Exclusive | Foxs Brian Kilmeade, brother launch Long Island soccer team whose nickname is nod to Top Gun

Soccer fanatic and Fox News host Brian Kilmeade has helped launched a semi-professional team on Long Island — with it nicknamed the “Fighting Tomcats” in a nod to the “Top Gun” F-14 built locally.Kilmeade, 61, and his brother Jim, 63 — both former local college soccer players — are spearheading the group.“We want to put Long Island, New York metro players back on top again as the epicenter of American soccer — about 90% of the team is local,” said Jim, a longtime front-office sports executive, to The Post on Monday.“We believe that we can identify and launch players into European careers,” said Jim, the general manager and a managing partner of the team, which started playing in the National Premier Soccer League by way of Nassau County in May.

The Massapequa-born brothers said the team’s name is in honor of the locally manufactured, Grumman-built F-14 “Tomcat” fighter jet that Tom Cruise’s character flew in the 1980s Hollywood Hit “Top Gun.”Brian said he couldn’t be more confident in Jim’s leadership — not because they’re family but because of what he did with the Long Island Rough Riders club in the 1990s.“Nobody knew any of those players.Within five years, they were all playing at the top level,” Brian said.“I could see the same thing happening again” with the Tomcats.The Tomcats’ matches are at Hofstra University, the same school Jim played at just before Brian cleated up for nearby Long Island University.

The team, known formally as The American Soccer Club, faces tri-state area opponents from Queens, Connecticut and the Albany area.“A lot of times with these new leagues, you see a lot of drop-off, you see uneven play.I couldn’t believe the quality of play I’m seeing,” Brian said.

“Every player is hungry; they’re playing for the right to keep playing.”Although the season began in May, the Tomcats — originally meant to kick off in 2020 but derailed by COVID — haven’t reached cruising al...