Today we look past the winter off-season and on to what the future has in store for amateur soccer in North Carolina. We here at TriSocPod have reported a few times that the First Flight League (FFL) is set to launch their inaugural season next year with a goal of at least sixteen teams. We have been keeping an eye on the state for the past few months and have come up with how we see the league reaching that goal, broken down into five parts.
Part 1 — The 4 Knowns
The first slate of clubs on our list are the founding four members of the league. These are the clubs that make up the current league board and are driving the league’s creation.
Goldsboro Strike Eagles FC
Goldsboro has seen some success in the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) but their real strong suit is the dedication to creating a strong culture in their hometown. The Strike Eagles will be a guiding force that other clubs in the league should look to when trying to be more than a team that plays once a week.
Lazers SC
The Lazers as an organization have been around for years as a local youth club based in Garner and have only recently branched out into the adult men’s soccer leagues. Their only UPSL season was a flash in the pan that did not produce a great record. The owner of Lazers SC also owns the FFL branding, which was originally used for a youth league that folded. Lazers SC have been the playing the most friendlies this fall, with at least one game every weekend.
Union FC
Union FC is a Monroe-based youth organization that also has turned to the adult men’s soccer game. Union spent a brief stent in the UPSL with less than stellar results before joining the other founding teams to create the FFL. From our talks with the owner there is a lot of passion and drive from Union to see this league succeed.
Greensboro International FC
The biggest question mark for us out of the founding four teams is the side from Greensboro. They were a local league side that won the cup in 2019 and then jumped to UPSL in 2020. Their first, and presumably only, season there has been a decent showing. While we don’t know much about their past, it is very notable that they tossed their hat into the FFL ring very early on.
Part 2 — The 5 Confirmed
This section will include the teams that have been confirmed to be part of the 2021 FFL season. These clubs are mostly local sides looking to take the next step or are former UPSL sides looking for a rebirth.
United FC
United is a club that was born from Camp Lejeune’s former soccer program that dates all the way back to the eighties. Once funding for the soccer team was cut the owner of United FC decided to keep the tradition alive and founded a team in the area’s local league. This Jacksonville based club also has a growing academy program that services the military base and surrounding community. The club played in several friendlies with FFL-linked team this fall and is poised for the inaugural season.
Bragg FC
Bragg is a bit of a legacy team in the region. Version 1.0 was a club that launched in the UPSL and turned quite a few heads nationally. Unfortunately, their flame burned out quickly and the team dropped off the radar. Version 2.0 of this Fayetteville-based side is looking to return to the scene and make a name for themselves again. Their Instagram is full of trophies they have lifted in the past.
San Rafael
This might be the side we know the least about out of all the teams being discussed in this article. San Rafael is based out of Charlotte and has been in the youth scene there for a while. That is all we’ve had to go on so far.
Atletico Olanchano
Back into the former UPSL side of things, Atletico is a side that came and went during the 2018 spring and fall seasons. They had a respectable outing in the spring but did not fair so well in the fall. They are a quiet team online from a small town called Rose Hill. They have played in friendlies this fall, but they are few and far between.
Clinton FC
We’ve had the pleasure of actually watching a Clinton game in person. One of the few on this list, unfortunately. The club got their start in the local La Liga in Clinton, we are unclear if it was a team playing in that league or if it is mixture of multiple teams looking to move up. They wore all black Dortmund kits in their game vs Lazers that we covered. The only other piece of information we have is that their logo has watermarks on it and that isn’t great.
Part 3 — The 2 Rumors
CAUTION: we have exited the confirmed segment and have rolled right along into the rumor zone. The following clubs have not joined the FFL, but we believe there is enough evidence to link them to that possibility.
San Lee FC
We’re starting with the biggest stretch first. San Lee FC has been interacting with other FFL teams online and it stands to reason that they would consider a jump to the league to maintain their rivalry with Goldsboro. We don’t have much to go on other than that, but feel it is enough to warrant a mention in the rumors category.
Levi United FC
The case for Levi has a little more bite to it. The side played in Lionsbridge’s friendlies at the start of the summer but then had abrupt relocation in August. They were set to play in the fall season but had to drop out literally days before play started. This fall they have been linked with FFL through friendlies generating the question: will their return be in UPSL or FFL?
Part 4 — The 6 Unknowns
In part four we will be diving into the the clubs that have popped up recently but haven’t been officially attached to a league. We’ll be staying mostly in rumor zone for this segment.
Wilmington FC
Wilmington FC is a club that popped up on our radar late summer and has played a few friendlies with FFL teams. What really intrigued us about them is they have had multiple posts asking people what league they should join. They have been adamant against United Soccer League (USL) and the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) is non-existent in this region, so that leaves: UPSL, National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) Nation, and of course FFL.
Wilmington STARZ
When United FC mentioned they were playing a charity event with a team linked to the Hammerheads it immediately caught our attention. Unfortunately we haven’t been able to get anymore information out about this team and none of the Hammerheads accounts promoted the event. This unknown is likely a dud, but felt it was worth mentioning due to the Hammerheads connection.
Greenville United
Levi vacated Greenville and the real estate was quickly filled by Greenville United. The club has connections with Greensboro International, one of which was the announcement that a current Greensboro player had signed on as the first coach for Greenville. That was a lot of green in two sentences. I kept Greenville United in the unknowns because when we originally reached out to them they had aims for UPSL. Things can change though, and having friends with a founding member might be a big sway.
Inter United FC
Inter United was born out of player frustration with Sosa FC in the spring of 2020. The team’s account popped up and was very active for a month and even posted pictures of jerseys. Since then they have gone completely dormant. Their original plan was to join UPSL and play out of WRAL Soccer Park in North Raleigh, but with a new option and some clubs jumping leagues could they be looking elsewhere now?
FC ORO
This is a club that came on our radar while putting together this article. ORO are a Raleigh-based club that has an established youth program. They have been linked to both UPSL and FFL through several friendlies this past fall.
Azteca FC
Azteca is a club that has played several friendlies with teams in the UPSL and FFL. We know little about them and there are several Azteca FCs, making it hard to do research on them.
Part 5 — The 4 Dominos
CAUTION: We have now moved on from the rumor zone and into speculation town. This section we’ll be touching on the clubs that we believe FFL should be targeting that would create a domino effect, giving the league an instant look of stability.
Note: We want to be clear that none of the clubs mentioned below have known links to FFL as of the date this article was published.
Tobacco Road FC
First up is the Bull City side, Tobacco Road FC. TRFC has been fielding reserves in local leagues alongside their first team in USL2 for a few years now. While it could be on the table for them to shift completely to FFL for their first team, we believe it would be better suited for them to place their year-round reserves in FFL and keep a first team in USL2 for the college summer window. Having a team like TRFC come on board would give the league another strong club that has been around for several years now in the quiver. That credibility it could boost the league’s recruiting power significantly.
Moros FC
We debated putting Moros FC on here as they are a new side and are relatively unknown on the national stage so far. However, their ambition to eventually go pro with NISA is something that would help push FFL towards becoming an affiliate league. Moros also stand to benefit from this affiliation as it creates a smoother path to their goal of going pro. A move by Moros (and San Lee FC) to the FFL might deplete competition in the Mid-Atlantic North enough that it causes the rest of the teams to leave the UPSL as well.
FC Cardinals
We’re swinging for the fences here. If you aren’t aware the owner/coach of FC Cardinals is also the director of the Mid-Atlantic for UPSL. If teams start leaving the Mid-Atlantic for FFL we could see a timeline where FC Cardinals jumps leagues as well. Their move would signal a potential end to UPSL in the state as a whole. An interesting thought.
Any Team from Asheville Buncombe Adult Soccer Association
This is very open-ended. The majority of the teams we’ve brought up today are located in Eastern NC or the Piedmont. The league has to expand west of Greensboro if it wants to both succeed and truly be a league for the whole state. One way to do that is to look at the local leagues. Here is a list of the teams in the most recent season of the Open Premier division of ABASA:
1. OLR Local Boys
2. Everyday FC
3. HAM FC
4. The Chemist
5. Wizards FC
6. 828 United
There are also several La Liga groups across the state. Getting into those communities and recruiting will be essential to proving that the FFL is a league for all of North Carolina.
