By Canadian Press

Ottawa Fury pro soccer team suspends operations

Nov 8, 2019 | 9:52 AM

OTTAWA — The Ottawa Fury are suspending operations, taking professional soccer out of the nation’s capital.

The Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG), the United Soccer League team’s owner, announced the decision today.

The club says it was unable to obtain required sanctioning from its governing bodies to participate in the USL in 2020.

The Fury faced a battle late last year to get sanctioned by CONCACAF to play in the USL in 2019. CONCACAF, which governs soccer in North and Central America and the Caribbean, had balked at giving the Ottawa club the green light to continue play in the U.S. league when a Canadian alternative — the new Canadian Premier League — was set to start earlier this year.

CONCACAF changed its tune after the Fury went to the Court of Arbitration for Sport for help.

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Ottawa had been widely expected to be the CPL’s eighth team. But the Fury, while saying it supported the idea of a Canadian league, said last September that it planned to stick with the tried-and-tested USL at least for the 2019 season.

OSEG, which also owns the CFL’s Redblacks and Ontario Hockey League’s 67’s, started its men’s pro team in 2014 in the North American Soccer League and joined the USL in 2017.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2019.

The Canadian Press