Ottawa Fury FC bolt NASL for growing United Soccer League
Tampa Bay Rowdies also leaving NASL for United Soccer League
Ottawa Fury FC is jumping from one soccer league to another in 2017, joining a league that includes teams based in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver.
The United Soccer League announced the Fury would be joining the USL for the 2017 season and will be expected to play in the league's Eastern Conference, alongside Toronto FC II and FC Montreal, the reserve teams for Toronto FC and the Montreal Impact.
The reserve team for the Vancouver Whitecaps plays in the league's western conference.
With the move, the Fury will be joining a league that has doubled in size in the last two years and leaving another — the North American Soccer League — that has been struggling.
The NASL is also losing another team, the Tampa Bay Rowdies, to the USL, and another team, Minnesota United, is moving up to Major League Soccer.
The USL has applied to the US Soccer Federation to move up from division three status to division two status, to reflect the increasing quality of play.
"The USL is a strong professional league that's getting stronger and I know our fans will be impressed," Fury FC Head Coach and General Manager Paul Dalglish said in a statement.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa...-usl-1.3820958