Nine games into Loudoun United’s first season, and 10 weeks from the team’s scheduled first game in its new Virginia stadium, the site will soon finally start to look like a soccer field.
As excavators and bulldozers constantly work to fill dump trucks in the adjacent area, the team tells WTOP it will begin laying turf in the next few days.
The Loudoun United complex is being built next to Philip A. Bolen Memorial Park, across Sycolin Road from Leesburg Executive Airport.
And beginning in the week of June 21, prefabricated modular pieces of the stadium — and its 5,000 seats — will be installed.
Currently playing home games at Audi Field in the District, the first game at Loudoun United Stadium is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 9, against the Charlotte Independence.
The complex will eventually have a total of four fields, including the new stadium. Another field will be used by D.C. United, and two fields will be used by the county for recreational soccer.
The major league team will train and have offices in Loudoun County, as will the United Soccer League team.
Earlier this week, the county held a ribbon-cutting for a stretch of Crosstrail Boulevard, offering much-needed access to the stadium complex, which was previously only reachable from a single small street.
Action and changes aren’t limited to the construction site — Loudoun United’s first coach, Richie Williams, left the team to join Major League Soccer’s New England Revolution as an assistant coach under Bruce Arena, a former D.C. United head coach.
Loudoun United has named Ryan Martin as its new coach. He was previously the academy director for D.C. United.
“That’s the youth development program,” said WTOP Senior Sports Director Dave Johnson, who is also the television voice for D.C. United. “It will be Ryan Martin’s job to continue to develop local players, see them play for Loudoun United, and then eventually get to D.C. United.”
