Orlando City Returns to USL with B-team

The organization will play its home games at Eastern Florida State College (EFSC) in Melbourne at the Titan Soccer Complex, the on-campus facility that is home to the school’s men’s and women’s soccer programs.

Aside from prestige, Division II status would position USL clubs with a later start in the annual U.S. Open Cup, meaning just one victory would be required before meeting an MLS opponent in the single-elimination tournament.

The Orlando City Soccer Club on Thursday announce their much anticipated plans to bring soccer to Brevard County. The NASL, which is nearing the end of the second leg of its spring-and-fall season, has said it could have 18 teams by 2018, with two more – in Miami and Puerto Rico – set to play next season.

A support group has already been formed, called the Harbor City Hooligans.

Meantime, a few USL clubs have been outspoken about their interest in moving up to Major League Soccer – notably the team in Sacramento, which in 2015 averaged more than 11,000 home fans a game, by far a league best.

The club also announced that it has been formally granted the rights to a USL franchise, which was seen as a formality.

Orlando City South Carolina B will be coached by former Lions player Anthony Pulis and will share operations with the MLS team under the direction of chairman and majority owner Flávio Augusto da Silva, and founder and president Phil Rawlins. Other illustrious former players include Rob Valentino, a three-time All-USL selection, Sporting Kansas City’s Dom Dwyer, who helped the Lions claim the 2013 championship, and current Orlando City South Carolina player Lewis Neal.

“We’ve done this in the historic tradition of clubs around the world whose second teams carry the name B, such as FC Barcelona which has Barca B, Benfica with Benfica B, Portugal Porto with Porto B”, Holt said.

“OCB will have an immediate impact in the advancement of our young and emerging players by offering week-in, week-out action in the highly-competitive USL, serving to accelerate their development”, Holt said. So it’s a little bit unique to the United States. They will join the Houston Dynamo and Philadelphia Union in bringing teams into the league for 2016 season.