Major League Soccer announced Thursday that San Diego has been awarded an expansion team that will begin play in 2025. It will be the 30th team in MLS.
The club will play at Snapdragon Stadium — home to San Diego State football and the San Diego Wave of the NWSL. The club will unveil a name and crest in the buildup to their inaugural season.
“We are thrilled to welcome San Diego to Major League Soccer as our 30th team,” MLS commissioner Don Garber said in a release. “For many years we have believed San Diego would be a terrific MLS market due to its youthful energy, great diversity, and the fact that soccer is an essential part of everyday life for so many people.”
The club is owned by Egyptian billionaire Mohamed Mansour and the Sycuan Band of the Kumeyaay Nation, with San Diego Padres star Manny Machado also part of the ownership group.
The Sycuans become the first Native American tribe to have an ownership stake in professional soccer in the U.S.
Former Los Angeles Football Club president Tom Penn has been named CEO of the San Diego expansion team.
The San Diego group beat out Las Vegas for the expansion bid.
–Field Level Media