NEWS: CARMELO ANTHONY BOUGHT THE PUERTO RICO FC SOCCER TEAM

CARMELO ANTHONY BOUGHT THE PUERTO RICO FC SOCCER TEAM

Carmelo Anthony is apparently a pretty big futbol fan, so much so that he decided to buy his very own team. 

Puerto Rico FC, a new club in the North American Soccer League that will make their debut in 2016, is now under ownership of Carmelo.

He spends multiple weeks during the off-season training in Puerto Rico, his mother is Puerto Rican- as his wife La La- so his ties to PR are strong and he felt the need to bring 'his island' something they can 'call their own.'

Melo is currently the sole owner of the club, although there is a potential group that may be involved moving forward. 

“I realized three, maybe four years ago that there was a Puerto Rico soccer team there, the Islanders. They were a very successful team, very competitive team in the NASL. For whatever reason over the last couple of years — a lack of money, lack of ownership — a lot of the funds were coming from the government and then that got cut down. When the politics come into play I kind of step a way from it. It was a perfect chance for me to not only revive that energy and that club, but to start something fresh. I wanted to be that one team that represents Puerto Rico.”

“My passion for soccer has always been there. I just always kept it to myself and among my circle. Going to games, sneaking into games and just watching and being around the sport over the years. The more time I spent I started spending in Puerto Rico over the past six, seven years I realized that there was kind of a void down there on my island. The island didn’t really have anything that they could kind of call their own, that they could represent not just on the island but from a global standpoint.”