Deleware City, led by TST winning coach Marlon Trejo, joins MASL 3 for 2025-26

TAMPA, Florida – The newest member joining Major Arena Soccer League 3 – Delaware City FC who will come aboard for the 2025-26 season – has some major ties to what has quickly turned into one of the country's most iconic summer soccer events.

The Wilmington based club will be coached by Marlon Trejo. If the name is already familiar to Delaware soccer fans, it's because he was an assistant coach of the 2024 TST million-dollar wining team, La Bombonera, which is back in 2025 to defend its title, with Trejo again serving as an assistant coach.

La Bombonera is expected to have a heavy influence from the MASL on its roster, including Chad Poarch – honored as the league's best newcomer for 2024-25 -- who in 23 games with the Baltimore Blast had 23 goals and 10 assists. He also got the game winner in the 2024 TST finals. Several players from the league champion Chihuahua Savage, including Hugo Puentes (24G, 19A in 2024-25), Jose Lopez (17G, 8A) and Roberto Escalante (12G, 9A) are also expected to be part of the 2025 team.

Major Arena Soccer League 3 will, practically speaking, be the first larger scale league venture for the club, which to date has primarily been a tournament team for both indoor and outdoor events.

“There's a lot of things about MASL 3 that we liked, and indoor is really big in the Wilmington area, it's blowing up here,”  said Matalavage, who played college soccer for three seasons with Trejo at Neumann University. “We talked to Chad (POARCH) who gave us some good insight which helped. Wilmington is a good market, and we have aspirations to do more than just MASL 3 over time.”

“There's s lot of things about MASL 3 that we liked, and indoor is really big in the Wilmington area, it's blowing up here,”  said Matalavage, who played college soccer for three seasons with Trejo at Neumann University. “We talked to Chad who gave us some good insight which helped. Wilmington is a good market, and we have aspirations to do more than just MASL 3 over time.”

The team will play its home games at Kirkwood Sports Complex in Wilmington when the fifth season of MASL 3 play kicks off late this fall.  Delaware City will play a 10-game regular season schedule in the highly-competitive Atlantic Division.

“The MASL Atlantic Division features some of the best run and most talented teams in the league, and I am very confident Delaware City FC will live up to that reputation very quickly,” Commissioner Chris Economides noted. “With their involvement in soccer at some of the highest levels, they have a great vision of what makes a successful franchise. Wilmington should be excited to welcome MASL brand soccer to its city.”

The RGV Barracudas, based out of Brownsville, Texas, won the MASL 3 championship last month defeating the Roc City Boom out of Rochester, N.Y. The three previous championships were won by Northern Virginia, who also plays in the Atlantic Division. They were knocked out of the playoffs this year by RGV in the quarterfinals. For more information on the league, visit www.masl3.com. More information on Delaware City FC can be found online on their Facebook and Instagram pages.