Minnesota women’s soccer team unveils team name, logo

Minnesota’s pre-professional women’s soccer team unveiled its name Thursday: Aurora FC. Twin Cities affiliate KSTP made the initial report.

The team is a founding member of the new USL W League, which so far includes 43 teams and starts play in May.

Aurora FC is community-owned by 3,080 investors. The community owners all had a vote on the new team’s name and logo, which was a four-month process that started with more than 100 name suggestions. The final three options were Arctic Minnesota, Minnesota Firefox FC, and the newly selected Minnesota Aurora FC.

With the team name and logo released, the club is hosting a few pop-up merchandise shops over the next few days:

• 6-8 p.m. Thursday at National Sports Center’s Welcome Center in Blaine
• 6-8 p.m. at Honey & Mackie’s in Plymouth
• 9-11 a.m. Saturday at Joy of the People Sports Complex in Woodbury
• 2-4 p.m. Saturday at La Doña Cerveceria in Minneapolis
• noon-4 p.m. Sunday at Black Hart of Saint Paul

The goal of USL W League is to serve as a “national platform to increase opportunity, gender equity, and career development,” according to the league’s website as well as, “enhancing the women’s soccer pipeline between college and professional soccer.”