Birmingham Legion FC is an American professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

club based in

Birmingham, Alabama Birmingham ( ) is a city in the north central region of Alabama, United States. It is the county seat of Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson County. The population was 200,733 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List ...

, that competes in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

, the second division of American soccer. The team was established in August 2013 and played under the name Birmingham Hammers until 2018 and began their first professional season as Legion FC on March 10, 2019.

History

On August 9, 2017, the United Soccer League (now known as USL Championship), the Division II sanctioned league by the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of soccer in the United States. It is a full member of FIFA and governs American soccer ...

, granted a team for Birmingham to begin play in the 2019 season. On January 17, 2018, the team name was revealed as Birmingham Legion FC, a reference to the historic

Legion Field Legion Field is an outdoor stadium in the southeastern United States in Birmingham, Alabama, primarily designed to be used as a venue for American football, but occasionally used for other large outdoor events. Opened in 1927, it is named in ...

that opened in 1927. However, the team instead played at BBVA Field, the home of the UAB Blazers soccer program. Oak Mountain High School graduate and

Real Monarchs Real Monarchs is a professional soccer club playing in the MLS Next Pro, a third division league of American soccer. The team is an affiliate of the Major League Soccer (MLS) club Real Salt Lake. Real Monarchs are based in the Real Salt Lake ...

' star forward Chandler Hoffman signed on as the team's first player in July 2018. In August the team announced that Tom Soehn would be the first head coach of Birmingham Legion FC. Their first professional game resulted in a 2–0 defeat against Bethlehem Steel FC on March 10, 2019. During the 2023 U.S. Open Cup, Birmingham Legion FC defeated a

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

(MLS) side for the first time, with a 1-0 win over Charlotte FC in the round of 16. The game was played at

Protective Stadium Protective Stadium is an outdoor multi-purpose stadium owned and operated by the Birmingham–Jefferson Convention Complex, Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center Authority in downtown Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. Since its opening in 2021, the stadium ...

before a record home crowd of 12,722. Legion FC's U.S. Open Cup run was cut short by MLS team

Inter Miami CF Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami (), commonly referred to as Inter Miami, is an American professional soccer club based in the Miami metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (M ...

after a 0-1 loss at Protective Stadium in the quarter-final of the U.S. Open Cup, setting yet another record attendance of 18,418 spectators.

Stadium

Legion FC played its home matches at

, which also serves as the Blazers' home field, which began in the 2021-22 season. On March 15, 2021, Legion FC was forced to move its scheduled match against rival

Memphis 901 Memphis 901 FC was an American professional association football, soccer team based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 2018, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. On November 13, 2024, it was announced that the team would be ...

to historic

because of unplayable pitch conditions at PNC Field, caused by heavy rains in the previous days. The match, dubbed "Legion at Legion," drew a club-record crowd of 10,177, which the club said was also the largest crowd ever to attend a professional soccer match in Alabama. (Legion Field's largest soccer crowd ever was a

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

match between the United States and Argentina, which also set the stadium's all-time attendance record with 83,810 fans.) Inclement weather also forced delays or cancellations in other matches. In November 2021, the club and the

University of Alabama System The University of Alabama System is a public university system in Alabama that coordinates and oversees three research universities: University of Alabama (UA), University of Alabama at Birmingham, and University of Alabama in Huntsville. These ...

Board of Trustees agreed to terminate Legion FC's eight-year lease early. No reason was announced through official channels. On December 7, 2021, the club announced the Legion would play their home games at Protective Stadium starting with their 2022 season.

Club culture

Rivalries

Birmingham competes in the Southern Harm derby against rivals

Supporters

The Magic City Brigade and The Puentas 12 are the supporters of the team.

Sponsorship

Players and staff

Roster

Out on loan

Team management

{, class="wikitable" , - !style="background:#000000; color:white; border:2px solid #A08B58;" scope="col" colspan=2, Front office , - , - !style="background:#000000; color:white; border:2px solid #A08B58;" scope="col" colspan=2, Coaching staff , -

Team records

Year-by-year

{, class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" ! scope="col" rowspan="2" , Season ! colspan=8 class="unsortable" ,

! scope="col" rowspan="2" class="unsortable" , Play-offs ! scope="col" rowspan="2" class="unsortable" , U.S. Open Cup ! scope="col" colspan="2" class="unsortable" , Top scorer ! scope="col" rowspan="2" class="unsortable" , Head Coach ! scope="col" rowspan="2" class="unsortable" , Avg. attendance , - ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! class="unsortable" , Player ! class="unsortable" , Goals , - ,

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

, 34 , 12 , 15 , 7 , 35 , 51 , 43 , 10th, Eastern , Conference quarterfinals , 3rd Round , J.J. Williams , 8 , rowspan="6" , Tom Soehn , 4,541 , - ,

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

, 16 , 7 , 5 , 4 , 29 , 19 , 28 , 2nd, Group G , Conference quarterfinals , Canceled , Neco Brett , 9 , 1,250 , - ,

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, 32 , 18 , 8 , 6 , 51 , 31 , 61 , 2nd, Central , Conference semifinals , Canceled , Neco Brett , 18 , 4,389 , - ,

2022 The year began with another wave in the COVID-19 pandemic, with SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant, Omicron spreading rapidly and becoming the dominant variant of the SARS-CoV-2 virus worldwide. Tracking a decrease in cases and deaths, 2022 saw ...

, 34 , 17 , 10 , 7 , 56 , 37 , 58 , 4th, Eastern , Conference quarterfinals , 3rd Round , Enzo Martínez , 15 , 5,405 , - ,

2023 Catastrophic natural disasters in 2023 included the Lists of 21st-century earthquakes, 5th-deadliest earthquake of the 21st century 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquakes, striking Turkey and Syria, leaving up to 62,000 people dead; Cyclone Freddy ...

, 34 , 14 , 16 , 4 , 44 , 53 , 46 , 7th, Eastern , , Conference semifinals , Quarter Final , Neco Brett , 11 , 5,091 , - ,

2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

, 34 , 13 , 15 , 6 , 44 , 51 , 45 , 9th, Eastern , Did not qualify , Ro32 , Stéfano Pinho , 14 , 3,708 1. Top scorer includes statistics from league matches only.

Head coaches

* Includes USLC regular season, USLC playoffs, U.S. Open Cup. Excludes friendlies. {, class="wikitable" style="text-align:center; margin-left: lem;" ! Coach !! Nationality !! Start !! End !! Games !! Win !! Loss !! Draw !! Win % , - , Tom Soehn , , , April 9, 2025 , - , Mark Briggs , , ,

References

External links

* {{Navboxes , titlestyle = background:#000000; color:white; border:2px solid #A08B58; , list1 = {{USL Championship {{USSoccer {{Alabama Sports Soccer clubs in Alabama Association football clubs established in 2017 2017 establishments in Alabama USL Championship teams Sports in Birmingham, Alabama