The New Haven-based Elm City Express are the defending champions

of the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL).

The National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), the largest organized men’s soccer league in the United States with 96 teams competing in the 2017 season, has announced that three new expansion teams will be joining the circuit in 2018. All three are based in California and will compete in the NPSL's Golden Gate Conference.

Midland-Odessa (Tex.) FC to win the 2017 league championship, click Connecticut is well-represented in the NPSL by the Elm City Express, the league’s defending champions who play their home matches at Yale University’s Reese Stadium. To read more about the Express’s victory overto win the 2017 league championship, click HERE





The league’s three new teams for the 2018 season are:





Academica





Turlock, Calif.-based Academica Soccer Club will compete in the NPSL’s West Region’s Golden Gate Conference. The club was started in 1972 when Portuguese immigrants from the Azores Islands created the Portuguese Cultural Center in Turlock in 1970 and started the team for the youth of the community. Since then, the club has become the most successful amateur club in area. Players from the club have gone on to compete at the collegiate level, both locally and nationally.





Academica joined the Central California Soccer League (CSSL) in 1977, where the club has competed for over 30 years and won three championships. The team then moved onto the NorCal Adult Soccer League in 2013. It reached the NCASL final match in both 2013 and 2016, and entered its first U.S. Open Cup tournament this year, advancing to the second round of Open Qualifying. Academia has also won numerous Portuguese club tournaments throughout the Golden State.





Sergio Sousa, Academica’s head coach, has been with the club for over 15 years. In addition to his duties with Academica, Sousa is an assistant men’s soccer coach at UC Merced. Michael Rocha, who will be Academica’s director of public relations, is one of the Portuguese play-by-play commentators with the San Jose Earthquakes.





“Academica Soccer Club has always made it a point to play in a competitive league since its inception,” Rocha said. “The NPSL is one of the fastest growing leagues in the U.S. and no one can doubt its quality. We are excited about the growth of not just the league but of the sport throughout the country. We want to be a part of that. We want to be part of something special.”





Home matches will be played at Academica Field.





For more information on Academica, follow the team on Twitter ( @academicasc ), Facebook (@ academicasc ), and Instagram (@ academicaturlock ).

FC Davis





Davis, Calif.-based Football Club Davis will join Academica in the Golden Gate Conference. Adam Lewin, a former standout soccer player and youth coach with a passion for soccer, business, politics, music, and community building, is FC Davis’s owner.





In 2014, Lewin had a vision of bringing a semi-pro team to Davis, a university town with international influence full of soccer devoted fan. Lewin considered Davis a severely underserved market, and one that could use a professional soccer team to call its own. Leveraging UC Davis Club players, UC Davis’s International Coaches Association (ICA) players, and former local area standouts who went on to enjoy solid college careers, the team became a hub for talented soccer players within the region.





“FC Davis applied to the NPSL since the league aligned with our mission, vision, and core values,” Lewin said. “From its league operations to the amazing team owners in our conference, it was a perfect match for our club. In addition, the league has a rich history with a growing national footprint. Local professional clubs have to be part of the future of soccer in this country. With the NPSL occupying so many important markets, the league's future looks brighter now more than ever.”





FC Davis will play at Aggie Stadium on the UC Davis campus. The 105,000-square foot stadium can host 10,000 fans in the bleachers and on the two grass berms behind each goal. Complete with a 720-seated VIP section and approximately 2,500 bleacher seats with back support, the stadium offers a variety of seating options. It is widely considered to be one of the premier NCAA Division I-AA facilities in the country.





Twitter ( For more information on FC Davis, visit the team’s website, www.footballclubdavis.com , follow the club on @ FCDavis_NPSL ), Facebook (@ FootballClubDavis ), and Instagram (@ fcdavis_npsl ).





El Farolito





The third team that will begin play in the NPSL next season will call San Francisco home. El Farolito, founded in 1985 by Salvador Lopez, will join FC Davis and Academica in the Golden Gate Conference.





“Very exciting times are ahead for the club and players,” said Santiago Lopez, the team’s general manager—a position he has held for the past seven years . “The chance to travel to different cities in our region and play in stadiums in front of soccer fans we have never seen before really motivates us to work hard and present a competitive squad each game. We will be playing against teams full of talented, young and experienced players ready to defend their club to the fullest. We are looking forward to a real test for everyone in our organization.”





El Farolito derives its name from a chain of Northern California-based restaurants—“Taquerias El Farolito.” Two huge milestones for the organization were gaining promotion to the top division of the San Francisco Soccer Football League in five years and winning the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup in 1993 were two major milestones for the organization.





“ We are focused in not only to provide a professional environment to all players and staff being involved or interested in working with the organization, but we want to be another club open to connect with other clubs, players in the region and country to help grow the sport and transmit a positive and working environment,” Santiago Lopez continued. “We want to represent the league and sport locally, nationally, and internationally. ”





El Farolito will play their home games at Boxer Stadium, one of the oldest soccer-specific stadiums in the country. The facility was opened in September 1953 as Balboa Park Soccer Stadium. It is now called Matthew J. Boxer Stadium in honor of the late president of the San Francisco Soccer Football League, a league that is over 100 years old.





“The NPSL has been growing and will continue to grow,” Santiago Lopez concluded. “They are surrounded by professional, experienced, and most importantly, passionate people who love the game. The league offers an excellent structure of competition for all types of players and organizations.”





“The NPSL is thrilled to add El Farolito as an expansion team for 2018,” NPSL Chairman Joe Barone commented. “They bring a storied history, a passionate fan base, and an incredible gameday venue to our West Region and we couldn’t be happier to have them as part of the NPSL family.”





“We are proud to see our league continue to grow in the West,” NPSL Chairman Joe Barone commented. “California has always been known as a hotbed for great soccer and we are excited to have the NPSL coming to [fans there]. We’re very confident that Academica, FC Davis and El Farolito will be tremendous additions to the Golden State.”





The National Premier Soccer League is a successor to the Men’s Premier Soccer League (MPSL), which was formed in 2002. The NPSL is a member league of the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA), and is sanctioned by U.S. Soccer, the governing body for soccer in the United States. NPSL’s cooperative and turnkey ownership platform has led to its explosive growth, countless player development opportunities, and commitment to grow the game in the United States. For more information about the NPSL, please visit npsl.com.