Reid Sproat is the only player to appear in a match during every season of Fort Wayne Football Club’s existence. That will continue this year – in professional soccer – as the highly decorated defender has agreed to terms with Fort Wayne Football Club for its inaugural season in USL League One.
“I am happy to be back with Fort Wayne Football Club, and I am looking forward to the opportunity to compete at the next level,” Sproat said.
His addition to the roster Thursday is pending league and federation approval.
Sproat, 24, played a club-record 50 matches with Fort Wayne FC between 2021 and 2025 – when the club was in the pre-professional level of USL League Two – and that was 12 matches more than the next closest player, Tiago Dias, whose return was announced Friday.
Beginning today, fans purchasing season tickets are able to pick their seats, without placing a deposit, through the club’s ticketing partner, vivenu. Season tickets begin as low as $300 for the supporters section.
Fort Wayne Football Club’s first season in USL League One begins March 7 on the road against FC Naples. The first home match at Fort Wayne FC Park will be May 2 against the Charlotte Independence.
Sproat joins Dias, JP Jordan and Michael Rempel on the club’s roster.
“Reid Sproat is an exciting addition to our team,” Fort Wayne FC head coach Mike Avery said. “As a native of the Fort Wayne area, Reid represents a proof of concept for much of what the club is aspiring to do – namely providing a professional pathway for emerging local talent. Reid has been with us since Day 1 of the Fort Wayne FC journey and, in each step along the way, Reid has proved to be a vital piece of our success.”
Sproat was regarded as one of the most formidable defenders in USL League Two, helping Fort Wayne FC to division titles in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and to berths in the conference semifinals in 2024 and 2025. He was the only Fort Wayne FC player to make the USL League Two All-League Team, which he did in 2023, and he scored two goals for the club in pre-professional soccer.
He is a graduate of Leo High School, where he left as the soccer team’s all-time leading scorer and helped it to its first ever sectional championship.
Sproat played collegiately at Oakland University from 2019 to 2022 and was a three-time All-Horizon League selection, helping the Golden Grizzlies to regular-season and tournament championships in the conference during 2021.
Sproat played a fifth season of college soccer at San Diego State University in 2023 and was named the 14th best player in the nation by “Top Drawer Soccer,” while also receiving Honorable Mention All-Conference honors in the Pac-12 conference.
He was on the staff in 2025 at Huntington University as an assistant coach, after spending 2024 as a graduate assistant with the school.
“Reid is an elite-level defender,” Avery said. “His athleticism, his determination, his bravery when defending – all these things are noticeable whenever Reid is in the lineup. After a tremendous college career at Oakland University as an undergraduate student-athlete, and then as a graduate student in his final year of eligibility at San Diego State University, Reid is ready to help his hometown club take the leap into professional soccer. This is an opportunity for Reid that he has earned through his consistent performance, and I truly believe Reid’s best years of soccer are still ahead of him.”
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.