Bayer Leverkusen, yuge. River Plate, yuuuge. Wolfsburg, yuuuuge. The Rowdies? YUUUUGE.
The Rowdies announced Tuesday their participation in the Florida Cup, an annual international soccer tournament consisting of teams from all over the world. This is YUUGE people. Believe me. I know. Because I know things.
Bill Edwards is making St. Petersburg great again.
The club held a press conference Tuesday afternoon to announce their participation in the January 2017 Florida Cup. The Florida Cup is an annual international soccer tournament previously held in Orlando. The Rowdies participation means at least two matches — and probably more — will be held at Al Lang Stadium in downtown St. Petersburg.
“This is the first international soccer tournament to be held at Al Lang,” Rowdies’ head honcho and soccer sultan Bill Edwards said. “The Florida Cup is a world-class international soccer tournament bringing top teams from all over the world, top talent from all over the world to play in the United States against American teams, including the Rowdies.”
The competition is the largest annual sporting event held in Florida, according to Edwards, outshining even the Daytona 500 (that’s a racecar thing). Edwards also said 170 countries will broadcast the the matches.
That means millions of people across the globe will be watching our Rowdies. Yes. The Tampa Bay Rowdies. 37 million Brazilians alone watched the tournament on TV last year. Now they will also have the pleasure of watching the Rowdies.
Some of the world’s most prestigious clubs, such as 2009 German champions Wolfsburg, Cicharito’s Bayer Leverkusen, Argentina’s River Plate, and Brazil’s Corinthians, will join the Rowdies. A total of 14 teams will compete in the multi-national tournament; expect to hear news of more teams competing in the coming weeks. At the press conference, Rowdies reps dropped hints to possibly expect clubs from Asia, and perhaps even another Florida team.
“This is very exciting … and brings a lot of eyeballs to the marketplace,” Florida Cup CEO Ricardo Villar said. “And [Al Lang Stadium] is one of the most charming stadium we’ve seen.”
We're assuming he was also persuaded by Edwards' charm.
He’s not wrong there. German teams might get excited to come to sunny St. Pete in the midst of January for some non-freezing training.
“We’re looking forward to coming to Florida,” Phillip Wegner, representative of Wolfsburg said. “It’s a good place for our preparation. It combines weather, infrastructure, and soccer culture. That’s why it was easy to choose this tournament for preparation.”
The highlight of the tourney, besides the home field advantage for Tampa Bay, might be a potential match up of one of Argentina’s most storied clubs, River Plate, and one of the top Brazilian clubs, Corinthians. Both teams have fans so rabid, they make Ralph’s Mob jealous.
“I think it’s great for us internationally, nationally, and everywhere … to put our town, our team, and our pitch out there for everyone to see how great it is here in St. Petersburg,” Edwards said.
Bottom line for the more casual soccer fans out there? This is huge. Top teams from Germany, Argentina, Brazil and beyond will converge in St. Petersburg to face our team in our own backyard. These teams will represent not only their clubs, but their countries. Al Lang has a capacity of only 7,000. That may not be enough.
Can’t wait for the tournament? Well, you can get you Rowdies fix on Saturday night when they take on the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers in one of American soccer’s oldest rivalries. Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.
This article appears in Jul 28 – Aug 4, 2016.
