Chattanooga Football Club adds two more matches to the 2016 schedule
For the second year in a row, the Scenic City has been selected to host the US Soccer Amateur National Championships, the 2016 Hank Steinbrecher Cup on May 27th and 28th. The Steinbrecher Cup is a national tournament that crowns the best amateur side in America.
Last year Chattanooga FC won the silverware—it’s first National Championship—by defeating the Maryland Bays and the Michigan Bucks in consecutive days. The win was especially sweet at home in Finley Stadium, where several thousand fans cheered them on to victory in each game.
“As you might guess, the tournament organizers were extremely pleased with last year,” said General Manager Sean McDaniel. “Our city, stadium and atmosphere far exceeded their expectations and that made us a top contender for hosting again this year.”
The tournament seeks to bring together amateur champions of four different tournaments to compete: winners of the NPSL, the PDL, the USASA Open Cup and USASA Amateur Cup.
There's even more good news for CFC fans: your season passes will get you into these games for free! That adds two more CFC matches to your season (for a current total of seven), as well as the other two Steinbrecher Cup games that CFC doesn’t play in.
The Teams:
Chattanooga FC
Chicago Fire PDL
West Chester United-PA (USASA Open Cup Champion)
Quinto Elemento-KS (USASA Amateur Cup Champion)
Tournament Schedule (the opening matches will be handled via a draw so who CFC plays Friday is TBD):
Friday, May 27 game at 5:00 and 7:30 (CFC will be in this match)
Saturday, May 28, Consolation at 5:00 and Championship at 7:30
The namesake of the tournament, Hank Steinbrecher, served as US Soccer’s General Secretary from 1990 through 2000. Hank took a lead role through direct day-to-day involvement in marketing the sport of soccer to potential sponsors, helping U.S. Soccer's corporate family grow throughout the 1990's. Part of his success in this area translated into strong funding of soccer's national teams at all levels. By the end of the 1990's, the U.S. Women had won two Women's World Cup crowns and had built a record unrivaled in sport. The U.S. Men during that period appeared in three World Cups, won a Gold Cup and finished third at two Confederation Cups.
Steinbrecher and his wife attended last year’s tournament and hope to attend this year’s as well.
“We saw some incredibly good competition last year,” said Head Coach Bill Elliott. “We are looking forward to playing at very high level again this year. And—if things happen to go our way—we hope to lift that trophy a second time.”