Birmingham Legion FC is an American professional

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 ...

club based in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of the U.S. state of Alabama. Birmingham is the seat of Jefferson County, Alabama's most populous county. As of the 2021 census estimates, Birmingham had a population of 197,575, down 1% fr ...

, that competes in the

USL Championship 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, pl ...

, the second division of

American soccer The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is a ...

. The team was established in August 2013 and played under the name Birmingham Hammers until 2018 and began their first professional season as Legion FC on March 10, 2019.

History

On August 9, 2017, the United Soccer League (now known as USL Championship), the Division II sanctioned league by the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

, granted a team for Birmingham to begin play in the 2019 season. On January 17, 2018, the team name was revealed as Birmingham Legion FC, a reference to the historic

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ho ...

that opened in 1927. However, the team instead played at BBVA Field, the home of the UAB Blazers soccer program.

Oak Mountain High School Oak Mountain High School is a four-year public high school in the northern Shelby County suburbs of Birmingham, Alabama. It is part of Shelby County School Schools. Academics College preparation Oak Mountain students can take one or more o ...

graduate and

Real Monarchs Real Monarchs is a professional soccer club playing in the MLS Next Pro, a third division league of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of, the Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. While the senior club is ...

' star forward

Chandler Hoffman Jon Chandler Hoffman (born August 17, 1990) is an American professional soccer player who currently plays as a forward for Los Angeles Force in the National Independent Soccer Association. Career College and amateur After leading Oak Mountain ...

signed on as the team's first player in July 2018. In August the team announced that

Tom Soehn Tom Soehn (born April 15, 1966) is an American soccer coach who is the head coach of USL Championship club Birmingham Legion. A former player, his career as a defender spanned seven clubs across 12 seasons, both indoors and outdoors. Playing c ...

would be the first head coach of Birmingham Legion FC. Their first professional game resulted in a 2–0 defeat against

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 ...

on March 10, 2019.

Stadium

Legion FC played its home matches at

Protective Stadium Protective Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium owned and operated by the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. Its naming rights are provided by the Protective Life company, which will pay $1 million p ...

, which also serves as the Blazers' home field, which began in the 2021-22 season. On March 15, 2021, Legion FC was forced to move its scheduled match against rival

Memphis 901 Memphis 901 FC is an American professional soccer team based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 2018, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. Stadium The club currently plays on the grounds of AutoZone Park, a baseball stadiu ...

to historic

because of unplayable pitch conditions at

PNC Field PNC Field is a 10,000-seat minor league baseball stadium that is located in Moosic, Pennsylvania in the Wyoming Valley, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre metropolitan area that was built in 1989 and rebuilt in 2013. The stadium is home to the Scranton/Wilke ...

, caused by heavy rains in the previous days. The match, dubbed "Legion at Legion," drew a club-record crowd of 10,177, which the club said was also the largest crowd ever to attend a professional soccer match in Alabama. (Legion Field's largest soccer crowd ever was a

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

match between the United States and Argentina, which also set the stadium's all-time attendance record with 83,810 fans.) Inclement weather also forced delays or cancellations in other matches. In November 2021, the club and the

University of Alabama System The University of Alabama System is a public university system in Alabama that coordinates and oversees three research universities: University of Alabama (UA), University of Alabama at Birmingham, and University of Alabama in Huntsville. These u ...

Board of Trustees agreed to terminate Legion FC's eight-year lease early. No reason was announced through official channels. On December 7, 2021, the club announced the Legion would play their home games at Protective Stadium starting with their 2022 season.

Club culture

Rivalries

Birmingham competes in the Southern Harm derby against rivals

Sponsorship

Players and staff

Roster

Team management

{, class="wikitable" , - !style="background:#000000; color:white; border:2px solid #A08B58;" scope="col" colspan=2, Front office , - , - !style="background:#000000; color:white; border:2px solid #A08B58;" scope="col" colspan=2, Coaching staff , -

Team records

Year-by-year

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" ! scope="col" rowspan="2" , Season ! colspan=8 class="unsortable" ,

! scope="col" rowspan="2" class="unsortable" , Play-offs ! scope="col" rowspan="2" class="unsortable" , U.S. Open Cup ! scope="col" colspan="2" class="unsortable" , Top scorer ! scope="col" rowspan="2" class="unsortable" , Head Coach ! scope="col" rowspan="2" class="unsortable" , Avg. attendance , - ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! class="unsortable" , Player ! class="unsortable" , Goals , - ,

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

, 34 , 12 , 15 , 7 , 35 , 51 , 43 , 10th, Eastern , Conference Quarterfinals , 3rd Round , J.J. Williams , 8 , rowspan=4,

, 4,541 , - ,

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

, 16 , 7 , 5 , 4 , 29 , 19 , 28 , 2nd, Group G , Conference Quarterfinals , Canceled ,

Neco Brett Neco Jeborie Brett (born 22 March 1992) is a Jamaican footballer who plays as a forward for USL Championship club Birmingham Legion. Club career Brett began his career in Jamaica with Harbour View and Portmore United before moving to the Un ...

, 9 , 1,250 , - ,

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

, 32 , 18 , 8 , 6 , 51 , 31 , 61 , 2nd, Central , Conference Semifinals , Canceled ,

, 18 , 5,941 , - ,

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, 34 , 17 , 10 , 7 , 56 , 37 , 58 , 4th, Eastern , Conference Quarterfinals , 3rd Round , Enzo Martínez , 15 1. Top scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

Head coaches

* Includes USLC regular season, USLC playoffs, U.S. Open Cup. Excludes friendlies. {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin-left: lem;" ! Coach !! Nationality !! Start !! End !! Games !! Win !! Loss !! Draw !! Win % , - ,

, , , present

References

External links

* Soccer clubs in Alabama Association football clubs established in 2017 2017 establishments in Alabama USL Championship teams Sports in Birmingham, Alabama {{Alabama-footyclub-stub