P R E S S  R E L E A S E

 

COMMUNITY-OWNED TEAM EXPANDS THE WPSL'S MILWUAKEE FOOTPRINT FOR 2025 SEASON

                    

 

OKLAHOMA CITY (12/11/2024) — The Women’s Premier Soccer League welcomes Milwaukee City AFC as the latest expansion side to the growing roster of teams competing in the 2025 season. Today’s announcement marks the first Milwaukee area community-owned women’s soccer club in the WPSL. 

 

 

“Inclusion in the WPSL will allow the club to offer a higher level of competition while also creating a larger community of players,” Stephen Kurant, Milwaukee City AFC director and co-founder said. 

 

 

Kurant co-founded the club in 2024 with Lana Saypanya, whose passion for the game and the advancement of women’s soccer has been a driving force behind the club’s sense of community and ambition. The club’s move to the WPSL will further its mission of providing local players the platform to play elite-level women’s soccer after a highly successful inaugural season playing locally in the Milwaukee Premier League. 

 

 

“We aspire to be a club where players can both grow and foster their love for the sport,” Kurant said. “Having a team in the WPSL allows the club to offer the highest level of pre-professional soccer competition available outside of collegiate play, giving players the opportunity to enhance their skills for future collegiate or professional play.” 

 

 

 

 

Saypanya will serve as Milwaukee City’s head coach for the 2025 season and will bring a rich history in the game as a player and coach. Along with the WPSL side, Saypanya coaches two youth teams and a high school varsity team. By creating a broad community of support, her youth and high school players will carry out duties at practices and games, while Milwaukee City players work with the young players as mentors and fans.

 

 

The club is Milwaukee’s first non-profit, community-owned women’s soccer club. Operated by its supporters for the benefit of the community, the club strives to create an environment where players and supporters can, together, enhance the community at large.

 

 

With the announcement, Milwaukee City AFC joins the reigning Midwest Conference champions the last three seasons FC Milwaukee Torrent as the second WPSL club in the greater Milwaukee metropolitan market with a population nearing 1.5 million. 

 

 

“In joining the WPSL the club is realizing its ambition to provide a platform for local players to play high-level women’s soccer at a regional level,” Kurant said.

 

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For more information on Milwaukee City AFC, visit ​​www.mkecityafc.com, or follow its social media channels—Instagram, and Facebook.

 

For more information on the WPSL, visit wpslsoccer.com

 

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About the Women’s Premier Soccer League

The WPSL completed its 26th season of play in 2024 as the longest-active women’s soccer league in the United States. Boasting more than 140 clubs nationwide while occupying 32 states coast-to-coast, the WPSL solidifies itself as the largest women’s soccer league in the world. Team rosters feature elite collegiate, post-collegiate, international, and standout prep student-athletes. Many of the United States’ most accomplished women’s national team players have played in the WPSL since its inception in 1998, including household names such as Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach, and Brandi Chastain.