MountainStar Sports Group is entering the world of pro soccer with a team playing out of Universidad Autonoma de Ciudad Juarez — and owner say this can only boost efforts to launch El Paso pro soccer.
MountainStar Sports Group has overseen a hit with the El Paso Chihuahuas (Class AAA; Pacific Coast League), who have proven to be a good draw at a new downtown ballpark. With members of MountainStar already having a background in Mexican pro soccer, the organization decided to team up with a group of prominent Juarez families to form FC Juarez, which will play out of the Ascenso MX League.
“We are elated to make this announcement,” said Alejandra de la Vega Foster, co-owner of MountainStar Sports Group. “There are some conditions we need to resolve, but we are well on our way. This is an opportunity that does not come often, and we are excited to be a part of it and to bring high-level soccer to the region.”
De la Vega Foster said the new partnership, including the de la Vega, Fernandez, Muñoz, and Talavera families of Cd. Juarez, along with the Foster and Hunt families of El Paso, will own and manage the team.
“We are moving very quickly; once we have all agreements in place, we want to be ready to go.”
De la Vega Foster said the team currently has a working title of FC Juarez. “The season begins July 24, and we will have many announcements in the days to come. For now, there is much work to be done,” she said.
De la Vega Foster, who will serve as interim president of FC Juarez, has a background in pro soccer. She is the former Chief Executive Officer of Club de Futbol Cobras de Juarez, where she owned and managed the Juarez Cobras, a major league soccer team. In her first year as CEO, the team won the national championship in the Liga de Ascenso. For a number of years, she served on the Board of Directors of the Federacion Mexicana de Futbol Asociacion (FMF), which is the governing body of major league football in the country of Mexico. She was the first woman to serve on that board, and today remains the only woman to hold that title.
And it doesn’t sound like FC Juarez will be the only soccer initiative from MountainStar Sports Group.
“We are still looking at every available option with professional soccer for the U.S. side of the Borderplex,” said Josh Hunt, CEO of MountainStar Sports Group. “And having a pro soccer club in Juarez can only help. This is exciting news for the entire region.
“We see this much in the same light as we did with the opportunity to bring Triple-A Baseball to El Paso,” Hunt said. “Our cornerstone objective was, and is, to improve the quality of life in the Borderplex and drive economic development. This is a natural extension of that mission.”
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