Nuke Soccer

By Richard Starnes The Ottawa Citizen

USL facing determined challenge from team owners
The battle over professional soccer in North America is under way, and it’s likely to get messy before it’s over.

This week, the Montreal Impact, Vancouver Whitecaps and four other United Soccer Leagues First Division teams — along with St. Louis — revealed they are preparing to quit the league, which is basically the North American Second Division behind Major League Soccer.

The Team Owners’ Association (TOA) intends to form a league of its own, and applied this week to the U.S. Soccer Federation for sanctioning. The USL was quick to shoot back. It spoke of “misrepresentation, interference with USF business operations and substantial debt amongst the membership of the parties applying for certification.”

So real trouble could begin next weekend when the soccer federation meets in Seattle while the USL holds its AGM in Tampa, Florida.

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