QUICK KICKS: Ezra Armstrong
North Carolina FC is pleased to welcome defender and North Carolina native Ezra Armstrong to the club ahead of the return to the USL Championship in 2024. The young but experienced footballer brings a U.S. National Team pedigree back to the Tar Heel State.
Get to know the newest member of North Carolina FC with our Quick Kicks series:
A Football Family
Armstrong is the son of former U.S. Men’s National Team defender, and member of the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame, Desmond Armstrong. In 1990, Desmond became the first Black player born in the United States to represent the country in a World Cup game. He’s had a lengthy professional career as a player, coach, broadcaster, scout, and more. In 2012, he created the Heroes Soccer Club in Nashville, Tennessee and, as of 2022, the youth soccer club has 550 players and plays in several venues across the Nashville area. Ezra’s younger brother, Dida Armstrong, also plays professional soccer for St. Louis CITY FC2.
Eurotrip
Armstrong made his professional debut in 2016 with Sporting Kansas City’s then-USL affiliate Swope Parke Rangers after joining the MLS club’s academy from an affiliated academy in Nashville. After a year on loan in the NPSL, Armstrong went overseas to play a pair of seasons with German 6th-tier side Türkspor Augsburg and Danish club Skovshoved IF before returning to the U.S. and joining St. Louis.