Every year, I look forward to our end of year tradition, naming our Protagonist Soccer Club of the Year. For us, it’s a way we can honor the clubs that stood out, that went above and beyond, succeeding on and off the field, who made the year their own. And because we value this so much, we send the winning club an engraved trophy, celebrating their success. It’s a wonderful way to top off a year of soccer.

And while it’s important to us, of course, it’s become rather important for the teams that win it. While Protagonist Soccer may be a small website, operated by a handful of dedicated volunteers, it’s been doing it for almost a decade, older than many of the clubs we cover! I always say, we’re a big deal in a tiny niche. And our award is a big deal within the realms of soccer we cover.

Over the years, we’ve honored clubs that played in the UPSL, WPSL, USL League One, USL W League, and the NPSL. We’ve chosen clubs that won their league, had success in the US Open Cup, and even some that didn’t play in a national league that season. However, we’ve always tried to choose nominations that stood out for their excellence on and off the field, focused on their local communities, and embodied the ethos of lower league soccer.

This year, we have an amazing set of 5 clubs that are completely deserving of this award. Our internal panel discussed the options and weighed the resumes, settling on five clubs that fit the bill of what it means to be a great lower league soccer club. This week, we’ll share those choices and then offer you, our reader, a chance to give your input on which you believe deserves the hardware. But before our nominations go public, we’d like to share several clubs who came up just short of the final level.

Last year’s winner, El Farolito had another amazing run in the Open Cup, losing in the third round to USL Championship side Sacramento Republic. That success, paired with their runner-up position in the NPSL, left them just outside of nomination. West Chester United SC won the Amateur Cup and were definitely considered for nomination. Also considered was USL League One new-comer Portland Hearts of Pine had a spectacular first season in their league, losing on penalties in the semifinal. USL Championship winner Pittsburgh Riverhounds were also considered for nomination. Any of these teams could have made the final list and we wanted to at least mention them as runners-up. They each had wonderful seasons this year and deserve to be celebrated.

It’s been an amazing year of soccer and we’re happy to celebrate it this week by sharing our nominations for the Protagonist Soccer Club of the Year. We hope you enjoy our nominations, participate in the voting (opens on Friday evening), and celebrate with us as we crown the 2025 Club of the Year on New Year’s Day.

- Dan Vaughn