What started as just a training group has turned into the most prominent amateur women’s team in Mid-Missouri. This week’s Who Are Ya!? takes a look at the Missouri Reign, the sister club to AFC Columbia, who ply their trade in the WPSL.

Tell us the origin story of Missouri Reign - when was it founded? By whom and what is its mission?
The idea for the Missouri Reign started as a collegiate training group for players in Mid-Missouri. We build from the summer of 2020 through 2023 from a group of eight collegiate athletes to a group of fifty. At the time just known as "TEAM", a group of those training with us took the field for the first time together on Wednesday, May 31st 2023. The match was a friendly against a U-21 WPSL team that was preparing for their upcoming season. “TEAM” won 4-1 and the rest is history. In October of 2023, the Reign women combined with AFC Columbia women's team, under the Reign name. They formed a partnership with AFC Columbia to become a brother/sister club, and unite Mid-Missouri soccer at the semi professional level. In the summer of 2024, the Missouri Reign competed in the WPSL for the first time. Between our men's and women's clubs, over 30 countries and 50 colleges have been represented on our rosters.

Tell us about your badge and colors – how does it connect to the community?
The Missouri Reign logo is built around the identity of both the club and the state of Missouri. The colors are inspired by the Missouri State Seal, while the crown represents Jefferson City, where the club began. At the center, the lioness stands for strength, confidence, and the competitive mentality of the Reign. The rising sun and river imagery symbolize growth, ambition, and the belief that the club is always moving forward.

A lot of the smaller details connect the team back to its community and supporters. The twelve stripes represent the eleven players on the field plus the “12th man” in the stands. The six red lines are a nod to the iconic Mizzou columns and the city of Columbia. The stars recognize Mid-Missouri's major cities, while “EST. 2023” marks the start of the Missouri Reign journey and everything the club is continuing to build.

What league or leagues does your club participate in and why did you choose those to join?
We compete in the Women’s Premier Soccer League (WPSL), in the Gateway Division of the Central region. We think the WPSL does a fantastic job of caring about their teams. The league front office helped us a ton to catch up to speed when we took over, and we are grateful for them and their leadership. We also play in one of the toughest conferences in the WPSL, so that allows us to continue to be challenged every year as we grow as a program to reach new heights and push our players to become the best they can be.

How does the club stay funded and how can our readers support you?
We have a lot of generous sponsors who believe in what we do, and have been very blessed with their support. We do sell merch, items and tickets, we have concessions and other things we do to help raise money here and there. At the end of the day though we don't exist without our sponsors and fans. They do a great job of helping us grow financially. We also have an entirely volunteer workforce. From interns to event staff, management to coaches, everyone is in it to help the players develop and they see the bigger picture.

Interested people can always come to games, that’s the number one way we want people to get involved. We have great players and great people, so we want to grow that environment. We also take donations, sponsorships, which go a long way to support us.

How did you finish last year and what are your goals for the 2026 season?
We improved a great deal last year, and built ourselves into a team that can be competitive in every matchup. We strive to do that this year. One of our main measuring tests is we focus on the development of players and how they do in the fall seasons when they return to college. A lot of success is seen there from the work they put in the offseason, which is great to witness. Our goals will always revolve around that goal as well as giving players who are post collegiate a chance to continue to play, and as we build our program those close competitive games will start to go our way more often than not.

How does Missouri Reign participate in or give back to their community?
We do quite a few events with our partner men's team, AFC Columbia. One of the best events we have ever done was our Special Olympics Night, where they brought out around 180 athletes from their summer camp. We also help with the Missouri Soccer Coaches Association's Coaching Clinic for coaches around the state of Missouri, we partner with the Central Missouri #9 Camp to host a technical and developmental camp for players, we have players from every local school and promote them. We promote 988, work with the Missouri Department of Mental Health to highlight the battle people fight every day, and we take as many chances as we get to honor those who serve and protect us every day. We are always looking for more ways to give back where we can.

If there were one or two teams, within a 100 miles of you, to play a friendly against – who would you play and why?
We really enjoyed our match against the Kansas City Current II last summer, as well as playing the Japanese National U18 team in a closed friendly. We are always striving to play the toughest competition, pushing ourselves to be a better organization, a better coaching staff, and better as players. Tough competition like that always forces improvement, and we learned a lot from the experience. We'd also love to continue friendles with people who we already play against. Lou Fusz, Sunflower State, Union KC, all teams that we have had tough battles with and that set a high bar for how to run a club. They are professional, we feel like we are in it for similar reasons so we enjoy the quality matchups we get when we play them.

Follow Missouri Reign and give them a follow on Instagram HERE