COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The new downtown home for USL Championship club Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC will play host to the NCAA Division II Men’s and Women’s Soccer Championship in 2021, it was announced on Wednesday.

The championships, which are typically held a weekend apart in early December, is the first prestige soccer event added to the new venue’s schedule, with the Switchbacks anticipated to begin play at the 8,000-seat facility in spring of the 2021 Championship season.

The event will be hosted by the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference in conjunction with the NCAA and has the potential to bring some standout talent to the Colorado Springs area. Players like MLS all-time leading scorer Chris Wondolowski competed at the Division II level collegiately, with the current USL Championship ranks also featuring notable talent to have come from the D-II level.

The new venue, which is set to begin construction in November near the intersection of Cimarron and Sierra Madre in downtown Colorado Springs, is one of the outstanding new venues currently in planning or construction by Championship clubs.

“This venue is going to provide an amazing atmosphere for our student-athletes and we couldn’t be more thankful to have the opportunity to showcase the excellence of NCAA Division II soccer,” said Jim Moore, national chair for the NCAA DII Women's Committee.

The Switchbacks’ new stadium won’t be the first Championship venue to play host to the Division II Men’s Championship. Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC’s Highmark Stadium hosted the championship in 2018 and is set to reprise its duties as host later this year.