Founded in 2003, the National Premier Soccer League looks to crown its champion for 2026. 55 Clubs, divided into 8 conferences, across the United States, clashed for several months, often cramming two or three games into a week, to get to this point. Four teams remain: 2024 Champion and 2025 Runner-Up, El Farolito FC, 2025 expansion side New Haven United FC, 2024 expansion side Bristol Rhythm AFC, and fellow 2025 expansion side Ambassadors FC Ohio.

El Farolito FC vs Ambassadors FC Ohio

🏟️ UPDATE: The match will Kick off at Uihlein Soccer Park Stadium on Sat, 07/25 at 9am ET.

▪️El Farolito FC are meeting Ambassadors FC of Ohio in Milwaukie, WI because they are also participating in the 2026 National Amateur Cup and scheduled to play Chicago House on Fri 07/24. NPSL moved the game!

Throughout the regular season, El Farolito dominated the Golden Gate Conference with 8 wins and 2 draws. Dembor Benson is tied for the Golden Boot with 15, while Edgard Kreye contributed 10, Erik Arias netted 9, and Herlbert Soto bagged 6 of his own - all together, El Farolito scored 50 goals so far this year and only allowed 6. Their 2.6 ppg is impressive, but as I will discuss later, not the highest left in the playoffs and a home final is no guarantee. Besides, coach Santiago Lopez will be honed in on the challenge at hand this weekend anyways.

Throughout the playoffs, El Farolito continued their dominance, beating Cruizers 4-0 in the Conference Semis, 2-0 over Sun City FC in the Conference Final, and shutout a very good Duluth FC, 3-0, in the National Quarters. Now they will face Ambassadors FC Ohio, who finished 2nd in the Great Lakes divisions but were humming their own tune in the playoffs too; beating Cleveland SC 2-0 in the Conference Semis, 2-1 over Flower City in the Conference Final, and knocking out Michigan Rangers 3-1 in the National Quarterfinals.

Ambassadors’ Diego Pinto is on pace with Benson, scoring 15 goals of his own, and Saiheed Jah has 6 goals to add to their total. They finished with a 10/1/1 record - with 35 goals for and 6 against. Ambassadors’ +29 goal difference and 2.58 ppg shows they have had a pretty comparable season to the mighty El Farolito and might be able to give them a run for their money in the “City by The Bay.”

Bristol Rhythm AFC vs New Haven United FC

Southeast Conference Champions, Bristol Rhythm AFC will be representing not one, but two cities when they host New Haven United FC on Saturday at Gene Malcolm Stadium in Bristol, Virginia - players and fans from Bristol, Tennessee will also be in attendance! Rhythm finished the regular season with 9 wins and a draw, earning a 2.8ppg, which is the highest remaining in the playoffs.

Rhythm are led by Jorge Gracia with 6 goals, Patrick Enchill with 5, and Elliot Edwards with another 5 goals. To get to the National Semifinal, Bristol advanced past Greenville United in the Conference Semifinals, 2-2 (8-7 in penalties); they won big over 865 Alliance, 4-1, in the Conference Final; finally, Rhythm knocked out a very tough Ristozi FC in the National Quarterfinals.

New Haven United, winners of the North Atlantic Conference, will travel to the Bristols to face Rhythm AFC in the National Semis. They are a bit of an underdog, having only earned 2.0ppg from 6 wins, 2 losses, and 2 draws throughout their regular season. Only Guilherme Meira, with 5 goals, made the first few pages of the goalscoring list on the league website, and they have really fought to be here.

In the Conference Final, New Haven took American Soccer Club NY to added on extra time and advanced through penalties 2-2 (5-4). In the National Quarterfinals, they won away, 4-2, over a traditionally very strong West Chester and this type of tenacity and character may help lead them to give Bristol Rhythm a real challenge.

I believe that if Bristol win, they host the NPSL Final, but if they lose then New Haven will travel to either El Farolito or to Ambassadors FC Ohio - both of which had better regular season records and higher ppg than New Haven United FC.

by Joshua Duder