Toronto FC

Toronto FC is a Major League Soccer team located in Toronto, Ontario. The team was awarded an expansion franchise to become the thirteenth team in MLS on May 11, 2006. Their first contest took place on April 7, 2007. The team plays their home games at BMO Field, Canada's first venue specifically tailored for soccer. It also is the home for the Canadian national soccer teams as well.http://www.torontofc.ca/history

The club is owned by Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment or MLSE, the same conglomerate that owns the Toronto Maple Leafs of the National Hockey League, along with the Toronto Raptors of the National Basketball Association and the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League.http://www.mlse.com/ The franchise is the second highest valued in all of MLS by Forbes Magazine, valued at $44 million. http://www.forbes.com/2008/09/09/mls-soccer-beckham-biz-sports-cz_kb_0909mlsvalues_slide_3.html?thisSpeed=15000 The team also has its own television station, Toronto FC TV, where fans can catch a variety of team related information.http://torontofc.neulion.com/tfc/

In its first three years in the league, the club has yet to qualify for the postseason. They did set the franchise record for wins in a season in 2009, when they went 10-11-9, finishing with 39 points and finishing fifth in the Eastern Conference. Predrag Radosavljević, also known as Preki, is the current coach of the club, taking over after the end of the 2009 season. Preki had coached with Chivas USA of the MLS for the previous three seasons before taking the job in Toronto. http://web.mlsnet.com/t120/load.jsp?section=about&content=coacheshttp://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=760872&cc=5901

He wasted no time in putting his stamp on the franchise, dealing away Carl Robinson and Adrian Serioux, then giving Ali Gerba the boot during training camp. The team struggled in preseason action, scoring just once in six matches against MLS opponents. One piece that Preki does have is one of the top goalies in the league in Stefan Frei, but he still has work to do in order to help the franchise turn the corner.http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=760872&cc=5901

Toronto FC began the 2010 MLS season with a 2-0 defeat at the hands of the Columbus Crew on the road in Columbus, Ohio.http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=289677&league=USA.1&cc=5901 It was announced on March 30, 2010 that Toronto would host the 15th edition of the MLS Cup on November 21, 2010 at 8:30 pm ET on ESPN and Telefutura. The announcement was made by MLS Commissioner Don Garber.http://www.torontofc.ca/news/2010/03/mls-cup-2010-awarded-toronto