Broward County is getting a new professional men's soccer team. Fort Lauderdale United FC, the club behind the city's women's pro team, announced on September 30 that it is launching a men's side in USL League One, with its first season kicking off in spring 2027 at Amerant Bank Field on the Nova Southeastern University campus.

One club, two pro teams

Fort Lauderdale United already fields a women's team in the Gainbridge Super League, and the new men's team will share its home field at NSU. That gives one club men's and women's professional soccer under one roof, along with a youth academy and development programs that feed both.

USL League One is a national professional league with clubs across the country, part of the United Soccer League system. For Broward fans, it means a full season of pro men's matches close to home.

A local general manager

The club named Aly Hassan general manager of the men's team. He will keep overseeing the women's side too, which puts the entire Fort Lauderdale United operation, from academy to both pro rosters, under one soccer leader. The club points to Hassan's deep South Florida roots and long-standing ties to local coaches and players as the reason he got the job.

Hassan's pitch is aimed squarely at local families. South Florida has always produced talent, he has said, but too often those players had to leave home to take the next step in their careers. His plan is to build a team that gives them that step right here, so the team is not just based in Fort Lauderdale but made up of players from Fort Lauderdale.

The club says the men's roster will blend two pipelines. The first runs through its own youth programs, which are meant to prepare young local players to compete professionally without leaving the area. The second brings in experienced players from outside the system to set a competitive standard from the first match. If you have a teenager in a South Florida academy right now, this is a pro roster being built with them in mind.

The chairman's long view

Tommy Smith, Fort Lauderdale United's founder and chairman, pitched the launch as the next chapter in Fort Lauderdale's soccer history, and he made a point of including the supporters who built that history. He wants longtime fans to be part of what comes next, and he wants a new generation to grow up with its own team, its own matchday traditions and its own memories. He has also been clear that 2027 is meant to be a beginning, not a finish line, with plans measured in decades rather than seasons.

What this means for fans

A League One team changes the weekend math for a lot of Broward households. Pro men's soccer becomes something you can catch close to home, with a club that is asking fans to help build its traditions from day one. Youth players will have a local team to watch, measure themselves against and maybe one day join.

It also gives the women's team a bigger stage. Two pro teams sharing one venue means more matchdays, more reasons to make the trip to Amerant Bank Field, and more people discovering the club's women's side in the process.

How to get in early

The inaugural season does not start until spring 2027, so the season schedule, ticket prices and first signings are still to come. The best way to follow along now is through the USL League One announcement and Fort Lauderdale United's own channels, where the club will roll out news as the roster takes shape. In the meantime, you can see the club in action by catching a Fort Lauderdale United women's match at Amerant Bank Field this season. Get to know the club now, and you will have bragging rights when the men's team takes the field for the first time.