(December 19, 2024 | PEORIA, IL) – The two largest leagues promoting pre-professional soccer in North America will play in Peoria in 2025. As the Peoria City USL League Two team prepares to defend its 2024 Central Conference championship on the men’s side, the Women’s Premier Soccer League has announced Peoria City has been added to the oldest women’s soccer league in the United States as an expansion franchise in 2025.
“I want to thank Deputy Commissioner Matt Homonoff and the entire senior leadership team at the WPSL for their faith and confidence in granting Peoria an expansion franchise,” said Peoria City president and managing partner Jim DeRose. “We were humbled and honored that the WPSL reached out to us to explore the viability of Peoria City as a league member, and throughout those conversations, it was evident that our visions and philosophies aligned.
“The WPSL is the oldest women’s soccer league in the United States and has been a proving ground for some of the most iconic players in the US, as well as international stars, featuring multiple World Cup champions and Olympic gold medalists,” DeRose continued. “Women’s soccer is among the fastest-growing professional sports in the world and our domestic professional leagues the NWSL and USL Super League are among the best globally. The opportunity for Peoria City to align with the WPSL marks a historic first for women’s sports in Peoria. It is our hope that, similar to our men’s team, we can provide top women’s amateur players from around Central Illinois and the country a place to showcase their talents and further develop them for their collegiate and/or professional careers.”
Initially announced in 2020, Peoria City’s on-field participation was delayed two years by the global pandemic, but since then the men’s club has enjoyed a meteoric rise through the USL League Two ranks during its first three seasons. The club qualified for the USL League Two Playoffs during its inaugural season in 2022, ranked among the league’s attendance leaders during year two in 2023 and then exploded in 2024. The Heartland Division squad qualified for the postseason for a second time in three seasons, while also being selected to host all five rounds of the USL League Two Playoffs on the way to a national runner-up finish in the 128-team league.
The Peoria City WPSL roster will emulate the men’s program by featuring a squad composed of amateur women’s players, many of whom will have ties to the local community, with the opportunity to bring in current and former collegiate players from across the country. The list of semifinalists for the 2024 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, honoring college soccer’s national player of the year, included six players with WPSL experience, while 56 WPSL alumni participated in the 2024 NCAA Division I Women’s College Cup, the Final Four of the national championship tournament.
The Peoria City WPSL division assignment and schedule will be announced in early 2025 and the WPSL season will be played in May and June with the league playoffs set for July.
ABOUT WPSL
The WPSL completed its 26th season of play in 2024 as the longest-active women’s soccer league in the United States. Boasting more than 140 clubs nationwide while occupying 32 states coast-to-coast, the WPSL solidifies itself as the largest women’s soccer league in the world. Team rosters feature elite collegiate, post-collegiate, international and standout prep student-athletes. Many of the United States’ most accomplished women’s national team players have played in the WPSL since its inception in 1998, including household names such as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach and Brandi Chastain.
2025 SEASON TICKETS ON SALE NOW
An expanded schedule for the men and a five-game women’s slate are available as individual or bundled season-ticket plans as Peoria City prepares for the 2025 campaign on the pitch during the spring and summer.
As Peoria City prepares to defend its 2024 USL League Two Central Conference championship, the fourth-year pre-professional men’s soccer team is preparing an expanded schedule for the 2025 season to include a series of spring exhibition matches. Peoria City’s USL League Two full schedule is not expected to be announced until February 2025, but the club anticipates a return to the Central Conference Heartland Division with the USL League Two regular-season games played from mid-May through mid-July.
The introduction of pre-professional women’s soccer into the Central Illinois market gives Peoria City fans a full menu of season-ticket options. Similar to the men’s side, the Peoria City WPSL schedule will not be finalized until early 2025, but the club is expected to host five games during its inaugural season in the Women’s Premier Soccer League, offering the area’s soccer fans a diverse slate of high-level soccer action during the 2025 spring and summer seasons.
Peoria City USL2 men’s season tickets start at just $45 for general admission seating, while season GA tickets for the WPSL side are $25. The bundled Peoria City men’s and women’s season-ticket package is available for $65. Peoria City also continues to offer ticket packages for The 309 supporters group, as well as premium fieldside seating options and reserved season parking opportunities. All season-ticket options are available as individual men’s or women’s soccer plans or a combined bundle, good for all Peoria City games.
All season ticket and parking plans are available for purchase online within the “Tickets” menu at PeoriaCitySoccer.com. Peoria City’s 2025 season tickets will be delivered in the form of Season Ticket Loyalty Cards, which will provide details on accessing discounts for goods and services offered to season-ticket holders by area club sponsors.
Single-game tickets for Peoria City’s USL League Two and WPSL squads will go on sale after each team’s schedules have been completed.
The club’s game-changing announcement came in the Peoria City Hall Council Chambers at 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, December 19, 2024.
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