EL PASO, Texas – United Soccer League announced Wednesday that El Paso, Texas will be the next addition to the league for the 2019 season.

The new club will be led by MountainStar Sports Group, which also owns and operates the El Paso Chihuahuas, the Triple-A affiliate of the San Diego Padres of Major League Baseball. The group is also a minority owner of FC Juaréz of Mexico’s Liga Ascenso.

El Paso is the fourth team to join the USL for the 2019 season, and the second this year after the announcement on Jan. 8 of the addition of Memphis, Tennessee to join Birmingham, Alabama and Austin, Texas in the league next year. El Paso’s addition to the league bolsters the USL’s expanding footprint in the Southwest and adds another respected, experienced ownership group to the league’s world-class leadership.

“It is with distinct pleasure and great enthusiasm that we welcome the illustrious city of El Paso to the USL family,” USL CEO Alec Papadakis said in a statement. “The distinguished ownership group comprised of Woody Hunt, Josh Hunt, Paul Foster and Alejandra De la Vega-Foster add to the world-class ownership groups already present in the USL, and in MountainStar Sports Group President Alan Ledford the group includes one of the most admired executives in professional baseball, whose leadership helped the El Paso Chihuahuas to be recognized as one of MiLB’s most successful teams and to average in the top five in attendance in the Pacific Coast League each of the past four seasons.

“Add to that the group’s experience in building FC Juarez of Mexico’s Liga Ascenso into a strong organization over the past three years, and the tremendous passion for civic responsibility MountainStar Sports Group has shown throughout its history, I have no doubt this group will propel its new USL team to remarkable achievements both on and off the field in the coming years.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.