They said soccer wasn’t going to work in the south, especially in a perceived lukewarm professional sports market like Atlanta. Though championship success has largely evaded the southeastern metropolis in the four major North American sports, the city has quickly become a soccer town thanks to the triumphant success of Atlanta United FC in Major League Soccer.
Since their inaugural season of 2017, Atlanta United have qualified for the MLS Cup Playoffs all three years of their existence. After losing at home in a penalty shootout in the first round their first season, the Five Stripes went on to do the unthinkable by Atlanta professional sports standards and win the whole damn thing a year later.