Jan 24, 2023
We are excited to announce that the Hayward Wolfpack Football Club organization will be moving to Superior, WI for the 2023 season and beyond.
Effective January 24th, the club will transition to the Twin Ports with a new organization name, Superior City FC.
"After five great years in Hayward, our board felt that this was a necessary move for our clubs. We're now getting the majority of our players from the Duluth/Superior area and after talking to the local youth clubs, college coaches and area adult squads, we found that there's a huge need for an organization like ours here in the Twin Ports." - Club President Kaden Bergman
The Superior City FC name garnered the most votes in the club's community and inter-club outreach surveys. Superior City was the name of the original city plotted back in 1854, which later combined with the western portion of the city to create what is now known as Superior, Wisconsin.
Superior City FC will have both a men's and women's team competing in the United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) for the 2023 season. Both teams will be in the Midwest-West Premier Conference. The UPSL is the largest nation-wide league in the United States and currently sits in the 4th division of soccer in the US, along with the NPSL and USL League Two. This level is considered "pre-professional" and sits one level below fully professional soccer in the US.
"We looked into a few leagues for our Superior City FC Men's and Women's teams, specifically the UPSL, MWPL, NPSL and WPSL. We wanted to find a good spot for the top collegiate and amateur players to continue their development over the summer. We found that the UPSL was the best league for our club's aspirations at this point in time. With over 45 players in the organization last year and success with our Wolfpack squad, we feel confident we have enough talent in the greater Twin Ports area to enter a competitive men's and women's team into the UPSL, in addition to keeping our current WPASL and DASL clubs in place to help develop players at all levels of skill and experience." - Club Secretary Sebastian Paczuski
The organization will continue to have representation in the Wisconsin Primary Amateur Soccer League (WPASL), with the Hayward Wolfpack team rebranding as Superior Wolfpack FC to reflect the club's geographic move.
The organization will also continue to have a team in the Duluth Amateur Soccer League (DASL), as the Superior Internationals FC squad rebrands to Superior Whalebacks FC.
"Throughout our discussions with area soccer players and coaches, we found that there's a large gap between the area's current options for developing local adult players. The very top players are getting time at Duluth FC and the vast majority are either stuck in the local men's league or having to leave the area to find opportunities. Our goal is to fill this gap and create a program for players to develop at a high-level. We doubled the amount of kids going to play college soccer in Hayward, and now we hope to create a platform for players to get more professional soccer opportunities from the Twin Ports-area" - Club Treasurer Cole Bergman
The organization will continue to utilize local college, amateur and graduating high school players from Northwestern Wisconsin and Northeastern Minnesota, focusing on the development of players with a connection to the area.
Tryouts will be held on March 18th and 19th at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex in Superior, WI. The tryouts will be used to fill all four teams (UPSL Men's, UPSL Women's, WPASL, DASL). Tryout registration is currently open and information can be found under the "Men's" and "Women's" tabs of the organization's website.
The clubs are in the process of hiring coaches for the teams. The organization plans to release hiring decisions in the next few weeks.
Home games for the organization's UPSL teams will be at the NBC Spartan Sports Complex, located at Superior High School. The WPASL and DASL teams will play their games in the Twin Ports area.
"We want to thank the community of Hayward for supporting our club for the past five years. What we've been able to do in that time was nothing short of spectacular. We drew players from all across the Northland to play in our little town of 2,000 people and managed to beat the top teams from much bigger cities like Eau Claire, St. Cloud and Wausau. Now we take the next step in our journey, and will face some of the same challenges, this time on a larger scale. The move to Superior will increase access for players all across the Northland and provide a larger platform for our local players to showcase their skills and develop their talent. This will be a prime summer-time event for the community of Superior and we're very excited for this move." - Club President Kaden Bergman
Social Media for each club in the organization can be found here:
Superior Whalebacks FC (Facebook)
Please send any questions regarding the club's relocation, player selection, coaching opportunities and all other inquiries to superiorcityfc@gmail.com