New Amsterdam Football Club
The business, the turning points, and the decisions behind them.
01 / WHAT IT BUILT
What the company did
New Amsterdam Football Club was an American professional soccer club based in Hempstead, New York, playing in the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA), the third tier of US soccer. Founded on April 20, 2020, by Laurence Girard and Maximilian Mansfield, the club — named for the 17th-century Dutch settlement that became New York City — began play in July 2020 and played home games at Hofstra University Soccer Stadium. It was expelled from NISA in January 2022 and folded.
02 / New Amsterdam Football Club FAILURE REASONS
Failure reasons
New Amsterdam FC endured two tumultuous NISA seasons marked by a nearly calendar year-long winless run, poor on-field results, and an owner whose social media meltdowns damaged the club's reputation. Launched during the pandemic as a low-cost NISA entry ($1-2 million a year to run), the club could not build a competitive squad or a sustainable fan base, and the league expelled it in January 2022.
03 / EVENT HISTORY
Events in the structured record
- Founded
Laurence Girard and Maximilian Mansfield founded New Amsterdam FC on April 20, 2020; the club joined NISA and began play in July.
- Tumultuous seasons
The club suffered a nearly year-long winless run and off-field instability, finishing 4th in Fall 2021.
- Expelled and folded
In January 2022 NISA expelled New Amsterdam FC and the club folded after parts of two seasons.
04 / CONTEMPORARY REBUILD ASSESSMENT
Difficulty of rebuilding this project today
Material for this section is being gathered and checked. It will appear here once ready.
Overall assessment: Not completed
05 / CAUSAL CHAIN
How the factors connect
- 01
In January 2022 the National Independent Soccer Association expelled New Amsterdam FC, ending its professional run after parts of two seasons.
- 02
The club folded, with owner Laurence Girard's erratic public behavior and poor on-field results cited as hallmarks of its collapse; the name later reappeared only at amateur level.