Come one, come all to Ruoff Mortgage Stadium on Saturday night for a match of epic proportions both on and off the field.
Fort Wayne Football Club (10-9-6), chasing a playoff berth in its first season of professional soccer, has a hugely important match against FC Naples (8-14-3). Meanwhile, it’ll be the Birthday Bash for Fort Wayne FC’s mascot, Friendly the Goalrilla, and fun things are in store for the whole family.
Tickets for the match are on sale now. Don’t forget to purchase your parking in advance, as the lot is for prepaid customers only.
Fort Wayne FC is coming off a heartbreaking 3-2 loss to defending-champion One Knoxville SC on Wednesday night, but the Autumn Gold & Black remain on place to secure a playoff spot. They are in the eighth and final playoff spot amid the 17-team USL League One table.
Only seven games remain in the regular season for Fort Wayne FC and the club has time to move all the way up to a potential home match – fourth-place One Knoxville is in that spot with 11 more points – and Fort Wayne FC also has to be mindful of the teams chasing it. Corpus Christi FC is in ninth place, three points back, and AV Alta FC is four points back of Fort Wayne FC.
Click here to read Fort Wayne FC’s media kit heading into Saturday night’s match. And here is FC Naples’.
Ryan Becher has been on an offensive tear for Fort Wayne FC with four goals in the past three matches, including a goal Wednesday and two in the 3-1 victory at Greenville Triumph SC on Sept. 12. James Musa also scored on Wednesday, his first goal ever with Fort Wayne FC.
In USL League One play, Fort Wayne FC has two of the top goal scorers in Taig Healy (10 goals, fifth place) and Becher (eight goals, ninth place), though Westchester SC’s Conor McGlynn leads the scoring race with 13 goals. Andrés Ferrín has six goals this season for FC Naples.
The match could feature two of the league’s top goalkeepers. Fort Wayne FC’s Bernd Schipmann has eight clean sheets, most in the league, and FC Naples’ Edward Delgado has five – and that includes a nine-save performance last week in a shutout of One Knoxville. That was the second most saves ever in a regular season match, tying the nine saves made by AV Alta FC’s Denzil Smith against Fort Wayne FC on Aug. 8 and three saves short of the all-time mark set by Adrían Zendejas of the Charlotte Independence in 2022.
FC Naples, which is in 12th place in the USL League One standings, comes into this match on a 0-2-1 winless streak.
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.