html

Miami FC bolts NISA before full launch to join USL Championship

Soccer America

The North American Soccer League in which Miami FC plays pushes the start of the 2018 season back to Aug. ... The NASL cancels the 2018 season.

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https://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/soccer/article-ottawa-fury-fc-sells-usl-championship-franchise-rights-to-miami-fc/

Ottawa Fury FC sells USL Championship franchise rights to Miami FC

Ottawa Fury FC, which suspended operations last month, has sold its USL Championship franchise rights to Miami FC.

The Miami club, owned by Riccardo Silva, is managed by former Ottawa coach and general manager Paul Dalglish.

“We had a USL franchise that was not permitted to play in the USL Championship league because it was based in Canada,” Fury FC president John Pugh said in a statement. “After we announced our cessation of operations, discussions took place about our USL franchise rights and things progressed very quickly from there.”

Unable to get the sanctioning needed to play in the USL Championship in 2020, the Ottawa club suspended operations in November.

CONCACAF has balked at giving the Ottawa club the green light to continue play in the U.S. league given the arrival of the Canadian Premier League.

Miami will play the 2020 USL Championship (Division 2) season at the 20,000-capacity Riccardo Silva Stadium.

The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 season before shifting to the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) and National Independent Soccer Association (NISA).

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Score! Detroit City FC is officially a pro soccer team

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INTER THE UNKNOWN David Beckham gets Inter Miami tips from Ajax CEO and Man Utd legend Van der Sar with Gary and Phil Neville

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2020 US Open Cup schedule unveiled with revamped format, earliest start date of Modern Era

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https://www.fcdallas.com/post/2019/12/12/slow-feet-dont-eat-motto-motivates-faf-picault

"Slow Feet Don't Eat": The Motto that Motivates Fafá Picault

Picault is a well-traveled man. His career began at the age of 16 after he joined Serie A side Cagliari, where he spent six seasons. He then played in the NASL afterwards on the Tampa bay Rowdies and Fort Lauderdale Strikers. In 2015, he jumped around from Czech side, Sparta Prague, and FC St. Pauli in Germany’s second division. Two years later, he joined MLS and the Union.

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"Slow feet don't eat," as Fafa Picault likes to say in his suave, confident tone. It's the bravado he sharpened growing up in New York City and Miami.

He's spent his time in the United States as a kid split between those East Coast cities, before departing for Italy to join Cagliari's academy, then returning to feature for the Tampa Bay Rowdies, Fort Lauderdale Strikers and, for the last three seasons, the Philadelphia Union.

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https://www.bizjournals.com/tampabay/news/2019/12/12/tampa-coffee-roaster-buddy-brew-is-taking-over-the.html

Tampa coffee roaster Buddy Brew is taking over the old Klikfit space in South Tampa

Dave and Susan Ward, co-owners of Buddy Brew.

Tampa coffee roaster Buddy Brew plans to transform a vacant storefront on Bay to Bay Boulevard.

The former home of Klikfit at 3302 W. Bay to Bay Blvd. will be split between the coffee shop and Chill Brothers Ice Cream, a scoop shop that recently opened its first location in Ybor City, according to city building permits.

Buddy Brew will occupy two-thirds of the building, with Chill Brothers taking up the rest of the space, permits show. Klikfit, an exercise studio, shuttered around mid-year.

"We are super fired up," said Dave Ward, who owns Buddy Brew with his wife, Susan. "I don’t think I’ve been as excited about a location as this one. We just think that part of town is so underserved from a coffee perspective."

A Chill Bros. representative was not immediately available for comment Thursday.

EWI Construction Inc. is the general contractor on the project. Tampa's SoHo Capital, a partner in The Heights development, has owned the 3,100-square-foot building since 2016, according to Hillsborough County property records.

Building permits peg the initial buildout costs for Buddy Brew at $197,000, though Ward said that's only a fraction of the total startup investment, which he declined to disclose. Chill Bros.' costs are listed at $165,000.

It is Buddy Brew's third location in South Tampa; the coffee company also has storefronts on Kennedy Boulevard and in Hyde Park Village. It also has a coffee bar inside the Oxford Exchange, as well as locations in downtown Tampa, Sarasota and inside Tampa International Airport.

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