The 2016 season is

Bethlehem Steel FC Philadelphia Union II is an American professional soccer team based in Chester, Pennsylvania competing in MLS Next Pro. Founded in 2015 as Bethlehem Steel FC, the team is the official affiliate of the Philadelphia Union of Major League Soccer. T ...

's inaugural season of competitive

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

– its first season in the third division of American soccer and its first season in

United Soccer League United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a Association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues curren ...

. Steel FC compete in the league's Eastern Conference.

Current roster

Transfers

In

Out

Loan in

Loan out

Competitions

compete in

USL The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...

, which is the third tier of the

American soccer pyramid The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

. Steel FC's affiliation with the

Philadelphia Union The Philadelphia Union are an American professional soccer club based in Chester, Pennsylvania. The Union compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. Founded on February 28, 2008, the club began playing in 201 ...

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

has prevented the team from participating in the

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

competition. The decision to make affiliated "farm teams" ineligible for the U.S. Open Cup was decided for the 2016 iteration of the tournament.

Preseason

USL regular season

The

2016 USL Season The 2016 USL season was the sixth season of the United Soccer League and the twenty-second season of USSF sanctioned Division III play organized by the United Soccer Leagues. On August 6, 2015, the league announced that the season would consis ...

will be contested by 29 teams, 14 of which compete in the league's Eastern Conference. All teams will play a regular season total of 30 matches between teams within their respective conference. At the conclusion of the regular season, the top eight teams from each conference advance to the

2016 USL Playoffs The 2016 USL Playoffs is a postseason tournament following the 2016 United Soccer League regular season, the second since the league rebranded for the 2015 season. Including USL Pro history, it is the fifth postseason tournament. The tournament ...

for a chance to compete for the USL Championship Title.

Standings (Eastern Conference)

Results

All times in

Eastern Time The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...

Statistics

''As of September 25, 2016.''

Goalkeepers

''As of September 25, 2016.'' :Players with names ''in italics'' were

on loan In sports, a loan involves a particular player being able to temporarily play for a club other than the one to which they are currently contracted. Loan deals may last from a few weeks to a full season, sometimes persisting for multiple seasons ...

from

for individual matches with Bethlehem. :Players with names marked * were

from another club for the whole of their season with Bethlehem. :Players with names marked † were transferred from the club midseason. :League denotes USL regular season :Playoffs denotes USL Playoffs

Honors

* Week 1 Team of the Week: D

Ryan Richter Ryan Richter (born April 12, 1989) is an American soccer former player and current assistant coach for Philadelphia Union in MLS. Youth and college Richter played soccer at William Tennent High School in Warminster, Pennsylvania where he was a ...

* Week 4 Team of the Week: M

Eric Ayuk Eric Ayuk Mbu (born February 17, 1997) is a Cameroonian footballer who plays as a winger. Playing career Youth Ayuk played football while attending Lycée Bilingue de Yaoundé in his native Cameroon. In June 2012, he moved to Thailand as part ...

''Honorable Mention'': M Derrick Jones * Week 6 Team of the Week: G John McCarthy * Week 14 Team of the Week: ''Honorable Mention'': G Samir Badr * Week 16 Team of the Week: ''Honorable Mention'': F

Cory Burke Cory Lamar Crossgill Burke (born 28 December 1991) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a forward for the New York Red Bulls of Major League Soccer and the Jamaica national team. Club career Rivoli United Born in Kingston, Jama ...

* Week 17 Team of the Week: M Derrick Jones * Week 20 Team of the Week: ''Honorable Mention'': D

References

{{2016 in American soccer

Philadelphia Union II seasons