With a second championship in sight and Bernie Sanders’ support, Vermont is the US soccer state of the moment | Football

A The silence fell on the field of virtue. Owen O’malley intensified, kissed the ball and prepared to take the fifth penalty of Vermont Green during a shooting. The result of this kick could decide the winner of the semi-final of the USL League Two against Dothan United at the fourth level of American football.

The moment of calm contrasts striking with the buzz that gathered around this team in 2025, but silence was quickly broken while O’malley was kick in the middle coldly. The back of the threaded net, and the celebrations in the stands overturned on the ground.

A closed window crowds of 2,700 supporters had packaged in the Virtue field of the University of Vermont in Burlington for the match. It was official attendance anyway. Many others have found a perch wherever they could around the ground.

The club estimates that it could have been selling at least 15,000 tickets, and the request is even greater for the final on Saturday, which will take place in Virtue Field against the own gem of Seattle of a lower league, Ballard FC. As soon as the tickets were put on sale Wednesday morning, the match sold. The game is displayed on local television as well as online broadcasting, and many watch festivals take place through the state. Others may still find a way to be there in person.

“There is a grassy hill behind the goal of the North which now has hundreds, even thousands of fans,” explains Matthew Wolff, who founded the club alongside Sam Glickman and Patrick Infurna. “During the last two games, we have had standing fans on the basis of the dashboard outside the stadium, fans who brought scales around the stadium, seated above the hangars and shipping containers, standing at the top of the potties. Someone was sitting above a traction bar attached to the back of a garage to watch the penalty in the last match!”

During the semi-final, the commentator Brian McLaughlin described Burlington as “the football city of the moment”. It is a daring declaration, but which does not seem inaccurate, even if the Vermont Green is a team of fourth level which was only founded in 2021. It is an amateur team strongly linked to the university game, in particular through its home stadium, but also its game staff and the culture of fans. The male team of the University of Vermont Catamouts, which plays at the same stadium, won the national NCAA championship against the odds and in an exciting manner in 2024.

The team can count Bernie Sanders among his supporters, and the American senator spoke of the new status of Vermont as a football state.

“I think I speak for the whole state by congratulating the Vermont Green for the extraordinary season they have had,” he said. “It is really incredible that for a small state, we have now become one of the main football centers in the United States.”

The ethics of Vermont Green, and other clubs like to different levels in various leagues – Detroit City (USL championship), Kingston Stockade (the club league) and New York International (APSL) are among the people regularly mentioned in these conversations – shows that in the closed structure of American football, it is less the division in which you play and more League, but also in the community, but also on what you do as a club, not only in a league, but also in the community, but also in the community.

“We are really satisfied with the USL League Two,” says Infurna. “We really like our league and the people who manage it. Our relationship with them is fantastic, but in the end, you are only in your league when you play football, and these clubs exist a lot outside these 90 minutes.

“We believe to focus on your community and your club, what and who you are. No one in Vermont thinks of Vermont Green as a fourth division club in a small town. Everyone considers us as the largest Vermont club. In a non -meritorious system, you cannot really have a hierarchy of leagues;

When you meet a team like Vermont Green, it is difficult to ignore the subject of promotion and relegation. It is one of the most well -managed and sustained teams in the country; One with an identity that has developed organically with the club and which is linked to the community that supports it. An ever -increasing support has seen the club exceed its current house to the point where it will consider the next possible steps, which could include working with the university to extend the field of virtue or find a new stadium. It looks like a club that would be ready for the promotion.

The USL has presented promotion and relegation plans between its championship and Ligue 1 divisions, and a new first division offered in pencil for 2027, but for the moment, it is not planned to open this at its semi-pro / Ligue Deux level.

So what does progress look like for a football club in this situation?

“For me, growth and progress measures have seen the number of people in the community during the club,” said Tyler Littwin, who heads the group of Green Mountain Bhoys of the club. “How many people have been ready for tickets, how many people are disappointed when they cannot get them and reach out to social networks to ask if someone has a spare part.

“I would like the team to jump into a higher division and play more matches,” widens the stadium or have our own stadium at some point, but they are all very big jumps. So the great thing for me in the group of supporters is that each year, we just want it to be a greater, stronger and more widespread experience. ”

Vermont Green also converts non -sporting fans into club supporters at the back of what it represents.

“People who had no interest in football are excited by the team,” adds Littwin. “These are people who were attracted to the club because of the accent placed on non-sport problems, and who felt like it was something they wanted to be part.

“You can spend time with your friends and neighbors and feel that you go to something bigger for a few hours. I have not met such an important game of fans in a sport, in a club, which says to me:” I have never been in football, never in sport, and now I am an unconditional support. “It’s a fairly impressive conversion.”

Judith Altneu, who reported on the team’s end-of-season race for the Burlington Free Press, said: “Covering the Green matches made me feel like there is something bigger for the first time since you cover the basketball games of Maryland College as a student. There is nothing like being part of a closed window crowds. ”

Josh Nash, senior vice -president at USL, said that “Vermont Green has created something powerful – a club that reflects the spirit and identity of its community … The Ballard FC comes from Seattle with a championship pedigree, a relentless style of play and one of the most solid follow -ups of the League.

It also helps that football playing is good. On the field, the Vermont Green remained unbeaten in the regular season, which testifies to the players and work of Chris Taylor, the head coach of Liverpool who impressed in his first season in the role.

“Taylorball has completely changed the way Vermonters appreciate the game,” enthuses Wolff. “He plays such a fun style, and we had the privilege of having such good players and such depth that he can really perform what he wants. Its ability to use its submarines at the right time changed the games. ”

The end of the season was strewn with dramatic moments, two goals in an additional time to maintain an undefeated record and win the Northeast Division, the Niklas Herceg stops and the winning goal of O’malley during the penalty shootout against Dothan. It is entertaining football with moments of real drama.

All the people involved in Vermont Green are now focused on the final of Saturday, but by looking from outside, it is impossible not to wonder what the future has in store for the football city of the moment and how it can grow.

“I think it’s a remarkable story, whether we win the final or not,” concludes Infurna. “I hope that the world will put their eyes on this, because it is something really special, and the inhabitants of Vermont deserve the spotlight.”