COLUMBUS, Ohio — With a new turf pitch, Columbus’ Historic Crew Stadium will once again be home to professional soccer as the Crew announced the formation of a new minor league affiliate Monday. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Columbus Crew’s minor league team, Crew 2, will be one of 20 MLS clubs to participate in the newly formed MLS NEXT Pro league

  • Crew 2 games will be played starting in March with home games being played at Historic Crew Stadium

  • Crew 2’s purpose will be to help develop young players for the MLS club

Crew 2 will take the pitch in 2022 competing in the newly formed MLS NEXT Pro league. The league will mostly consist of minor league teams affiliated with MLS clubs. All told, 20 MLS-affiliated clubs and one independent team will participate in 2022.

The league is scheduled to launch in March and culminate with the playoffs in September. 

The goal for Crew 2 is to provide a step between the team’s youth academy and MLS club, the Columbus Crew said. Often, younger prospects get loaned to other minor league squads, which takes those players away from the Crew’s coaching and training staff. 

Crew 2 players will have the opportunity to train alongside MLS players, which could make call ups easier when players are ready for a promotion. 

“We aspire to be an innovative club — a Club that aims to be at the forefront of soccer development at all levels, and we believe the creation of the second team allows us to continue pursuing that endeavor,” said Crew President and General Manager Tim Bezbatchenk. “Crew 2 will provide Crew Academy players with a more well-defined pathway into the professional ranks while also providing opportunities for first team players to earn minutes. Moreover, Crew 2 will be a platform to develop top talent across the technical staff.”

Corey Wray will be tasked with overseeing the developmental team. He will be tasked with signing coaches and players to the squad. 

Crew head coach Caleb Porter welcomed Monday’s announcement. 

“Oftentimes we have players who aren’t quite ready for the first team and they need games on the weekend because they’re not playing in the first team games,” Porter said. “Now we finally have that pathway where every player is going to get games on the weekend to develop.” 

Porter said a player like Isaiah Parente would have benefited this season from having a developmental team. Parente, a native of Medina who spent three seasons at Wake Forest after playing in the Crew’s youth academy, only made two starts in six appearances the entire season. Porter said he hopes players like Parente can benefit from having the opportunity to see additional minutes.

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