K–W United FC


K–W United FC was a Canadian soccer team based in the Kitchener–Waterloo region in Ontario, Canada. Founded in 2010 as Hamilton Rage FC, the team played in the Premier Development League, the fourth tier of the American soccer league system, in the Great Lakes Division of the Central Conference.
The team previously played its home games at Brian Timmis Stadium and Ron Joyce Stadium in Hamilton, Ontario, but has played its games since 2013 at University Stadium in Waterloo, Ontario, after the club was moved by new owners to Kitchener–Waterloo and renamed following the 2012 season.
The men's team also had a sister women's team of the same name in 2013 and 2014, who played in the USL W-League, but had no affiliation with SC Waterloo Region.
An announcement in February 2018 stated that the team would no longer be part of the Premier Development League. The team's president Barry Maclean did not make any comment to the news media. He did, however, share the specifics about the team's demise with NSXI.

History

Hamilton FC Rage was announced as a Premier Development League expansion franchise on February 17, 2011. They played their first competitive game on May 25, 2011, a 2–0 loss to the Toronto Lynx, but won their second game 5–0 over the Ottawa Fury. The first goal in franchise history was scored by Dominic Bell.

Relocation and re-branding

Following the 2012 PDL season, the club was sold, renamed K–W United FC and relocated to Kitchener–Waterloo due to low attendance numbers in Hamilton since the club's inception in 2011. The club has no affiliation with SC Waterloo Region, who also plays in the area.
In 2015, after finishing 2nd in the competitive Great Lakes Division, they became PDL Champions in the playoffs, defeating New York Red Bulls U-23 on August 2 in the final played at Starfire Stadium in Tukwila, Washington, 4–3, with goals from Ben Polk, Joel Perez, Jarek Whiteman-Asiamah, and Juuso Pasanen.

Notable former players

This list of notable former players comprises players who went on to play professional soccer after playing for the team in the Premier Development League, or those who previously played professionally before joining the team.

Honors

Attendance stats are calculated by averaging each team's self-reported home attendances from the historical match archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20060319215614/http://www.uslsoccer.com/history/index_E.html.%7B%7Bbetter source|date=April 2017|reason=the years listed below are not covered