TAMPA, Fla. – The United Soccer League and Ottawa Fury FC announced today that the club will be joining the USL for the 2017 season. Fury FC is expected to be placed in the USL’s Eastern Conference, alongside fellow expansion side the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Founded as a W-League team in 2000, current Fury FC President and Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group Partner John Pugh purchased the Fury W-League franchise in 2002 and would spend the next decade building one of the most respected youth academies in North America, a successful PDL (2005-13) program that has seen players move on to the professional ranks and the W-League’s most storied franchise that would capture a long sought after North American Championship in 2012.

“In Ottawa we have a world-class ownership group with the Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group, which has transformed a section of Canada’s capital city into a sports, entertainment and residential destination that is second-to-none,” Papadakis said. “Like many of our current ownership groups, OSEG has cross ownership that includes a CFL team and a team in the Ontario Hockey League, and Fury FC’s success both on the field and in the stands makes the club an outstanding addition to the USL.”