TST launches mixed-gender event with one million dollar prize as Hope Solo and Wrexham join | OneFootball

The Soccer Tournament will launch a mixed-gender, seven-a-side, winner-takes-all event this summer, joining its men’s and women’s competitions, each awarding one million dollars.

The new bracket will feature 16 teams, half already confirmed, headlined by former United States women’s national team goalkeeper Hope Solo and Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney’s Wrexham Red Dragons, led by Steven Fletcher and Rosie Hughes. “It’s another evolution of the beautiful game and it creates this different form of entertainment value,” Solo said to The Athletic.

The World Cup winner returns with a mixed team alongside Solo FC, which debuted in last year’s women’s event. “(TST founder) Jon (Mugar) has set this incredible standard for equal pay and that’s what I fought for my entire career but never got when I was playing,” she said.

Founded in 2023 by Jon Mugar, TST is built around short seven-on-seven matches for broadcast. Its “target score time” ending means every game is settled by a goal. Equal prize money for men and women arrived in 2024.

Last year was Solo’s first competitive outing since 2016, as Solo FC went out to Ultrain FC in the quarter-finals, where she saved a penalty.

“I want to be the first team to win $2 million, back-to-back with Solo FC’s women’s and mixed teams,” she said. “I want to make history.” The tournament runs from 27 May to 1 June at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.

Source: NY Times