Queens welcomes Gotham FC to the World’s Borough
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The Queens Classic brought in a record crowd to watch future Queens soccer club Gotham FC take on the Washington Spirit at Citi Field. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
There are some new Queens in Queens.
On Wednesday, a sold out crowd filled Citi Field in Flushing to watch soon-to-be Queens locals Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League play their first match in the World’s Borough.
The “Queens Classic” was a coming out party for the squad that recently announced it would be moving to Queens in 2028, joining New York City Football Club at Etihad Park across the street from Citi Field.
More than 42,000 fans packed Citi Field amid high temperatures and poor air quality Wednesday night – a record crowd for both the NWSL and women’s sports in New York City – Many were from Queens and eager to welcome their new neighbors.
“This is going to open Gotham up to a lot of new opportunities, a larger fan base, and will just bring more attention to the team by being in New York City,” said Katelin Penner, an Astoria resident and Gotham season ticket holder. “I'm really excited about this.”
“We started supporting the team the season after they won their first championship, and seeing the progression of Gotham and how it's grown since then has been really amazing,” she added. “I think this is sort of the natural next step in growing the fan base, growing the team and going towards hopefully our third championship season.”
For Penner, and many other Queens Gotham fans, going to see their team play will get a whole lot easier come 2028.
Gotham currently play their home games in Harrison, New Jersey, where they share a stadium with the Red Bulls, the cross-Hudson rival of Gotham’s future stadium mates, NYCFC.
“Commuting to Jersey isn't the worst thing in the world, but it's a lot easier when it's only a few train stops away,” said Diana Gilday from Whitestone. “It's a proximity thing.”
Not everyone is so thrilled about the move.
Rob M., from Montclair, New Jersey, stood outside Citi Field with a sign that read “New Jersey makes, the world takes.”
A lifelong Garden State resident, Rob was sad to see another New Jersey born team move on to the big city.
“It sucks that sports is a business,” he said.
While many Queens fans will likely increase the number of games they go to a year once the team officially moves, it will be the opposite for fans like Rob, who said he’ll go from seeing 15 to 16 games a year to one or two.
“I've been a season ticket holder for six years,” he said. “I'm still going to support the girls. They're wonderful. They're a great team.”
He added that seeing them right next to their future home in Queens on Wednesday felt a little strange.
“It's sort of like you were with the ex,” he said. “And now they are becoming better.”
Gotham FC announced their long-rumored move to the $780 million, 25,000-seat Etihad Park
earlier this month from City Hall alongside Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Governor Kathy Hochul.
Gotham FC fans from Whitestone Diana Gilday and Teddy Byrne. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
“Soccer is the people's game, New York City is the people's city, and for decades to come, the people will now be able to watch Gotham FC show off the world's game in the World's Borough,” Mamdani said. “Instead of begging their parents to have to take them to New Jersey, girls growing up in Jackson Heights, Sunnyside and Flushing will now be able to get on the 7 train after school and watch some of the greatest soccer players in the world go to work.”
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards said the move presents “a tremendous moment…for young girls across Queens, and generations of young girls to come.”
“They will have heroes to idolize right there in their own backyard,” he added. “They will have even more reason to fall in love with this beautiful sport.”
Gotham FC will be another jewel in the crown of Willets Point, where the city is constructing an entirely new neighborhood with Etihad Park in the center.
On the other side of Citi Field, Mets owner Steve Cohen has begun constructing Metropolitan Park, a casino and entertainment complex. The neighborhood is currently anchored by the Mets’ home ballpark, the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center and Flushing Meadows Corona Park.
By the end of the decade, the neighborhood will look nothing like it did at the beginning, when auto shop after auto shop lined pothole-filled streets that had gone ignored by the city for decades.
“I think adding sports teams around this area, this complex, building it out into something bigger is something this area is craving,” said Teddy Byrne, also from Whitestone. “People need third spaces for a number of different things, and sports is just one great opportunity. I'm looking forward to seeing how this area is developed more with the plans for the casino and the park, and to see how it all fits together.”
Match attendees the Eagle spoke to, and people involved in the match itself, marked the Queens Classic as a historic moment not just for the borough, but for women’s sports.
“I think there are definitely more eyes on soccer, more eyes on women's soccer. I think it's great,” said Gilday.
The Forest Hills trio of Tara Manning, Taylor Favada and Dariana Almeyda got into Gotham by way of the New York Sirens, a women’s pro hockey team who also currently play their games across the Hudson.
“It's an investment in women's sports,” said Almeyda. “Forty-thousand people willing to pay for women's sports in New York City, that’s so big.”
The match was especially poignant for the women on the pitch.
“Any time you hear you're going to get to play in front of 42,000 fans, I think it's always really exciting,” said Gotham FC and U.S Women’s National Team midfielder Rose Lavelle during her post-game press conference. “It’s also a big moment in history for this club and for the city. I think it added just another special element to going out there. I think we feel so much pride getting to represent this club, and I think for us to be able to have this moment was really huge, and hopefully we just can keep building off of this.”
Jessica Berman, the commissioner of the NWSL, told reporters at halftime that the Queens Classic is just the start.
“This is the beginning of a new relationship for this team in Queens, and we know that there's an entire fan base here that is going to be really hungry to enjoy the best soccer in the world,” she said.
New Jersey resident Rob M., who is upset to see Gotham FC leave the Garden State. Eagle photo by Ryan Schwach
Berman added that with the success of Wednesday’s match, the league would be “foolish to not consider” more women’s soccer at Citi Field before Gotham moves in permanently.
Inside the stadium, the largest crowd to ever watch a women’s sporting event in New York State’s history were treated to a game and an energy that matched the historic, albeit, wildfire tainted, air.
Sue Bird, one of the most renowned women’s athletes of all time, but who, more importantly, attended high school in Queens, lit the torch in front of the sold-out crowd before kickoff.
Gotham and the Washington Spirit, who the New York squad defeated 1-0 in last year’s NWSL finals, traded chances back and forth for much of the first half.
In the 37th minute, it was Lavelle who stormed into the box, slipped the ball through the legs of Washington defender Tara Rudd and chipped it into the back of the net for the first goal scored in a professional women’s soccer game in the history of the World's Borough.
The goal, along with strong defense from Gotham’s back line, and save after save from German national Ann-Katrin Berger, proved to be enough for the future Queens residents to win their first match in the borough, 1-0.
