Fort Wayne Football Club is back on the pitch Wednesday night with another road match. This will be the first ever meeting with Forward Madison and the first ever nationally televised match for the Autumn Gold & Black.
The 9 p.m. (Fort Wayne time) match from Breese Stevens Field in Madison, Wisconsin, will air on ESPN2.
Fort Wayne Football Club matches are best enjoyed with a crowd. So if you’re in Fort Wayne, make your way to JK O’Donnell’s for the Official Watch Party and cheer on the Autumn Gold & Black.
Click here to read Fort Wayne FC’s game notes.
Fort Wayne FC (4-2-5) is coming off a 1-all tie with Westchester Soccer Club on June 10, cemented by a late Taig Healy goal. The 74th-minute equalizer extended Fort Wayne FC’s unbeaten streak to eight matches, tied for the longest run in USL League One all season. Fort Wayne FC is 4-0-4 during the run and now in eight place among the league’s 17 teams. (The Charlotte Independence are also on an eight-match unbeaten streak.)
Forward Madison (5-4-1, ninth place) played its most recent match Saturday, resulting in a 5-1 home victory over Athletic Club Boise. The five Forward Madison goals came from only seven shots on target, and from five different goal scorers. The first goal came in the 39th minute, when Derek Gebhard scored off an assist from Claudel Ngoubou, and the flood gates opened with the second goal in the 66th minute.
Forward Madison, ninth in the USL League One standings, is 2-3-0 in its last five matches – the club’s worst stretch of the season.
About Bernd
Fort Wayne FC goalkeeper Bernd Schipmann may be nostalgic on Wednesday night as he plays in the stadium he used to call home. He appeared in 90 matches for Forward Madison in his three seasons with the club and didn’t concede a goal in 33 of them.
In 2024, Bernd had his best year as a professional, producing 14 clean sheets in 34 matches played. His save percentage was 73.5% and his average of 0.75 goals allowed per match was second best in USL League One. He was nominated for USL League One Goalkeeper of the Year.
This season, Fort Wayne FC’s first in pro soccer, has been another standout campaign for Schipmann. He’s produced four clean sheets (on pace to tie his season best of 14) and 28 saves over 10 matches this season. He has stopped 75.7% of shots on target.
“I’m excited to get back and play in Madison,” Schipmann said. “Madison will always be a special place for me and I’m happy to see friends and family. But I’m also super excited to go there with my new team. Once the whistle blows, my and the team’s focus is to get points, so for 90 minutes we’re going to do whatever it takes to leave with a good result.”
An impressive milestone is approaching for Schipmann, who is two saves short of reaching 200 for his USL League One career. He would become only the 10th player ever to reach the 200-save echelon.
Offensive prowess
Healy remains one of the USL League One’s most electric players, and he’s just in his first professional season.
He now has six goals in league play, tied for second most in the league and three back of Charlotte’s Luis Alvarez, who has played one more match than Fort Wayne FC. Healy was runner-up for USL League One Player of the Month of May, though he won the fan component of the vote.
Fort Wayne FC’s Lilian Ricol, another first-year pro, has five league goals – tied for sixth most.
The Autumn Gold & Black emphasize playing as a unit, however, and defender Tiago Dias is 10th on the leaderboard for passes made this season, and the club’s passing accuracy of 82% is fourth in the league. And Michal Rempel is tied for third in crosses with 72.
Forward Madison has 17 goals this season, seventh most in the league, and they’ve come from 10 different goal scorers. Fort Wayne FC has had five different goal scorers.
Defensively, Forward Madison has conceded 12 goals on 34 shots this season and has two clean sheets. Defender Kevin James Carmichael leads the league in clearances with 77.
After Wednesday
Fort Wayne FC has one more match on its four-game road trip. It plays Saturday night at the Richmond Kickers.
Then, the Autumn Gold & Black return to Ruoff Mortgage Stadium for a July 4 match against the Spokane Velocity. The club will have giveaways, postgame fireworks and more surprises for the big night. Tickets are on sale now. Parking is prepay only.
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 plays home matches at Ruoff Mortgage Stadium, which opened May 2, 2026, and is a soccer-specific venue. 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.