The mission of Central Florida Soccer is to be a community asset and bring the highest standard of soccer to fans.
Central Florida has a strong passion for the game and a growing community of soccer fans. We believe there’s an opportunity to build a club that’s rooted in the community, accessible to everyone, and proudly represents the region. By focusing on affordability and local connection, Central Florida Pro Soccer is ready to become the area’s premier team.
In short – YES! While Orlando welcomes over 77M+ tourists a year, that surge in visitors often drives up demand for local sports. Our club will be built for the people who actually live here. As the city and suburbs continue to grow, there’s a real opportunity to create a thriving clubs, one that family-friendly, community-focused and offers a more personal fan experience, similar to the local clubs found across Europe.
We’ll begin play in USL League One, the third tier of professional soccer in the U.S. While promotion and relegation are still a few years away, we’re building the club with a competitive mindset from day one. Our goal is to be a top-performing team, drawing talent from our recruitment system and our broader multi-club structure.
The name of the club has not been decided yet. This will be a community-built club, and we’re excited to involve local community members in shaping an identity that truly represents them.
The club is owned by Federal Sports Alliance, with Tan Bahia serving as Partner and CEO, and Austin Root as Partner and COO.
Tan Bahia – CEO (Partner)
Tan is the CEO of Federal Finance – a UK Commercial Financier, who has now expanded his operations in the US with offices in London / New York / Orlando & Toronto. He has concluded more than $4,7Billion in transactions across both markets. Prior to Federal Finance, Tan worked in corporate banking with Barclays Bank / Santander & HSBC.
With a sound understanding of the banking models, he has successfully built an international business arranging funding structures for the most complex lending scenarios for some of the world’s elite developers and corporate investors. As the company grows, so do the lines of capital and now Tan has formed a Private Equity Fund to facilitate direct market lending. Additionally, Tan also owns Federal Group Investments, which is a development company – building large residential home communities across Florida and other select markets.
Outside of work, Tan is an advent football fan and generally enjoys anything sports-related.
Austin Root – COO (Partner)
Austin brings over 20 years of experience in the financial world to Federal Sports Alliance. He began his career in 2000 on Wall Street at Merrill Lynch’s Global Markets and Investment Banking Group where he created, developed and marketed complex, structured financial products to Fortune 500 companies.
Since leaving Merrill Lynch, Austin has spent the last 15 years consulting with small and medium sized businesses in business strategy and development as well as with multi-family offices, assets managers and investment funds on various types of financing opportunities across the capital stack in various asset classes including but not limited to real estate, venture capital, and private equity.
At Federal Sports Alliance, Austin is focused on managing investor relations while growing the portfolio of sports and real estate assets as well as the global brand. Austin holds a BA in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania. Outside of work, Austin is an avid adventurer and explorer of the world having traveled to over 70 countries, diving into anything related to food (eating and cooking!), the built environment, world cultures, ancient wisdom and health and wellness. He is also a fan of anything football.
Subject to city approval, we plan to build a multi-purpose stadium-anchored, mixed-use development that will also include training facilities, soccer pitches, residential, office, and retail space. We hope to finalize the location in the near future.
We will be developing a complete ecosystem of Live/Work/Play with a stadium for professional sports / Indoor Event Space / Foot sol / 4 Outdoor Soccer Pitches / Padel / Pickleball / Hotel / Grocery store / Gym / Walking Trails / Offices / Commercial Retail / Main Street Promenade. In addition to soccer, the stadium will also host concerts, shows, festivals, conferences and alternative sports.
The project will bring new jobs, homes, green spaces, restaurants, retail and a much-needed hotel to the area.
We also plan to provide free soccer opportunities for underserved kids in the community.
The project will be privately funded by Federal Sports Alliance.
The timeline is still being finalized. Once we receive city approval, we’re ready move quickly.
The training facility will be part of the sports complex.
Yes, we will have a youth club/academy, and we will also be developing an educational facility to support our young talent.
We expect the club and the sports complex to have a major economic impact—bringing jobs, tourism, investment, and national and international attention to Central Florida.
The local government has been supportive of the club and the project.
They’ve played a key role in helping move things forward and share our vision of transforming a vacant site into something that truly benefits the entire community.
