The Pilot Episode
Fort Wayne has a professional football club. Now it has its own independent publication.
What started off as a #USL2FW Twitter account back in 2017, through the global pandemic in 2020 where ESPN picked up an article about DaMarcus Beasley’s post-playing career plan, to a USL League Two launch in May 2021 - until now, 5 years later, and a little over a week away - Fort Wayne Football Club will take their first step as a professional club on March 7th, 2026.
Take a moment.
Fort Wayne has a professional football club, with a world-class soccer-specific stadium on the way, and are about to kick off the 2026 season in USL League One.
Someone pinch me!
It’s hard to believe as a Fort Wayne native, having grown up playing youth soccer on the same Concordia Theological Seminary grounds Fort Wayne FC now calls their Official Training Grounds, to be writing and sharing the first article for The Fort Wayne Defender.
What is The Fort Wayne Defender?
To start, it’s a passion project that runs deep in these Justin Hein soccer veins. It’s a news outlet, a blog site, it’s the confluence of analysis and opinion, dedicated to Fort Wayne FC. More importantly, it’s independent - it’s fan and supporter driven, it’s a channel to build community around the sport we love, the city we call home and the club that connects us.
If you’re new to this, welcome! It’s an honor and a privilege to provide a little more context and clarity into the beautiful game of soccer, which is now right here, in our backyard. Between the professional launch of Fort Wayne FC, our new soccer stadium, and a summer of World Cup games - you’ll be a fan in no time. Maybe even a Supporter!
If you’re not new to this, hello again you football fanatic! You should already be familiar with independent soccer media, which has a rich tradition worldwide and here, in the US. There are many fantastic outlets for all sorts of soccer and footballing niches. We’re carving out a space of our own, for Fort Wayne. Please make it your duty to agree, to disagree, to comment (or don’t) and to participate in the dialogue and discussions that I promise will push or pull you through the monotonous and mundane workweek. From my experience, it’s these independent outlets that allow your voice and views to be heard, whether you’re right or wrong doesn’t really matter, but what does is that you engage in the topic. We’ll all learn something new about each other, together.
What to Expect?
For now, this is one person’s dedication to the club. I’ll use this outlet for long-form articles that need more than 140 280 characters on X. This medium fills a missing piece in coverage and I’m excited about the possibilities on the horizon. I will be looking for additional Contributors, as well as photographers, to keep content fresh, up-to-date and visually interesting. There is no shortage of potential topics to cover, whether it’s the new stadium, players, the business of soccer, game day analysis, or transfers and transactions. We’re just getting started. After all, it’s still preseason.
My invite to you: connect, engage and communicate. Help me build this grassroots community. You’re here from the start. We will build Fort Wayne into a soccer-first city, and it’s your passion, excitement and energy that will put Fort Wayne on the national, dare I say international, soccer map. Don’t forget to invite an “I’m new to this” friend (especially in these initial years). This sport is fulfilling, rewarding, and unlike anything the Fort Wayne sports fan has seen before.
If you want to be part of this journey, subscribe to this publication and follow me on X at @FWDefender. Thank you for taking the time to read this post, and soccer god willing, it will be the first of many - dedicated to our sport, our city, our Fort Wayne Football Club.
Always FWD.