The American Premier Soccer League (APSL) is a United States Adult Soccer Association affiliated amateur soccer league that includes teams from the eastern, midwest and southern portions of the country. Currently the league has members from Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Texas, and Virginia competing in eight regional conferences.
Playing its first season in 2020âÂÂ21 as the "Eastern Premier Soccer League" (EPSL), the league began as a partnership between the New York CityâÂÂbased Cosmopolitan Soccer League and the Maryland Major Soccer League. It was also an affiliate of the National Independent Soccer Association, a professionally sanctioned third division soccer association, from 2020 until 2025 when the National Independent Soccer Association, lost its professional sanctioning. The APSL is part of the only nationwide, inter-league promotion/relegation system in the United States.
The league was announced on July 23, 2020, in a joint effort between the Cosmopolitan Soccer League and Maryland Major Soccer League to create a regional based multi-league promotion and relegation system in the United States. The league's goal is to have merit-based promotion from local amateur leagues, including champions, with the possibility of being relegated back into the local feeder leagues at the end of the season. The initial slate of members included many of the clubs that participated in the first division of the CSL the previous season.
In the following months, the EPSL added teams from additional leagues such as the Woodbridge Soccer League and United Premier Soccer League. On September 8, 2020, the league announced that the New JerseyâÂÂbased Garden State Soccer League would become a feeder league for the EPSL. A future promotion spot in the Metropolitan Conference of the EPSL will be determined in a playoff between the champion of the GSSL and the champion of the Cosmopolitan Soccer League.
On September 4, 2020, the National Independent Soccer Association announced its latest amateur league affiliation with the EPSL. This affiliation ended on March 6, 2025 as a result of the National Independent Soccer Association losing its sanctioning as a professional league.
On February 20, 2025, prior to the second half of the 2024âÂÂ25 season starting, the league officially changed its name to the "American Premier Soccer League". On April 4, 2025, the APSL announced its first expansion outside of the Northeast with the creation of Terminus Conference in Georgia. On December 28, 2025, the Trinity Conference in Texas was launched. The APSL announced its first conference in the Midwest, the Mitten Conference, in Michigan on January 15, 2026.