Holly Springs sits just southwest of Raleigh in the soccer hotbed that is eastern North Carolina. It’s only fitting then that it’s the home of Wake Futbol Club, a youth soccer structure that serves boys and girls of all ages through teams, camps, and training “both on and off the field.”

Today, Soccer ‘n’ Sweet Tea learned that Wake FC will expand into the USL’s Premier Development League for the 2019 season, giving those kids a chance to continue their growth within the club structure into adulthood, even further down the #Path2Pro.

Some of the details still need to be worked out, but it’s likely that Wake FC will play in the Carolina-packed South Atlantic Division of the PDL against foes like the Charlotte Eagles, Myrtle Beach Mutiny and Carolina Dynamo.

According to the team, Wake FC was “established to provide a player-focused, character-building soccer experience for residents of Wake County and surrounding areas.” Their mission is to “offer boys and girls a competitive soccer experience centered on personal development, skill development, and physical fitness.”

For us at Soccer ‘n’ Sweet Tea, another Carolina PDL club is welcome news. The rivalries we’ve seen develop across our two states make early summer more exciting every year, and a potential three-way Triangle rivalry with Durham’s Tobacco Road FC and the North Carolina FC U23 squad could be really fun.

As a club, Wake FC works closely with ISL Futbol, America’s largest “official partner” of FC Barcelona. The club uses FC Barcelona methodologies, Wake FC players learn from FC Barcelona Academy coaches and can attend official FC Barcelona soccer camps, and players from Wake FC take 10-day trips to Spain to learn from the best in the world. Not a bad deal.

Finally, Wake FC has a Tournament of Champions this weekend, an open competition for all clubs in good standing with the USSF and hosted at Womble Park and Ting Park in Holly Springs. Boys and girls teams made up of kids aged 8–18 can participate. Follow them on Twitter to see how it plays out Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

Another PDL team in the Triangle? Yes, please. We’ll have more updates on Wake FC as more details are decided, but it appears they’ve got their crest in order:

(And with my last name of Wakefield, they might already have my allegiance… just saying.)

Thanks for reading. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, and sign up for our newsletter below. Oh, and if you’d like to join our staff to cover this team in 2019, or anything else Carolina soccer in the 2018 season, let us know! We’d love to have the help.