Forest City London

Forest City London is a Canadian soccer team based in London, Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2008, the team plays in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, in the Great Lakes Division of the Central Conference.

The team plays its home games primarily at the German Club, with selected games at Marconi Field, where they have played since 2009. The team's colors are blue, gold and white.

History

Forest City London joined the USL Premier Development League in 2009,^[1] and played their first ever game on May 29, 2009, against Cleveland Internationals.^[2] London won the game 2-1, with the first goal in franchise history being scored by Kevin Zimmermann.^[3] London's debut season was a generally positive one; they remained unbeaten over the course of their first ten games, and enjoyed seven wins, including a 3-1 victory on the road against the Cincinnati Kings, a 5-0 thrashing of Kalamazoo Outrage that featured a brace from midfielder Thomas Beattie, a 3-1 win on the road against traditional powerhouse Michigan Bucks in which Zimmermann added another two goals to his tally, and a comprehensive 4-1 victory in the return fixture against Cleveland at the end of June. London's first loss - their first defeat in franchise history - was a 3-1 drop to the Indiana Invaders at the beginning of July, and it initiated a complete reversal of fortune for the team, who did not win another game all season, and dropped down the divisional standings. They ultimately finished third in the Great Lakes Division, seven points behind divisional champions Kalamazoo, and faced off against Chicago Fire Premier in the first round of the playoffs; unfortunately for London their stay in the playoffs was brief, as they lost 1-0 to the Illinoisans on a goal by Andre Akpan. Kevin Zimmermann and Alan McGreal were London's top scorers in their debut season, with 9 and 7 goals respectively, while Anthony Di Biase contributed 4 assists.

Players

Current roster

As of June 10, 2011.^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Notable former players

This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.

• Kevin De Serpa
• Anthony Di Biase
• Andrew Sousa
• Ryan Woods

Year-by-year

Head coaches

• Martin Painter (2009–present)

Stadia

• TD Waterhouse Stadium; London, Ontario (2009–2010)
• German Club; London, Ontario (2009–present)
• Marconi Field; London, Ontario 4 games (2009–2011)
• London Portuguese Club; London, Ontario 2 games (2009–2010)

Average attendance

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html

• 2009: 1,367 (5th in PDL)
• 2010: 1,246 (7th in PDL)
• 2011: 841

==FC London Academy More info soon.

See also

• London City

References

External links

• Official Site
• Official PDL site