Fort Wayne Football Club played its fourth preseason match of 2026 training camp Sunday in Columbus, Ohio. The session against Columbus Crew 2, which was indoors and safe from the cold and snowy conditions outside, was closed to the public and neither a score nor statistics were reported. Columbus Crew 2 competes in MLS Next Pro and is the reserve team of Major League Soccer’s Columbus Crew.
“Today was another important step in our development as a team,” Fort Wayne FC coach Mike Avery said. “There were a lot of areas where we showed some progress, as well as a few others where we saw that we have plenty of room to grow. That’s the point of preseason: You try to face as many challenges as you can, so you can learn and grow through them.”
Fort Wayne FC, preparing for its first professional soccer season in USL League One, had previously played FC Cincinnati 2 of MLS Next Pro, Bethel University and Indiana Tech in closed-door matches.
There’s one more preseason match on the docket for Fort Wayne FC, 5 p.m. Friday against USL Championship club Lexington SC. The match, at Lexington SC Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, is free and open to the public. Another match between Lexington SC and the University of Kentucky will follow at 7:30 p.m.
Fort Wayne FC begins the regular season March 7 against FC Naples in Naples, Florida, the first of five consecutive road matches before the home opener May 2 at Fort Wayne FC Park against the Charlotte Independence.
Season tickets are currently on sale.
On Monday, Fort Wayne FC will begin offering Mini Packs that allow fans to purchase tickets to six home matches at a discounted price. The packs will include the home opener and at least one Wednesday match.
Fort Wayne FC’s roster is up to 17 players with the Friday addition of Daniel Oyetunde, a product of Arsenal’s famed academy.
“We are just a month into this thing and we are definitely not a finished product,” Avery said, “but we are making progress and that is promising.”
About Fort Wayne Football Club
Fort Wayne Football Club, founded in 2019, is a professional soccer club playing its first season in USL League One in 2026. The club is building a state-of-the-art, soccer-specific stadium, Fort Wayne FC Park, that will open at Bass Road and I-69 in 2026. In pre-professional USL League Two, Fort Wayne Football Club won division titles in 2023, 2024 and 2025. For more information, visit FortWayneFC.com.
About United Soccer League
Founded in 1986, the United Soccer League (USL) is the largest and fastest-growing soccer organization in the United States, impacting more than 200 communities nationwide. The USL is the first and only organization to offer a comprehensive youth-to-professional pathway for both men and women under one ecosystem. This structure includes four men’s leagues: the newly announced, top-tier professional Division I league, the USL Championship (Division II), USL League One (Division III), and USL League Two (pre-professional). The women’s pathway includes the top-tier USL Super League (Division I), which debuted in 2024, and USL W League, the country’s leading pre-professional women’s league. The USL also oversees USL Academy, a progressive talent development platform, and USL Youth, a premier national youth platform.