page_title: Sports in Minnesota
section_title: Soccer
hierarchical_section_title: Sports in Minnesota / Major professional sports / Soccer
caption_attribution_description: Miguel Ibarra - Minnesota United - MLS - Soccer
context_page_description: Sports in Minnesota include professional teams in all major sports, Olympic Games contenders and medalists, especially in the Winter Olympics, collegiate teams in major and small-school conferences and associations and active amateur teams and individual sports. The State of Minnesota has a team in all five major professional leagues. Along with professional sports, there are numerous collegiate teams including the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers in the NCAA Division I, Minnesota State Mavericks in NCAA Division I and NCAA Division II and many others across the Minnesota public and private colleges and universities.
context_section_description: Minnesota United FC is a Major League Soccer team that was founded in 2010 as the NSC Minnesota Stars. In 2013, the club rebranded with a new crest and a new name, Minnesota United FC.  In 2010 when the club was founded, it began to play in North American Soccer League in the second tier of US Soccer. In March 2015, MLS announced that Minnesota United had been awarded an expansion spot in MLS. The team continued to compete in the NASL until the 2017 season when Minnesota United began to compete in MLS. This marked the introduction of top division soccer to Minnesota since the Minnesota Kicks dissolved in 1981. Minnesota United currently plays its home games at Allianz Field in Saint Paul. Minnesota United is nicknamed "the Loons" after Minnesota's state bird, the common loon. Notable players for Minnesota United include Kevin Molino, Darwin Quintero, Osvaldo Alonso, and Miguel Ibarra.
  The Thunder were a USL First Division team founded in 1992 as an amateur men's team, then joined the USL in 1994, and won the championship of what was then the A-League in 1999. Notable former players include Tony Sanneh and Manuel Lagos.
  The Minnesota Lightning were a W-League team founded in 2006. They also played at the National Sports Center. The team folded after the 2009 season.
caption: Miguel Ibarra playing for Minnesota United FC in 2017
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon EOS 5D Mark III", "Image XResolution": "240", "Image YResolution": "240", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 6.5 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2017:05:11 07:17:16", "Image ExifOffset": "216", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "876", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "14446", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/3200", "EXIF FNumber": "28/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Manual", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "640", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF RecommendedExposureIndex": "640", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2017:05:07 13:27:57", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2017:05:07 13:27:57", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "727741/62500", "EXIF ApertureValue": "2485427/500000", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "6149/1087", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "293", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "30", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "382423/97", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "185679/47", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Manual Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF BodySerialNumber": "032023000238", "EXIF LensSpecification": "[150, 600, 0/0, 0/0]", "EXIF LensModel": "Sigma 150mm f/2.8 EX DG OS HSM APO Macro", "EXIF LensSerialNumber": "0000000000"}