The MLS announced on Monday that Rochester NY FC will join the MLS NEXT Pro developmental league which will commence in 2022. In addition to Rochester, the league will consist of 20 teams that are affiliated with MLS clubs.
Leicester City striker Jamie Vardy, who is one of the owners of the club, expressed his joy for Rochester to be presented with such a lucrative opportunity.
“I think that the massive thing is obviously the development side. that’s one thing we want to do. We’ve been looking at MLS NEXT [MLS’s affiliated youth league] players and we think there is quite a few of them that got potential to come in and play for us straightaway in 2022. So to go into the MLS NEXT Pro league, it was kind of a no-brainer,” Vardy explained.
Having rebranded from the Rochester Rhinos, the club previously played in the USL Championship before going on hiatus in 2017. The club is famously remembered as the only non-MLS club to win the U.S. Open Cup since the launch of the MLS.
Rochester is expected to announce a new head coach in the coming days while also beginning the search for new players.
