TQL Stadium, the official home for FC Cincinnati, opens Sunday

Joining the ranks of Paul Brown Stadium and Great American Ballpark, FC Cincinnati’s TQL Stadium is the latest installment of professional stadiums in Cincinnati.

The 26,000-seater will host its first match on Sunday when the Orange and Blue look for their first win of the season against Inter Miami. Despite sitting in last place in the Eastern Conference in a terribly disappointing start to the season so far, fans will be hoping the day ends in celebration as a mark of a new beginning.

By all accounts, this soccer-specific stadium is nothing short of world class. “There’s something very, very special here,” says MLS commissioner Don Garber. “For me, it’s an emotional sort of reckoning to think we have owners that will make the commitments that they’ve made, cities that see the value of a great stadium in an environment like this that is right downtown connected to the heartbeat of the city.” Garber went on to say the stadium “exceeded his expectations,” and that the stadium punches above its weight as one of the world’s best soccer venues.

The first thing FCC fans will notice when pulling into the stadium parking lot is the unique lighting technology on the exterior of the stadium, an application of lighting technology you’ll be hard-pressed to find with other sports venues around the world.

Declared as a historic investment, TQL Stadium sits between the West End and Over-the-Rhine neighborhoods.

It’s expected the city will likely be a destination for U.S. Men’s and Women’s soccer games in the future. They were almost given the opportunity to host a Gold Cup match this summer, before the tournament opted for fewer locations to increase safety.