Jacksonville, Fla. — A new soccer club called Sporting JAX wants to bring the first women’s and men’s professional soccer teams to Northeast Florida. Action New Jax spoke with a member of this club who has plans to build a multimillion dollar soccer stadium and soccer fields for underserved communities in Northeast Florida.
“There’s a lot of parts of Jacksonville that just doesn’t have access to soccer,” Chief Community Officer of Sporting Jax, Tony Allegretti said.
Allegretti said the soccer club established in Northeast Florida with the mission of increasing underserved communities’ access to soccer fields.
Two football legends, Tim Tebow and Fred Taylor, are part of the clubs ownership group.
“We’re dedicated to making sure that every kid in the area has access to soccer. It’s not happening right now in every part of town.”
Communities in the Northeast and Northwest Jacksonville are areas where sporting Jax is trying to implement more sporting activity.
The club aims to elevate the region’s soccer profile by introducing the first female United Soccer League to Northeast Florida.
“We have a Super League time which is in the USL. It’s a women’s professional team that is division 1 in soccer. We will start place next year.”
Allegretti said they are gathering private funds to build a multimillion dollar soccer stadium to host professional men’s and women’s soccer games. He says there is no set time frame for that project. But in the meantime, there are discussions to build mini pitches in parks. Mini pitches are fields that can be used for multiple sports.
“We’re looking at a couple of parks right now like one in Arlington that we like. We’re working with the parks department,” he said. The club will launch their women’s United Soccer League next year and the men’s in 2026.
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