Indy City Futbol has added six expansion teams – all covering the city’s urban core neighborhoods – and added a plan for non-playing neighbors to add volunteer, transit, social and challenge points to help their neighborhood team take home the trophy.
The season will begin Wednesday, May 19, with games this year being played at Kuntz Soccer Stadium on West 16th Street. With the expansion, the League hopes to attract as many as 100 new players.
Indy City Futbol is a unique neighborhood-themed recreational soccer League in Indianapolis, Indiana founded by Big Car.
While every other recreational adult soccer league in Indianapolis played through a global pandemic, Indy City Futbol shut down early during the public health crisis. “We felt a league based on being good neighbors would be violating its ethos if during a global pandemic if we didn’t follow best public health practices.” said League Commissioner Jordan Updike. “Our rule number-one, after all, is, “Don’t be a jerk.”
Updike – whom Indy City Futbol players call the “The Commish” – explained that while soccer is the tool used to bring neighbors together, the League’s main interest is incentivizing good citizenship. “If you think about a Venn diagram of Big Car’s interest in placemaking, Indy Eleven’s interest in soccer, and Indy Parks’ interest in outdoor recreation, you get Indy City Futbol.”
That may explain why these three organizations have been involved in some capacity since the League first came on the scene alongside Indy Eleven’s launch in 2014.
Since that time, Indy City Futbol has been bringing residents of Indianapolis closer to their neighbors through the world’s game: soccer. The League pits neighborhood against neighborhood in weekly games, and team standings are determined not just by wins and losses, but additionally by points earned through volunteering, using public transit, and getting to know neighbors.
“We loved bringing the City Futbol concept to Indy, and it’s been fun to see it grow to include even more neighborhoods and bring even more people together from across the city,” said Big Car CEO Jim Walker, “That’s exactly the kind of program we like to be involved with.”
This year, the recreational League is giving all neighborhood residents a shot at helping their neighborhood team win the championship trophy, awarded at halftime of an Indy Eleven game. “When we watched the world shut down last year, we pitched around the idea of shifting to a volunteerism-only competition,” said League official Jai Desai, “The year was so weird we never got the chance to make it happen, but we thought it was such a great idea to let people who aren’t as interested in soccer still participate on their neighborhood team. So we’re doing it this year!”
Said John Koluder, senior director of marketing and communications at Indy Eleven, “When it comes to using soccer as a tool to build civic pride, Indy City Futbol really is a model community program. By stepping up our support in the upcoming years, we hope we can add value to the experience for the players and help ICF establish itself as an even greater part of the fabric of our city.”
TEAMS / NEIGHBORHOODS
Team details and information can be found here
- AC Mile Square – Mile Square.
- Atletico Pogues Run (formerly Atletico Cottage Home) – Irish Hill, Holy Cross, Arsenal Heights, Cottage Home, Arsenal Tech, Windsor Park, Brookside Bunch, Springdale, Brookside, Fletcher Lippencott, Forest Manor Park, Otterbein, Little Flower.
- Bates-Hendricks FC – Bates-Hendricks.
- Broad Ripple City – Broad Ripple, Warfleigh, Glendale.
- FC Fountain Square – Fountain Square, North Square.
- Garfield AC – Garfield Park, Bean Creek, Red Maple Grove, Dog Patch, Sarah Shank.
- Irvington FC – Irvington.
- Mapleton FC – Mapleton Fall Creek, Fall Creek Place, Meridian Highland, Highland Vicinity, Crown Hill.
- Mass Ave United – Mass Ave, Renaissance Place, Chatham Arch, Lockerbie Square, Cole-Noble.
- Meridian Kessler United – Meridian Kessler, Butler Tarkington, Rocky Ripple.
- Midtown FC – SoBro, Keystone Monon, Bacon Swamp, State Fairgrounds.
- Near East United (formerly AC Woodruff Place) – Woodruff Place, Willard Park, Christian Park, St. Clair Place, Tear, Englewood, Robson Voorhies, Sherman Commons, RMS10, Grace Tuxedo, Emerson Heights, Christian Park, Bosart-Brown.
- Old North United – Near North, Old Northside.
- Old Speedway City – Speedway.
- Real Fletcher Place – Fletcher Place, Holy Rosary, Lilly.
- Real West – West Indy.
- Sporting Herron Morton – Herron-Morton Place.
- Upper Downtown FC – Upper Canal, Ransom Place, Crispus Attucks, St. Joseph.
Expansion Teams
- Haughville CD – Haughville, Hawthorne.
- Inter Monon – Kennedy King, Reagan Park, Friends and Neighbors, north along the Monon trail to 38th St.
- Martindale AFC – Martindale-Brightwood, Washington Park, Forest Manor North, Gladstone.
- Riverside City – Riverside, Cold Springs, Venerable Flackville.
- Southside Soccer Club – Old Southside (Babe Denny/Pogues Run), Concord, Germania Creek.
- Sporting White River – IUPUI, Stringtown, 16 Tech, White River State Park.
