WASHINGTON — Bad news for D.C. United fans — this year’s home Leagues Cup match will no longer be taking place at Audi Field.
The Leagues Cup is a North American soccer championship, in which 47 regional soccer clubs across the U.S., Canada and Mexico play in a World Cup-style tournament. The tournament is sanctioned by the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, or Concacaf, one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football.
Washington’s own team, D.C. United, was set to play Santos Laguna, the team from Comarca Lagunera, Mexico, on home turf Wednesday night. But the soccer club announced that concerns with the condition of the playing surface at home stadium Audi Field would move the match to Subaru Park in Chester, Pennsylvania.
Field conditions deteriorated because of recent events at Audi Field, including a US Women's National Team Olympic send-off match against Costa Rica on July 16, and the Broccoli City music festival over the weekend. It was the festival's first time at Audi Field.
Installation of a new grass field that was initially scheduled for Aug. 1 was moved to July 31, the day the game was scheduled to happen there.
In a press release, the soccer club apologized to fans who had tickets and said it has put greater parameters in place to make sure this doesn’t happen again. The team also said all ticket holders for the match will receive emails with the status of their tickets and next steps.
