The Midwest Premier League is an American regional soccer league that is run by its member clubs. The goals of the league are to focus on sustainability, promote high-level competition among clubs, encourage participation in regional and national cup competitions, and support all of its member clubs through the sharing of ideas and best practices.
The league was founded in 2019 by clubs that were all previously members of the United Premier Soccer League Midwest Conference. The league’s founding members were Union Dubuque FC, RWB Adria, DeKalb County United, and Cedar Rapids Inferno. The first Midwest Premier League season, featuring a total of 20 clubs and 2 conferences, ended on August 1st, 2021, given a delayed start caused by the global pandemic in 2020. The first two clubs crowned MWPL Conference champions were Detroit City FC U23 (Eastern Division) and Bavarian United (Western Division)
In 2022, the league grew to a total of 27 member clubs distributed adding a conference to accommodate its expansion (Eastern, Western, and Southern).
Experiencing rapid growth, in 2023 the Midwest Premier League counted with 35 member clubs and 4 newly-named conferences (Gateway, Great Lakes East, Great Lakes West, Heartland). For its 2024 season, the Midwest Premier League included 37 member clubs across 5 conferences. After a record expansion year, the 2025 Midwest Premier League season features 45 member clubs distributed among 6 conferences (Gateway North, Gateway South, Great Lakes East, Great Lakes West, Heartland Division 1, and Heartland Division 2).
Competition Format
The Midwest Premier League regular season takes place during the summer from early May to late July. Each team plays at least 10 regular-season games within their division/conference, splitting the number of home and away matches. To complete the schedule, some conferences may have interconference games.
As part of the league’s 2030 plan, starting in the 2024 season, the Heartland Conference was divided into two divisions, with the top two teams in Division 2 gaining promotion at the end of the season while the bottom Division 1 club was relegated. This multi-tiered system with promotion and relegation taking action based on sporting merit was the first implementation of the league’s 2030 plan, which plans to restructure its competition model.
The current format of the league includes the Gateway North, Gateway South, Great Lakes East, Great Lakes West, Heartland Division 1, and Heartland Division 2 conferences.
Learn More
