History of the Columbus Crew, MLS Franchise

The Columbus Crew are a professional soccer franchise that currently participate in Major League Soccer. Major League Soccer is the largest and most recognized soccer league in North America. The Columbus Crew are currently based out of Columbus, Ohio and are owned by Lamar Hunt. The Crew currently play their home games at Columbus Crew Stadium which was the first ever soccer specific stadium built by an MLS franchise. Columbus Crew Stadium is capable of holding 20,555 soccer fans at any given time. The club was founded in 1994 and they were one of the few teams that participated in the inaugural season of Major League Soccer.

Throughout their history, the Columbus Crew have managed to win an array of different titles and championships. The first championship that they crew had ever won was in 2002 when they won the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. In the final of the US Open Cup they managed to defeat the Los Angeles Galaxy 1-0 to win the cup. This win clinched a spot in the 2003 CONCACAF Champion's Cup for the Crew, but they were eliminated by Ariba Punido 4-2 on aggregate during the competition. Another notable competition that the crew won was the MLS Supporter's Shield in 2004 and 2007. In 2008, the Crew managed to win the MLS Cup for the first time in their history.

The Ohio News Network is responsible for broadcasting the majority of the games that the Columbus Crew play in during the MLS regular season. From time to time, the Columbus Crew also appear on Fox Soccer Channel. Approximately twice a season the Crew also appear on ESPN2 during the MLS game of the week.

The current owner of the Kansas City Wizards is Clark Hunt who received ownership of the club from his father when he died. Robert Warzycha is currently the manager of the club and is responsible for deciding who starts during the MLS regular season. There are several historic games that the Columbus Crew have played throughout their history that you might be interested in knowing about.

The first game that the Columbus Crew ever played was on April 13^th 1996 against D.C. United. During this game the Columbus crew managed to defeat D.C. United by a score of 4-0. The largest win that the Columbus Crew ever had was on August 8^th 1998 against the New England Revolution. This game took place at the Ohio Stadium and the Crew managed to defeat the Revolution by a score of 6-1.

Only time will tell if the Columbus Crew can gain momentum in future MLS seasons. Currently they are one of the moderately skilled teams in Major League Soccer, but many say that the Crew have the potential to win the MLS Cup. Either way, it shall be interesting to see how the Crew place in the coming Major League Soccer season.

The source for the information for this article was from http://columbus.crew.mlsnet.com/t102/ which is the official website of the Columbus Crew.