The National Premier Soccer League announced Thursday that the Georgia Storm Soccer Academy has joined the league as an expansion team.
The Carrollton, Ga. club will begin competition in the East Region in 2021.
“I am very impressed with the strategy of this management team,” NPSL managing director Cindy Spera said in statement. “Their approach is to run the club as a sustainable business with a stable foundation to grow upon. They understand the culture and standards that exist in the NPSL and will run a high-level professional organization. I’m looking forward to supporting their evolution over next few years in the NPSL.”
The club is led by CEO Bill Rucker, COO Josh Bivens and general manager Stephen Bivens.
“While we were searching for our next step as a youth club, we decided that a senior team at the top of the club would be ideal,” Stephen Bivens said in a statement. “We looked into several men’s team options including the PDL, UPSL, and NPSL and after conducting enough research we decided to apply to the NPSL. We chose the NPSL because of the reasonable cost, strong presence in the southeast, and competitive level of play.”
Georgia Storm began by offering both youth recreational and competitive opportunities to players in the Carroll County and Carrollton areas. In the past six years since its founding, the club has grown to encompass youth recreational, youth competitive, adult recreational, adult competitive, and performance training as its core areas, as well as expanded its player market to include Douglas and Carroll counties and the cities of Carrollton, Douglasville and Villa Rica.
Home matches will be played at Grisham Stadium at Carrollton High School in Carrollton, Ga. The stadium can accommodate over 8,000 spectators, including premium seating for more 1,400.
