Amateur Soccer Steps Up in ATL

New league’s promotion/relegation adds to growing amateur scene

For the first time in more than half a century, amateur soccer clubs in the Atlanta-area have a way to be promoted into a more competitive league, after the American Premier Soccer League (APSL) launched the Terminus Conference this fall. 

Most of the conference’s initial nine teams come from the Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League (ADASL) –  founded in 1967 and the oldest member of the Georgia State Soccer Association. The association is part of a nationwide network under US Soccer.

Under this new agreement, the top teams in the ADASL first division’s table will be promoted into the Terminus Conference in the following season. 

The bottom two teams in the Terminus Conference will then be relegated to the Amateur Division. 

A look at two of the teams that have joined the Terminus Conference illustrate the enthusiasm and grit it takes to compete at the amateur level. APSL officials and club managers both hope the new set-up contributes to soccer’s growing ecosystem in Atlanta. Halfway through the Conference’s first season, there’s reason to believe it’s working.

Jon Hill sits at a table outside of the Academy Coffee in Virginia Highlands. 

Straw hair and sunglasses on a wiry frame, he looks like the sort of person that could maintain Augustus Gloop’s diet without gaining a pound. A childhood immigrant from Warwick, he’s the workhorse behind Peachtree FC, an amateur club leading the new Terminus Conference.

Peachtree FC started as a 5-a-side team playing in StationSoccer hosted by Soccer in the Streets – one of Atlanta’s most visible soccer initiatives. From there, the team moved to seven players, competing  in the Sons of Pitches leagues. Then, in 2022, the club moved to the Atlanta District Amateur Soccer League (ADASL). After the top squad finished in second place last season, it moved into the new Terminus Conference. Today, Peachtree sits in second place with five wins, one loss, and thirty-four goals in its first six matches. 

“I want to have something that's consistent. And I think the APSL just allows for that a bit more. I like that it’s associated with the amateur soccer association,” he says as dog walkers and children briskly pass our table on the sidewalk. “We can participate in our state cup, in regionals, and the National Amateur Cup, but winners can also do the U.S. Open Cup.”

Managers like Jon have a passion for providing pathways that players can use to reach the level that suits them.  

He first tasted the thrill of management in college – when he stepped up to run a fledgling student club that made it all the way to the National Amateur Cup. Now, ten years later, his passion project fields more than  40 players representing 15 countries across two teams.

Averaging more than six goals a match is a good way to build a fanbase, but Hull knows that “Peachtree” – while recognizably Atlantan – is still too generic to be a true neighborhood club. Without a “home field,” it’s difficult to set down roots. 

“We want to be the most recognizable amateur soccer side in the metro Atlanta area,” he states matter of factly. “We’ve just got to find a field to be our home base.”

Lithonia isn’t a soccer city –yet

Outside the Perimeter, in South Dekalb County, Paul Phillips isn’t waiting to work his way up the ladder. After getting his first cap for the Turks and Caicos National Team, he looked around his community in Lithonia and came to a frank conclusion: Lithonia was not a soccer city. But it could be. 

He knew about the ADASL, but he wanted to aim higher than the amateur division, so when APSL announced the Terminus Conference, he decided the time was right to make his move. That’s how Lithonia FC was born. 

With a head coach not coming on board until  January 2026, Phillips took on coaching duties. 

“At our first tryouts, maybe twenty people came,” he recalls. “[W]e knew it would take time.”

The search for sponsors proved difficult as well, but Phillips found his people in Leslie Cohen and Shawn Whitmer – restaurateurs who own Firepit and the LGBTQ+ fine dining and nightlife spot Birdcage, together with Ciara Harvey’s Nicole Productions. After a few more tryouts, a full squad came together. Like Peachtree, consistent field space can be difficult to secure, so the players drive an hour to Bay Creek Park in Loganville for home matches. Their commitment includes practice almost daily during the week, with constant translation as players shout to each other in French, Spanish, Creole, Darija(a Moroccan Arabic dialect) and English.

Building Blocks

On a Sunday evening in late September, Lithonia FC takes the field for their first home match against Majestic SC. Their opponents are one of the longest tenured amateur clubs in Atlanta, having been founded in 1982. Before the match begins, the Majestic captain tells his team to hold their shape and be patient. He’s heard that Lithonia is fast, but low on stamina. 

In the stands, Lithonia has brought out a few community members. They cheer to the soundtrack of a nearby community event. Afrobeats echo across the pitch. It feels like the start of something worth celebrating.

The match proves Majestic’s intelligence right, though. Lithonia show flashes of brilliance – with quick build-up play and striking combinations leading to two first half goals. The score is 4-2 in favor of Majestic at the half. After that, though, things fall apart in a hurry. It quickly turns into a rout.

On the sideline, Phillips is stoic. He doesn’t substitute anyone, even as the game gets out of hand. He doesn’t agree with the referee’s calls, but he’s determined to let his starting eleven play  through bad times. He wants them to feel this one and learn how to rebound, because his aspirations extend beyond today.

“We want Lithonia FC to grow every day,” he says. “We want to own a stadium and grow into a full, professional club. For the community. For the people.” 

At their next match, the players deliver with a 6-1 victory over SC Gwinnett.

What It’s All About

Aaron Sexton is the APSL’s Director of Membership Development and Commissioner of the Delaware River Conference, stretching from Philadelphia to the Jersey Shore. He says the new conference is already delivering on its promise.

“From our perspective, it’s about merit, and it’s about affordability. If we really want to grow a (soccer) ecosystem, it needs to be financially and logistically possible for somebody to start at the recreational level, get promoted a couple of times, and build a real semi-professional or professional club in their community.”

In other words, it shouldn’t require millions in the bank and your own modern stadium. “We want people to find whatever level works for them, and to meet their community where they’re at financially,” he says. We don’t want franchises, we want clubs. It’s not a business. It’s a group of people, maybe as a nonprofit, who make decisions as a group or to represent their people.”

Whether clubs like Peachtree FC or Lithonia FC develop sustained local followings remains an open question. Games are typically free to watch and played on Sundays around metro Atlanta, but the potential was enticing enough for the APSL – principally a northeastern regional league –to come South.

“Atlanta is a soccer city,” says Sexton, explaining the league’s interest. “We wanted to move South, and we’re talking to leagues in Florida, in the Carolinas, and along the Gulf, but Atlanta is in the center of the South – and it seems like there is sort of a “missing middle” layer to the sport there. Atlanta United has a massive fan base, and there’s big amateur interest, but no one is bridging the gap.”Perhaps more importantly, according to Sexton, locals like Jon Hull and Paul Phillips saw the same opportunity. “Right when [APSL] started to center on the idea of trying to bridge this gap in Atlanta, Jon reached out and told us that if we ever wanted to move down there, he’d be interested, and that other managers were as well.”

As it turned out, he was right.