By Justin Rushia, with photos courtesy of FC Green

This summer for the 2026 World Cup, people will shell out thousands of dollars to sit in the nosebleeds at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey and SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles. 

But away from the crowds in Burlington, real football fans also know that high-level, professional-caliber soccer can be seen for just $15 a ticket starting this month. 

Vermont Green FC has turned its lakeside hometown into one of the most electric soccer environments in the country. Led by first-year head coach Chris Taylor, the Green emerged this past season as one of the top clubs in USL League Two, earning both a league championship and a spot in April’s Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, one of the oldest and most prestigious tournaments in American soccer. 

The Green fell in the second round to the higher-ranked Westchester SC of New York by a single penalty kick, but it was still considered a win for the club’s future. 

“Even though we lost to Westchester Soccer Club, we absolutely dominated them from start to finish and just couldn’t score a goal,” Taylor said. “It gave us huge confidence that all of our players are probably a little bit above the USL League One level. They’re just still in college. They’re going to be pros, and their talent level is probably a little higher than that league. The way I look at it is we’ve got a college all-star team.” 

Taylor would know. He’s coached a few of them. 

Born in Liverpool, Taylor’s professional journey began in 2003, when at age 16 he left school in hopes of playing for his hometown club. The contract provided little financial compensation, however, so he coached youth soccer for extra money. He bounced around a few more English clubs, including stints at Tranmere Rovers and Wrexham.

“I saw the writing on the wall,” Taylor said. “I was kind of dropping down the leagues, and I was like, ‘I’m not gonna make it.’” 

In 2006, a friend at the MLS team New York Red Bulls invited Taylor to coach youths on a nine-month visa. He enjoyed it. But still, he admits, “I wasn’t very good at the coaching side of things yet.”

In 2007, Taylor again laced up his cleats to play DIII soccer at SUNY Plattsburgh while continuing to hone his coaching skills with the Plattsburgh Football Club (PFC) for high schoolers. After graduating in 2011 with a degree in journalism, he took an assistant coaching job at SUNY Plattsburgh. 

In 2012, Taylor accepted an assistant coaching position at Vassar College, then led by longtime head coach Andy Jennings, a three-time Liberty League Coach of the Year. Less than two years later, at age 25, Taylor was offered the head coaching position at Clarkson University. 

“When I think back on that time, I probably could have used some more years as an assistant coach, but I was desperate to be a head coach,” Taylor said. “I had to go and get on my own two feet and just essentially figure it out.”

In his fourth and final season as head coach at Clarkson, Taylor led the Golden Knights to the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade. In 2018, he returned to Plattsburgh to take over as head coach at his alma mater. The Cardinals have since been a consistent SUNYAC playoff contender. 

When rumors started that a USL League Two team was coming to Burlington in 2022, Taylor’s curiosity was piqued. He heard that Adam Pfeifer, the head soccer coach at Norwich University, would be sporting director for the Vermont Green. Taylor began pestering Pfeifer for a coaching spot. 

“I got in touch and was like, ‘If you guys start something and you need a volunteer coach, you need someone to pick up cones, I’d love to be involved,” Taylor said. 

“Long story short, me and him hit it off quite well in terms of a soccer relationship,” Taylor added. 

In Vermont Green’s inaugural 2022 season, the club finished with a 9-4-1 record and upset top-seeded Lionbridge FC of Virginia in the first playoff round. Two years later, Taylor rose to head coach. His first season at the helm, in 2025, Taylor led the club to an undefeated record and its first-ever league championship.

Green FC includes top college players from around the country, which is both an asset and a challenge. With players flying in for games from hours away — from UCLA to North Carolina State — they have little time to practice together. The task for Taylor is to turn them into a team on short notice. 

“How do you get a group of 18 players to understand one game plan in that short period of time?” Taylor said. “The temptation is to just talk to the players for four hours straight and tell them everything, but you’ve got to prioritize the must-know things… If you tell the players everything, it’s information overload.” 

He seems to have figured it out just fine. The Green won 1–0 in round one of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in April, earning Taylor Coach of the Week honors.

FC Green’s season restarts on May 17 with an away match against Seacoast United. The first home game is May 22 against the Albany Rush.

All photos courtesy of FC Green.