NYCFC to Play in CCL at Home on the Left Coast

By Anonymous (not verified), January 11, 2022

New York City FC Announces Home Venue for Upcoming Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League Match Against Santos de Guápiles Fútbol Club

NEW YORK, N.Y., January 11, 2022 – New York City FC can confirm today that the Club’s upcoming Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) home leg against Costa Rican club Santos de Guápiles Fútbol Club will be held at LAFC’s Banc of California Stadium on February 23, 2022, prior to the start of the MLS regular season. The Club’s primary and secondary home venues, Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, are not CONCACAF-approved venues. NYCFC’s third-choice venue, Red Bull Arena, is the only CONCACAF-approved venue in the immediate New York City metropolitan area, but is also unavailable due to stadium and pitch renovations. Therefore, the Club has needed to look outside the NYC area and settled on Banc of California Stadium due to the Club’s away game against LA Galaxy being played nearby just four days later. NYCFC CEO, Brad Sims, said: “We’re extremely proud to compete in the CONCACAF Champions League following our triumph in Portland to win our first MLS Cup Championship last season. This Club belongs on the biggest stage possible and although finding home venues for the home legs of any Champions League matches is challenging to us, we are excited to compete against the best teams in North and Central America for another piece of silverware. “It is frustrating that this home game will be played on the other side of the country. However, with our season opener at LA Galaxy only a few days later and our inability to play at Yankee Stadium or one of our alternative home venues, we felt that this arrangement gave our Club the best possible chance for two positive results that week as we look to do well in CCL and begin the defense of the title." The first leg of NYCFC’s tie against Santos de Guápiles Fútbol Club will take place on February 15 at 8:00pm ET. That game has been relocated from Guapiles to the Costa Rican Capital, San Jose since Santos’ home stadium is not CONCACAF approved. The second leg in LA will kick off at 3:00pm PST / 6:00pm ET. Following the Champions League tie, NYCFC will play its first game of the MLS regular season as defending MLS Cup Champions against LA Galaxy at Dignity Health Sports Park on February 27. This will be NYCFC’s second involvement in the CCL tournament after previously qualifying for the 2020 edition of the competition. On that occasion, the Club reached the quarterfinal stage before falling to Mexican side Tigres.

This long distance home game has been met with criticism by all, fans and foes alike. This is not on the team so much as on the City of NY, it is very difficult to get a stadium built here, that it has taken this long is no surprise to me. On would hope in that they now hold the title, that may push the city to get this done, but I doubt it. Given how well received the viewing party was for the MLS Cup and what a great time was had by all, a viewing party for this big game would also be held, even more so should they win the first leg in Costa Rica.

ABOUT NEW YORK CITY FCNew York City Football Club (NYCFC) is an American professional soccer team that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Eastern Conference of the League. It was announced as the League's 20th franchise on May 21, 2013 and is the first and only MLS Club located within the five boroughs of New York City. NYCFC kicked off its inaugural MLS season in March 2015 and is majority owned by City Football Group (CFG). Since its inaugural season, the Club has qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs the last six consecutive seasons. In 2021, NYCFC won the MLS Cup in the Club's first ever appearance, becoming the first professional sports franchise based in New York to win a championship in a decade. NYCFC’s Academy currently features teams from the U-12 to U-18 age groups and became the first Academy in the country to win back-to-back national titles at the U-19 level. NYCFC proudly supports City in the Community (CITC) foundation to use the power of soccer to uplift communities; one of the programs, New York City Soccer Initiative (NYCSI) is a first-of-its-kind public-private community partnership to open 50 mini-soccer pitches in underserved NYC neighborhoods in five years.