Ep. 19 - The Summer of Soccer: Champions League, Copa America, & More
May 30, 2024
USL Arkansas
Get ready to dive into the thrilling world of soccer, right here in the United States! This episode of the Pitch to Pro podcast promises to uncover why now is the best time to launch a professional soccer team in Northwest Arkansas. Hear all about the rising popularity of soccer across the nation, from bustling youth leagues to passionate adult fans. We break down how major events like Copa America 2024, the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, and the FIFA World Cup 2026 are set to catapult the sport into the American mainstream. And don't miss our glimpse into the potential for the Women's World Cup in 2031 and the excitement building up to the UEFA Champions League final on June 1st.
But that's not all—summer is sizzling with soccer action! Tune in as we preview the high-octane TST tournament kicking off on June 5th, where former international stars battle for a million-dollar prize. Then, we shift our focus to the European Championships starting June 14th in Germany, promising thrilling matches from European powerhouses like France, England, and Italy. And let's not forget Copa America, set to unfold simultaneously on U.S. soil. As we wrap up, we extend a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated listeners and encourage you to stay connected with us on all our platforms. This episode is packed with everything a soccer enthusiast could dream of!
Get ready to dive into the thrilling world of soccer, right here in the United States! This episode of the Pitch to Pro podcast promises to uncover why now is the best time to launch a professional soccer team in Northwest Arkansas. Hear all about the rising popularity of soccer across the nation, from bustling youth leagues to passionate adult fans. We break down how major events like Copa America 2024, the FIFA Club World Cup 2025, and the FIFA World Cup 2026 are set to catapult the sport into the American mainstream. And don't miss our glimpse into the potential for the Women's World Cup in 2031 and the excitement building up to the UEFA Champions League final on June 1st.
But that's not all—summer is sizzling with soccer action! Tune in as we preview the high-octane TST tournament kicking off on June 5th, where former international stars battle for a million-dollar prize. Then, we shift our focus to the European Championships starting June 14th in Germany, promising thrilling matches from European powerhouses like France, England, and Italy. And let's not forget Copa America, set to unfold simultaneously on U.S. soil. As we wrap up, we extend a heartfelt thank you to our dedicated listeners and encourage you to stay connected with us on all our platforms. This episode is packed with everything a soccer enthusiast could dream of!
Wes Harris:
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of USL Arkansas. This will be our platform to tell our story about the club and the special place that we call home, northwest Arkansas. This is a journey we want to bring you along for the ride. We'll share what's going on behind the curtain, help educate the community at large about soccer, our league, and give updates on the progress of the club along the way. We'll see you next time. Pitch to Pro Podcast is proudly sponsored by PodcastVideoscom. Podcastvideoscom is Northwest Arkansas' premier podcast recording studio, equipped with industry-leading equipment. The recording studio and services save you time, money and hassle. They are dedicated to helping you create, record and publish high-quality podcasts for your audience. Be sure to check them out today at podcastvideoscom. Hello everybody and welcome back to the Pitch to Pro podcast.
Wes Harris:
I am your host, wes Harris, Managing Director for USL Arkansas, northwest Arkansas's professional soccer club, playing in the United Soccer League. Today, I thought we'd do something a little bit different. One of the things that makes our project at USL Arkansas so exciting as we talk to people is the timing. At both youth and adult all levels, really and viewership as well are at all-time highs, with not just highs, but incredible growth trajectories as well, so already at their peak of where they've ever been, but continuing to just grow rapidly. So it's a really, really exciting time for us to be launching a professional soccer team, really, really exciting time for us to be launching a professional soccer team. But on top of that, you also have this slate of upcoming top tier soccer events coming to the United States on the global stage in the coming years that are going to just take soccer to completely new levels in this country. It's going to be another springboard event for our sport in our country to jump off of and just explode even more than they already are. And this all starts this summer 2024, with Copa America, which we will get into in a second here.
Wes Harris:
Then in 2025, you have the FIFA club world cup. Uh, the FIFA club world cup is kind of like the world cup, uh, but for club teams. So think about the top club teams from all the different parts of the world Um, real Madrid, manchester United, um, you know, boca juniors in Argentina, uh, flamengo, um, and all of the others all over the world. They all come together and they play in a tournament style similar to the world cup, but it's for club teams, um, and so that is going to be hosted in the United States in 2025. Then you have, kind of the coup de gras, the biggest sporting event in the entire world, the FIFA World Cup, hosted here in the United States. Games in Dallas, in Kansas City, real close to us here in Northwest Arkansas, the final being in New York City at MetLife Stadium there. And so we also then have, after the FIFA World Cup, we have the Olympics in 2028. And then we also are the favorites, or one of the favorites, I should say, in terms of who's going to win the bid for the 2031 Women's World Cup. We were in the running as well for 2027, but we bowed out of that one and they just announced that Brazil is actually going to be a host for the women's world cup in 2027. So there's a lot of strong opinions that the U? S is going to take 2031 because they gave Brazil the 2027.
Wes Harris:
So a lot of incredible soccer tournaments coming and potentially coming to the United States over the next, you know, four or five to 10 years coming to the United States over the next four or five to 10 years, and it's just going to be this slew of springboard events that are just going to continue to peak, interest, continue to grow in terms of fandom and participation and viewership, and it's just going to be an incredible time for our sport in our country. But it all starts, like I said, this summer and there's even some events that I didn't talk about yet that are coming up this summer that I just wanted to highlight for everybody as we get ready and gear up for this summer of soccer in the United States here. So what I thought I'd do today is just kind of go through some of those top events that we have coming here in the United States and around the world. There's some really cool events that are incredible soccer to watch, really really fun and competitive, both here in the United States as well as internationally. So I'll touch on all those so you can kind of tell, maybe by what I'm wearing.
Wes Harris:
For those that don't know, this is Borussia Dortmund. This is a German team in Germany. They are my German team because if you know me, you know I'm a Liverpool fan and you know you'll never walk alone. If you don't know what that is, go Google it. Dortmund is one of the only clubs in the world to also kind of share that you'll never walk alone moniker. There's one or two others in the world that do it I know Feyenoord also does it in the Dutch league but Dortmund, one of the most passionate fan bases, the yellow wall. Just do yourself a favor and if you can ever go to a soccer match at Borussia Dortmund, you should do it. An incredible fan base, an incredible stadium, but they are involved in kind of the first one.
Wes Harris:
I'm going in a little bit of chronological order. So Saturday, june 1st 2 pm, kickoff, central Time, will be on. I believe CBS, big CBS, will be the UEFA Champions League final. So the UEFA Champions League is a tournament that is held every year and it is for the top club teams in europe, um. So that includes all of the top big five leagues in italy, spain, germany, um england, france, and so all of those top teams compete all throughout the year in conjunction with their club team. You know league play, and then the final is held every year. This is like one of the most prestigious uh trophies to win in global club soccer. Uh, and that will happen this Saturday, on June 1st 2 PM, central, and it is Borussia Dortmund against Real Madrid. Chris and I are going to have a little bit of a battle, because he's a Madrid fan, because of Luka Modric and the Croatian connection there. So may the best team win there, chris, on Saturday for the Champions League final.
Wes Harris:
Then you have right after that, on from June 5th through June 10th, you have this kind of relatively new tournament called the TST or the soccer tournament, and that is happening in Cary, north Carolina, again June 5th through the 10th. It's broadcast on ESPN and ESPN plus. This is a really kind of interesting, cool format. It's a seven V seven tournament, both men's and women's. It's open application. It doesn't mean that everybody who applies gets in, but it's open application. So you have everyone, from professional, former professional players, former collegiate players. You even have some amateur players in the mix. You have some former national team players. You have some big names that are participating in in this tournament.
Wes Harris:
Um, and again, it kicks off on june 5th. Finals for both the men and the women will be held on june 10th. Um, but the big kicker here is the winning teams. There are two, one for the men, one for the women. Two one million dollar prizes, um, and so on the men's side, you have 48 men's teams and you have, you know, former players from Bayern Munich, borussia Dortmund, you have Burnley, wrexham, inter Milan, a whole host of former us men's national team players. You have a whole host of of really cool and diverse uh players and teams and former teammates and rivals. So it's pretty interesting to see.
Wes Harris:
And you have teams from all over the world that come in and again hosted here in the United States. And then on the women's side, you have eight women's teams this year and they are separated out this year as their own standalone tournament, headlined kind of by the US women, former US women's national team players, captained by Heather O'Reilly. She's part of the TST team as well. But you also have players from Wrexham Women who, if you've been following that TV show, have become super popular. Burnley again has got teams both on the men's side and the women's side. You have actually one of our USL Super League teams. The Tampa Bay Sun is going to send some players as well. So it's going to be really, really fun and interesting. It's a different format, it's a different take. It's pretty cool. So if you can check it out, be sure to see it on ESPN, espn Plus Again. Two $1 million prizes to split across, you know, seven teammates is pretty cool, plus maybe some subs, but anyway. So that's the TST.
Wes Harris:
Then we get into some bigger international tournaments here. So we have on, kicking off on June 14th is the European Championships, or the Euros as they're more commonly known as. This is a tournament that, think of it is like a world cup of the European nations, um, and that kicks off, uh, again on June 24, on June 14th, excuse me, 2 PM, central, hosted by Germany. So all the games are in Germany this year, um, you can find all the games on Fox sports and their networks, like Fox sports, one, fox sports, two, big Fox, uh, et cetera. This is traditional kind of group play, round robin, then the top teams advance into the knockout stages, into a traditional kind of bracket style tournament until you get a winner.
Wes Harris:
The first match is going to be Germany versus Scotland. Again, this is a tournament that happens every four years. It's on the in-between World Cup years. So we just had the World Cup in 2022 in Qatar, and so now it's time for the Euros in 2024, right in the middle of in-between World Cups. So between 22 and 26, they do the Euros. So it's on that opposite kind of four-year cadence versus the world cup, so that you're not in conflict there, um, and so this is a collection, as I said, of all of the top nations in europe, um, and everybody in europe. As long as you are a fifa nation that is aligned under the uefa confederation or european confed, you can qualify, but they only take the top 24 teams.
Wes Harris:
So there's six groups of four teams and I'll rattle them off here really quick. Group A is Germany, scotland, hungary and Switzerland. You then have group B Spain, croatia, italy and Albania arguably what we call the group of death, or kind of a toss up. You have a lot of top teams in those groups. They often get coined the group of death in kind of a toss up. You have all the a lot of top teams in those groups. They often get coined the group of death and all these big tournaments, um. And then you have group C Slovenia, denmark, serbia and England. Group D Netherlands, france, poland, austria. You have group E Ukraine, slovakia, belgium and Romania. Group F is Portugal, czech Republic, georgia and Turkey, and then you know. Then that rounds out the groups and the teams In terms of the favorites and who to watch.
Wes Harris:
This is really anyone's tournament. France, england and Belgium are all within the top four of the current FIFA World Rankings if you put any stock into those. But you also have Portugal, netherlands, spain, italy all in the top 10, as well as Croatia, and so it's really going to be anyone's tournament. It's going to be incredible to watch. And again, shout out to Chris in Croatia he's going to be in Croatia in July for the tournament. He's not going to a match Well, maybe he is, I don't know, we'll see. He may send us some photos and surprise us, but anyway, he's going to be in Europe, at least for the Euros, which will be fun for him and his family. And again, the final will be on July 14th. It'll be in the morning, central time. They're still working on the timing of it, but sometime in the morning here central time will be the final. So that is the Euros. This is an amazing tournament a lot of talent and there's typically a lot of transfer movement on the club side of things coming out of these international tournaments, because the world is watching and so you have some of these players that are with countries that get a different magnifying glass for scouts and other coaches around the world on club teams, and so there's a lot of transfer movement, typically on the backside of these international tournaments. So it's fun to watch.
Wes Harris:
Right after the Euros kick off and, happening kind of concurrently, will be in the United States, as I mentioned, kicking off that kind of first slate of big international competition, global competition here in the United States that we're really excited about is Copa America. Copa America is again think of it as a World Cup, but of the Western Hemisphere so it's a combination of the best teams from CONCACAF, which is the confederation that the USA resides it's North American, central American and Caribbean nations, and then CONMEBOL, which is the South American confederation, where if you're a part of those confederations, you can qualify. But this one is a little bit smaller, it's 16 teams. So four groups of four similar style group play round robin um, and the first match there is going to be again on june 20th at 7 pm. You're going to have argentina versus canada on the 20th and this again is going to be found on Fox Sports with TUDN, and Univision will have the Spanish language broadcast as well. And so to quickly round out the groups, so you have group A, you have Argentina, canada, chile, peru.
Wes Harris:
Group B is Ecuador, jamaica, mexico and Venezuela. Group C is Bolivia, the US, panama and Uruguay, and then group D. Arguably the group of death here for Copa America is going to be Brazil, colombia, costa Rica and Paraguay. Brazil and Colombia are both in the top 12. Brazil, number two, I think. Colombia is number 12 in the again latest FIFA world rankings, depending on if you put any stock into that. Costa Rica and Paraguay are in the mid fifties in the rankings, but they have been known on their day to be able to compete with anybody and cause some big upsets for and problems for teams. So that is going to be a very interesting group. A lot of great play in all the groups, but a group of death there, arguably.
Wes Harris:
On group D, as far as the United States, we are at least in the group stages. We don't know if we're going to make it out Hopefully we will but we are guaranteed three games, and those are going to be held on June 23rd USA versus Bolivia at 5 pm Central Time. That one is going to be in Dallas at AT&T Stadium. Our next match is going to be June 27th, usa versus Panama, 5 pm Central Time. Again, that one is going to be held in Atlanta. So Mercedes-Benz Stadium gets to host that one. And then on July 1st, the big one. You're going to have USA versus Uruguay at 8 pm Central Time, kansas City, arrowhead. Two teams very close to each other in the world rankings. That one's going to be a real fun one and a big one. So arguably, one of those two teams is going to top the group.
Wes Harris:
So we will, as USL Arkansas, we will be hosting watch parties for all three of these Details on those TBD. Those are going to come out soon, so be on the lookout for those details and we can't wait to watch some incredible soccer with you guys. So the final of this tournament is also going to be on July 14th. This one is going to be in Miami at the Hard Rock Stadium at 7 pm Central Time. So on July 14th you're going to have the Euros final in the morning and then in the evening you're going to get to have the in the morning and that in the evening you're going to get to have the Copa America final. So just an awesome, awesome day. Bookmark July 14th. If you're a soccer fan or a good sports fan, july 14th is going to be a great day.
Wes Harris:
Then I also wanted to highlight just a couple other things happening here in just the soccer world, soccer sphere in the US throughout the summer. So again, really, really exciting that we have the USL Super League kicking off for their first ever match, first inaugural season. I'm so excited, again for those that don't know, usl Super League we are going to bring, working to bring women's soccer as well as men's soccer here in Northwest Arkansas. We will play, or shoot to play, in the USL Championship as well as the USL Super League, newly created league on the women's side that kicks off in 2024. We won't kick off then but the league itself does, with eight inaugural teams and their first ever match, again tier one division, one sanctioned by US soccer. So the highest level of soccer that you can have on the women's side is going to be coming to Northwest Arkansas and played here in the USL Super League.
Wes Harris:
That kicks off Saturday, august 17th with the two matches. You have the Carolina Ascent versus the DC Power and then you have Spokane Zephyr versus Fort Lauderdale United, excuse me. So that's really exciting to see and watch and hopefully everybody tunes in for that. Usl and MLS continue their league play all throughout the summer as well. Importantly, I wanted to highlight that the US Open Cup has their quarterfinals on July 9th and we, as in USL USL Championship have three clubs that are all participating in the quarterfinals of this year's Open Cup, so really exciting. So you have Sacramento Republic versus Seattle Sounders, you have Indy 11 versus Atlanta United and then you have New Mexico United versus LAFC. All of those matches are going to be on July 9th. Again, semifinals will be on August 27th and the final will be on either, I think, the 24th or 25th of September.
Wes Harris:
So again, the U S open cup. Think of it like an elongated year long March madness within college basketball where you get these great David versus Goliath matchups and these Cinderella stories where anybody it's open and free, competition and play and it's just a fantastic, longest running tournament in the US, fantastic competition. And it's great to see three USL championship teams still in the running there and giving MLS a run for their money. So it's great and just a testament to the league and where it's gone and and the level of competition. Uh, and then you also have rounding us out. You have the second iteration of the leagues cup, which is major league soccer versus league mx partnership, their new competition, their other second leg there that'll happen this summer with a pause, the play. So that kind kind of rounds out the summer of soccer, the big at least tournaments and mentions that I wanted to hit on. You continue with also the NWSL league play. I don't want to forget about them on the women's side, and so you know again.
Wes Harris:
I thought I just wanted to take a minute, take an episode and talk about all the incredible soccer that we have just kicking off a lot in the United States again, and also a lot of cool stuff going on internationally that we want to pay attention to and watch Some great competition, great soccer to be had and really, really excited to watch. I don't know if my wife's going to love me with as much soccer as I'm going to be watching this summer, but that's okay. So that's what she signed up for, that's right. So, anyway, appreciate you guys, and I'm going to recut that last section, guys. So I'm just really excited to to be able to watch with you guys and follow along on some great soccer all throughout the summer here both in the US and internationally. So check us out on our socials for announcements on watch parties and I'm sure I'll see you guys and be able to talk about some great soccer this summer.
Wes Harris:
Thanks, northwest Arkansas Cheers. Thanks for tuning in for this episode of the Pitch to Pro podcast. Make sure to follow along with our journey and find us on pitchtoprocom, instagram, linkedin, facebook, youtube and wherever you get your podcasts. For more details and information on the club, check out uslarkansascom or at USL Arkansas on all major social channels. Until next time, northwest Arkansas. Cheers and thanks for listening.
