(January 8, 2025 | Peoria, Illinois) – Peoria City welcomes Mike Paye (Clarke University) back as Head Coach for the 2025 USL League Two season. After leading Peoria City to the 2024 USL League Two Central Conference title and national championship game, Paye becomes the first coach to return for a second season leading the Peoria City pre-professional men’s team.
Led by Paye, Peoria City finished the 2024 season with a 12-4-5 overall record. After finishing as runner-up in the USL League Two Heartland Division, Peoria City was selected as a host team for the opening weekend of the League Two Playoffs. With growing support from the fan base providing an electric game-day experience, Peoria City advanced all the way to the national championship game, drawing a record crowd of more than 3,100 to the final versus Seacoast United Phantoms.
“The unprecedented success of the summer of 2024 made Peoria City a national story. Our entire community embraced that story with record crowds and an incredible run to the USL League Two National Final. Coach Paye was an enormous part of that success and worked tirelessly on all fronts to make it happen,” said Peoria City President Jim DeRose. “Mike has shown an incredible ability to identify and attract top talent to Peoria both domestically and abroad, from all levels of soccer, and quickly blend them into a cohesive, selfless team. His passion and enthusiasm for coaching is palpable and he has embraced the Peoria community since his arrival. His charitable work with his Amos Foundation, and his appearances throughout our community on a regular basis quickly made Coach Paye one of Peoria’s own, and we are excited for the 2025 season with him leading the way.”
In addition to the postseason success, Peoria City claimed the inaugural Lincoln Cup during its non-league home-and-home series versus Springfield FC and hosted its first-ever international friendlies with a competitive pair of games versus Chivas U23 at Shea Stadium in the inaugural Copa Peoria Series.
Coach Paye and Peoria City team leadership are already working on building another strong roster and coaching staff for the 2025 season.
“I’m excited to be returning as the head coach for Peoria City this upcoming season. I cannot wait to have a wonderful summer with the community, fans and the club,” Paye said. “We are going to put together a team this year that will make the community proud again. I cannot wait to get down to Peoria and start working.”
The coaching announcement was first made Tuesday night during the first fan forum event between Peoria City’s front office and the community.
Peoria City season tickets are now on sale! Head to peoriacitysoccer.com/tickets for ticket packages specific to Peoria City’s USL League Two men’s team, its new Women’s Premier Soccer League squad or bundled packages for all of the action of both the men’s and women’s seasons.
