The Chattanooga Red Wolves highly anticipated 2024 home opener is Saturday, April 20th with a 7:30 p.m. kickoff against Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC. The match will be the first ever on the natural grass pitch, part of $2 million in additional investments into CHI Memorial Stadium.
Saturday's festivities will feature $2 Beer Night with special pricing on select beers and a Red Out t-shirt giveaway for the first 500 fans presented by Liberty Apparel.
For Head Coach Scott Mackenzie, the Home Opener “The team has been looking forward to the Home Opener for a while now”, says Mackenzie. “We can’t wait to play on the new natural grass pitch in front of our incredible fans tomorrow night at a packed CHI Memorial Stadium!”
Tennessee's first professional soccer-specific stadium will now have a natural grass pitch, as featured in all of the world's premier soccer stadiums. Saturday night’s match will mark the first game on the new natural grass pitch which is a part of a $2 million investment into CHI Memorial Stadium by ownership. The pitch is also designed big enough to meet FIFA’s largest field dimension requirements. Natural grass is also the preferred playing surface of prominent international plaplayers such as Lionel Messi and many others who include clauses in their contract that they will not play on turf. Beyond being a significant favorite of players and soccer purists, the natural grass playing surface will allow Tennessee’s first professional soccer-specific stadium to host national teams and international friendlies if desired. The investment also includes the construction of CHI Memorial Stadium’s Player Clubhouse & Wellness Facility which will include strength, fitness and recovery rooms, mens and womens locker rooms, a media room, a player lounge, new walkout tunnel & more.
Chattanooga is coming off of a 4-2 victory over CV Fuego last Saturday which saw forward
Ropapa Mensah lead the team to three points after scoring his first hattrick for the club in a
decisive victory. The performance netted several player league awarded nominations: Goal of
the Week for Lucas Coutinho, Save of the Week for TJ Bush, and Ropapa Mensah was named
Player of the Week. Chattanooga’s last outing against the Hailstorm was in Windsor for the 2023 season finale in which Colorado won 3-1 on October 14th. The two clubs drew the previous two meetings with Chattanooga forcing a 1-1 draw on July 8th and a 0-0 draw in the 2023 home opener.
This match will see former Northern Colorado favorites, Stefan Lukic and Leo Folla facing their
former squad for the first time since signing with Chattanooga in the off season, with both
having played the previous two seasons in Windsor. Single match tickets are on sale online here or may be purchased at the ticket office on match day. Gates now open at 6:30 p.m.