INTRODUCTION

Similar to Major League Baseball's "farm system", Crystal Palace USA was created as a feeder organization to the world-renowned Crystal Palace Football Club in the UK.  Crystal Palace USA is the first professional soccer team in the USA with a direct link to a professional English football (soccer) team.  Crystal Palace Football Club (UK) is a $100,000,000 company founded in 1905 in south London.  Crystal Palace UK chairman, Simon Jordan, saw an opportunity not only to develop the footprint of Crystal Palace worldwide, but more specifically to tap into the under-appreciated pool of American soccer talent.  His brother, vice chairman Dominic Jordan, oversees operations in the USA, including the movement of players between the two clubs.  Last season, two promising young players from the English club's reserve team were sent over during their "off season" to gain valuable playing experience with the Baltimore team. The same arrangement is expected to continue each season.  Several senior and youth players from Crystal Palace USA have also spent time training in London with the English team.  Another tradition in the making is an annual friendly match between the American and English teams.  In 2006, the London-based side won 3-1 in Annapolis and in 2007, the English were victorious again, but this time by a 1-0 margin in a closely contested match at Selhurst Park Stadium in London.

PRO TEAM

Crystal Palace USA is Baltimore's professional, outdoor soccer team.  Founded in 2006, the club's senior professional team competes under the name Crystal Palace Baltimore in the 10-team Second Division of the United Soccer Leagues, also called USL2.  The USL2 season runs from April to August.  The team will also compete for the US Open cup, a 100-year old, single-elimination competition open to professional and amateur teams alike.  Every year, the later rounds of the US Open Cup feature USL teams playing against Major League Soccer teams like DC United and the L.A. Galaxy (starring David Beckham).

ACADEMY

The club's Academy develops young players at various age levels (currently U-8, U-9, U-10, U-11 and U-13), providing a positive training environment in order to foster true, long-term passion and respect for the game.  The Academy program is sponsored by Crystal Palace UK and therefore follows the European practice of providing the service at very low cost to the players - an innovative concept in youth soccer development in the USA.

COMMUNITY

Crystal Palace USA is committed not only to providing the best soccer experience possible but also to developing a strong relationship with the local community, offering activities and mentoring to young people of all backgrounds, based around teamwork and a healthy, active lifestyle.  As of January 2008, well over five thousand area children have attended more than thirty free soccer clinics given by Crystal Palace USA coaches and players since fall 2007.

THE NAME

Crystal Palace is a neighborhood in London, named for the palatial glass building that once stood there.  The Crystal Palace was built to house The Great Exhibition, an international exhibition held in Hyde Park, central London, from 1 May to 15 October 1851.  That building was moved and re-erected three years later in an enlarged form at Sydenham in southeast London, an area that would soon adopt the name Crystal Palace.  Crystal Palace Football Club was formed in 1905 by workers at The Crystal Palace.  The building was eventually destroyed by fire on November 30th 1936.

STADIUM

As the club continues to identify the ideal location to build a permanent home, it spent its inaugural season (2007) playing at Navy-Marine Memorial Stadium in Annapolis, Maryland.  For the 2008 season, the the team will play its home matches at UMBC Stadium (University of Maryland Baltimore County).

HISTORY

2007 was the club's inaugural season.  After a poor start, the team climbed up the table, losing only two of it's final sixteen matches.  They ended the season in fifth spot, just one win from making the play-offs, beating the eventual USL2 champion arrisburg Islanders.   The club has re-signed the majority of the players from last season and expects to contend for the title of USL2 champions in 2008.