PORTLAND, MAINE – Meet your new favorite soccer team. On September 7th it was announced to a crowd of around 400 people gathered at Bissell Brothers Brewery that the organization USL To Portland had succeeded in its mission to bring the beautiful game to the Pine Tree State. It was a moment 4 years in the making for USL to Portland President and founder Gabe Hoffman-Johnson. 

Hoffman-Johnson told The Beacon that the idea came to him as “a bit of an a-ha moment” when he was working in finance in New York City. A former star soccer player for Falmouth High and Dartmouth College, he is far from a stranger to the sport. After moving home to Portland in 2019, he put his time and resources to work, teaming up with investors and business partners to kickstart the movement.

“I think if you know the game it’s fairly obvious,” Hoffman-Johnson said when asked why Portland was the right fit for a professional soccer team. He pointed to the young and diverse market of the city. “The audience is there,” he said. “Portland is passionate beyond size. I don’t think there’s a better untapped market for a soccer team.” He’s right. Every weekend crowds of local soccer fans gather at bars such as The Zoo or Rí Rá to celebrate their love of the sport. On any given day you can drive by Kennedy Park and see plenty of people kicking around a ball. When he says Portland is ready for this, he means it. That is exactly why he had to make this happen. “It’s just too good of an opportunity, too good of a place, at too good of a time. There was never an option for it to not happen.”

Starting with the 2025 season, the club will compete in USL League One, the third tier of professional soccer in the United States. Games will be played at Fitzpatrick Stadium in Portland, and Hoffman-Johnson says they are having conversations with the city about renovating the stadium. 

Gameday sounds just as much like a celebration of Portland as it does a spectator sporting event. Portland is an affectionate city, and there’s no doubt that the community will bring staunch support and vibrant energy to the stands. In addition to exciting soccer, there will be food trucks, and community partners–a real “farmers market meets street festival vibe,” as Hoffman-Johnson describes it. It is a can’t-miss event for anyone, soccer fan or not.

The process of selecting a club name is underway, with community output being considered. Hoffman-Johnson says there’s a name he’s heard that he’s particularly excited about, but he doesn’t want to spoil the surprise. Something to get extremely enthusiastic about is that the club has hired graphic designer Matt Wolff to curate the team’s visual identity (logo, uniforms, etc). To say that Wolff has a glowing resume in the football world would be understating it. His work includes designing uniforms for Paris Saint Germain in France, one of the world’s biggest sporting institutions, as well as the uniforms in which France won the 2018 World Cup, and the Nigeria National Team jerseys that took the world by viral storm in 2018. Soon, he will be adding Portland’s first professional soccer team to that list.

While the club’s identity steadily forms in the background, the work has only just begun for Hoffman-Johnson and company to get the club up and running and ready for kickoff. The first order of business is to handle the operational side of things. Someone with more experience will be brought in to handle the General Management duties. Meanwhile, Hoffman-Johnson will take on a role akin to a Chief Community Officer, serving as the face of the club, and a connector between the community and the club. 

The roster will begin to take shape in the time to come. The club plans on hosting local tryouts, signing local players coming through the ranks, as well as bringing in some USL League One veterans and international players. This team will bring so much more to Portland and Maine than entertainment and joy. It will be a conduit for good, it will give back to the community. It will become something bigger than ourselves, and a true uniter for all of us. Even for the newest soccer fans, the infectious energy will draw you in at the first kick of the ball. Every tackle, every goal, will mean that much more. Even though we are already a city with a vast passion for the game, all the signs indicate that Portland’s love affair with the beautiful game is only just beginning.