Chattanooga, Tennessee.
It’s not the first thing that springs to mind when talk turns to this country’s hottest soccer hotbeds. Los Angeles, New York City, Dallas, the self-proclaimed Soccer City, USA of Portland, Oregon and their Northwest neighbors Seattle, might be first from the lips. But in the upcoming Second Round of the 2025 U.S. Open Cup, only two cities boast a crosstown derby between two separate professional teams.
And, yes, you’ve guessed one of them (the one that’s not Chattanooga is Miami, Florida – even though one of those teams is actually in Fort Lauderdale, but that’s a semantic concern for another time).
“It’s rare in the U.S. to have two pro soccer teams in the same city, especially a city the size of Chattanooga,” said Markus Naglestad, the tall Norwegian-born striker who’s the longest-serving player for Chattanooga FC – the city's team that plays in the Division III MLS NEXT Pro league.
“OK, LA and New York, sure, but here in a place like Chattanooga,” Naglestad chuckled. “It’s really a special thing.”
Chattanooga FC is the blue half of the so-called Scenic City. Of the two clubs there, rivals who’ve never met in a competitive match as they occupy two separate and siloed segments of this country’s professional pyramid, CFC have the deeper history. Generally speaking, and in our historic Open Cup.
CFC began life in 2009 in the all-amateur National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) where they remained until 2019, hoisting a National Amatuer Cup crown along the way before joining the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) and then MLS NEXT Pro as an independent club in 2024.
Over the course of those years, Finley Stadium – where this year’s Open Cup Second Round showdown will take place – adopted the identity of a thriving home for this country’s grassroots soccer. It drew crowds of over 18,000 in 2015 for an NPSL national championship game (a record for an amateur game in this country). The buzz was so big, the USMNT even scheduled a friendly there in 2017 against Jamaica after the USWNT played a Victory Tour game at Finley in 2015 (following a world title win at the 2015 Women’s World Cup in Canada).
When people point to Chattanooga FC as the genesis point for a lot of the community-based, grassroots clubs of today, it’s no exaggeration.
The other side of Chattanooga’s pro divide is red. It’s right in the name, the Chattanooga Red Wolves of USL League One. The red half of the city’s pro soccer equation doesn’t have anything like a similar history or mega-crowds to boast about. They started life in 2019 in the then-new USL League One, among the founding members of that organization’s sanctioned Division III.
“This matchup is years in the making,” Red Wolves season ticket holder Joe Jansen told the Chattanooga Times Free Press after the crosstown rivals were confirmed to meet in the 2025 Open Cup Second Round. “I think the fans want it more than the players…The environment at Finley will be a lot of fun.”
They say proximity breeds contempt. And pro soccer, being a business, there was bound to be friction between the two clubs as they vied for the eyeballs of this city with a population of under 200,000 – and in a national sports market with plenty of options. There were even accusations of attempts to pilfer market share and fanbase – and, frankly, all of that makes for exciting possibilities when the two Chattanooga teams meet head-to-head at Finley Stadium on Wednesday, April 2.
“There were a lot of disagreements between the clubs and the fans when the Red Wolves were getting started,” said the veteran Naglestad, who’s been with Chattanooga FC since 2021. “This is a really special game. There’s a lot of pride on both sides – there’s so much on the line for us and our fans and we're fully aware of it.”
While he was born in Kristianstad, Norway – approximately 7000 miles away from Chattanooga – Naglestad has come to consider this part of southeastern Tennessee a home away from home. “This club and the city welcomed me right away,” said the 33.year-old former Hartford Athletic player, who learned his craft playing in the Norwegian leagues. “This is an amazing place and even though, obviously, I’m not from here and have no family here, I somehow feel really at home.”
The affection of the fans at Finley Stadium, according to Naglestad, is at least part of the reason why. “They’re there with us through thick and thin,” he said. “We have four thousand or five thousand fans to league games and we’re hoping to at least double that for the Open Cup game.
“When you go away fromhome you see that not every team has this kind of support,” he added. “It’s something you learn to not take for granted.”
It’s worth looking at the teams’ respective histories in the Open Cup ahead of their first-ever competitive meeting on Wednesday. Chattanooga FC clearly benefit from a longer life, having made their Cup debut in 2011 before reaching the Third Round in three straight years between 2014 and 2016. They did it again twice more in 2022 and 2023 after our tournament returned from a COVID 19-induced hiatus in 2020 and 2021.
The Red Wolves farthest trek in our Cup came last year, their fourth year participating. Led by midfield wizard Stefan Lukic, who’s since moved on to USL Championship side FC Tulsa – they reached the Third Round with wins over the amateurs of Brockton FC United and Apotheos FC of their one-time home league (NPSL). A Third Round test against USL Championship Div. II pros Birmingham Legion proved a road too far, as the Red Wolves went out 4-2 in extra-time on the wrong side of a four-goal day from Stefano Pinho.
While the result of Wednesday’s all-Chattanooga showdown remains a mystery, the passion and friction – and deep desire to lord it over a neighbor a little too close for comfort – is a guarantee.
Angelo Maduro is a senior reporter at large for www.ussoccer.com/us-open-cup.