Soccer in America is having a moment. Major League Soccer has Messi, the World Cup is just around the corner, and the United Soccer League is introducing promotion and relegation. It has never been a more exciting time to be a fan of the beautiful game. Amongst all the frenzied activity soccer is growing at a breakneck pace in the lower levels across the country. This growth has happened in a media environment where local outlets have been shrinking, leaving lower league teams in a bit of a tree-in-the-forest situation. What happens when there’s a story to tell but nobody to tell it? Into this void steps soccer YouTuber Tom Franklin.

If you are a fan of lower league soccer, you may have already watched one of his videos. If you are a diehard MLS fan you are likely already familiar with his most famous work. It’s not a video but a chant. Whenever St. Louis CITY SC goalkeeper Roman Burki makes a particularly impressive save, you hear the fans in St. Louis sing out to the tune of “Zombie” by the Cranberries:
He’s in your head, in your head
Burki, Burki, Burki-i-i
He’s In your head, in your head
Burki, Burki, Burki-i-i

That bit of inspired song writing is a Tom Franklin original. It is also the inspiration for how he got his nom de vlog the Soccer Zombie.

“I was walking around Forest Park, and I was listening to the Cranberries “Zombie” on repeat. It’s a very motivating song. Dolores O’Riordan sings it with such passion. When you think of soccer, you think of passion. There was so much passion and fervor around St. Louis CITY SC at the time. I get done with my workout, go back to my apartment, and I check Twitter. Fleur De Noise, a supporters’ group for St. Louis CITY, put out a call for player chants. I’m thinking ‘my god Zombie would be a great chant for a player.’ I start going down the roster like ‘Joao Klauss, Joao Klauss’ …no, that doesn’t work. ‘Gioacchini, Gioacchini’… nope, that definitely doesn’t work. Then, I got to Burki … ‘Burki, Zombie’ — that works.”

Like many American soccer fans, Tom started as a fan of the English Premier League. Getting into the sport after dalliances playing in his youth and without a local American team to support, the EPL seemed like just the right place to start.

“I remember reading an article on ESPN+ What Premier League Team Fits Your Personality Best?. It turns out Liverpool was my team. I watched a video where all the fans at Anfield were singing, You’ll Never Walk Alone. If there’s a game in this world that can get 40,000 plus on their feet to sing this semi-obscure 60’s song in unison. It was powerful. I was always drawn to the passion soccer brings out of folks.”

A pivotal series of events then led Tom to become not just an MLS fan but a dedicated supporter. St. Louis got an MLS team in 2023, and their inaugural season was lightning in a bottle. This couldn’t have come at a better time for Tom after having left a job in media and changing his career he was looking for something to be a part of and CITY gave him just that.

“Everyone will take it to their graves how magical that inaugural season was. The feeling that you had in the supporters’ section while your team was doing this miraculous run is like nothing that will be replicated in my lifetime. It was magical for me as well because I had just left broadcasting after a fourteen-year career. I was left with this void in my life. Journalism is something that you go into it kind of defines you as a person. It becomes a big part of your personality. So, here I am, leaving the thing that defined me as a person. It’s like where do I go from here? Well three months later is when St. Louis CITY starts playing. That’s kind of the genesis of Soccer Zombie. I found myself with St. Louis CITY.”

After that magical first season, Tom began vlogging about CITY but, in a story that is familiar to many soccer “sickos” in America, he started becoming disillusioned with the commercialism of MLS. The stars would align with a fateful trip to England and, of all places, Indianapolis.

“I had just come back from England vlogging five games in five days. That went very well. So, that told me ‘okay, I can vlog, but I can’t be in England all the time. Can I do this in America?’ Here’s USL, which I wasn’t really aware of at the time. Indy 11 had a game against North Carolina FC. I go and I stumble into this story of the mayor announcing an MLS bid. I go to Indy 11 and I talk to the Brickyard Battalion Supporters. These are people that want to vent about what’s going on. That’s their club. These are people that show up every game. They chant their hearts out they ride the good times and the bad times with their club. They wanted to vent about the future of their club being put on the ropes. I realized with that video and also a couple weeks later, when I went to Union Omaha for the Open Cup match with Sporting Kansas City. I meet these people and their community. Hearing how much their clubs mean to them on a personal level, I realized, at that point, not only is USL full of stories with heart, it’s full of stories that need to be told that maybe aren’t getting told.”

The Indy 11 game and the Union Omaha Open Cup match vlogs were galvanizing events. Tom’s eyes had been opened to the lower leagues and the passionate fans that populate stadiums out of the mainstream.

“I found a lot of appreciation from the USL clubs I would go cover for having someone to tell their story. In the end, it goes back to, no matter where you are, if you’re passionate about your club, you’re passionate about your club. People love having their stories told.”

Tom doesn’t just vlog about the professional lower leagues. He is also one of the few who takes viewers behind the scenes and into the game at the non-league (amateur) level. Through his video series This is Non-League Soccer in America, he is featuring teams, players, and coaches at a level even the most diehard soccer fans may not be familiar with.

“That’s kind of why I started doing This is Non-League Soccer in America. I had an opportunity with all these St. Louis area clubs that people didn’t know about and they all have stories to tell. Here was an opportunity for me to do something I enjoy doing, which is vlogging these soccer matches, but doing it here at home and telling people here at home: ‘Hey, these clubs exist! You have local clubs in St. Louis, and I’m going to tell you about each and every single one of them’.”

Tom’s non-league shenanigans are not limited to the Midwest Premier League. He has also vlogged a number of USL2 games, including a notable one where he met a group of passionate lower league supporters in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“The St. Petersburg Social Club. It was like Dazed and Confused if the people from Dazed and Confused were a supporters group. You don’t discover that unless you go out and discover it. I go down there to cover Sarasota Paradise, their local darby match. I discover the St. Petersburg Social Club. I just find stories like that endearing.”

Tom is evangelizing the lower leagues across the country, ground hopping from Tulsa to St. Petersburg to Belleville, IL. Using his skills from his previous life as a radio journalist, he is taking viewers to find the obscure and the interesting in the hopes that one day Americans will discover not just soccer but the soccer in their own backyard.

“I believe in soccer. I believe in the game of soccer. If I can be a driving force behind that in my own little way. I’m not saying I’m a big creator, I’m not. But if I can do at least a little something to drive interest in the game, that motivates me.”

As the 2026 season begins in earnest at the lower levels, Tom Franklin the Soccer Zombie will be there. His plan for this year is a crisscrossing tour of the country with trips to Albuquerque, New York, Madison, and Naples, among others. You should always go out and support your local soccer team. However, if you can’t, there isn’t a much better way to enjoy the lower leagues than a Soccer Zombie video.

- by Tim Thomas