There are more than 36,000 Founding Members in the Atlanta United family, but Beth Keller was a lucky one among the bunch. It was the Founding Member flag hanging outside her house that brought her luck – as a winner of Atlanta United’s Flags Out campaign, she had received free tickets to a suite at the brand new Mercedes-Benz Stadium. But her luck quickly turned.
“Life comes up,” Beth says. “My wife slipped in a stairwell and had to have emergency back surgery. We had to watch from the hospital, so we were cheering in the hospital room.”
It was a disappointing turn for someone that’s been cheering Atlanta United on ever since the team was merely a rumor.
“Soccer is a huge part of my life and always will be,” she says. “Soccer is in your heart. It’s like your essence of who you are, it’s a piece of you.”
Beth has a background of her own in the beautiful game. After playing on her high school men’s team and then at Clemson University, she played professionally with the Philadelphia Charge and the North Carolina Courage. She even played for the U-21 U.S. Women’s National Team, and was in the locker room for the squad’s famous 1999 World Cup win.
“Just to be in that environment – I think there were 92,000 people there, still a record for women’s soccer. That experience is inexplicable if you weren’t there, and especially for women. I remember we were crying through my face paint.”
Beth has lived in Atlanta for over a decade, and has dedicated herself to giving back to the community in her post-playing days.
“We were doing so much community stuff with the women’s team, it was a natural fit for me to go the nonprofit route."
"It’s a sense of community that soccer has that no other sport in the world has. There’s a connectedness between the fans and the community.”
Beth first heard rumors about the team in 2012, but will never forget when the club announced its name in downtown Atlanta. She says she’ll never forget the vision and commitment team owner Arthur Blank showed from the very first night.
“For a person like that to invest and see the value in this, he gets it. It was so special, but we had no idea the journey that it was going to be."
"It’s just the feeling you get in your whole body in the moments right before the game. It’s so amazing, you can’t believe that it’s drawing these crowds and you’re so proud to be a tiny part of it.”
She became a Founding Member that very night. But it’s more than just Atlanta United’s electric play on the field that keeps bringing her back. It’s the authenticity and the genuine grassroots backing that made her fall in love with the team.
“It’s different than the powerhouse international clubs. This is the U.S., it’s distinct and different. This isn’t because it’s new, it’s a sustainable, genuine fan base."
Everyone keeps asking me why it’s working so well here. I say there’s nothing to figure out, it’s authentic and genuine. The grassroots nature of it flowed over, and it’s a beautiful thing.”
When she looks ahead to the future, she’s optimistic about the prospects for Atlanta United’s trophy cabinet. But success to her is sticking to what brought this city together, a name that became a guiding principle: United.
“Soccer is so diverse. It’s different ethnicities, different income levels, education levels, ages, single people, gay people, different races and this genuinely unites. It brings a brotherhood, a comradery, a familial sense of belonging."
"It’s like a tribe. So that’s what I want to be: the Atlanta United tribe, rowdy and proud.”
© 2026 Atlanta United FC
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