WPSL Southeast Conference: Why are Division Champs not participating in Conference Championship?

Image Credit: TN Sports Media

If you have a look at the respective tables for the Pioneer and Peachtree divisions in WPSL’s Southeast Conference, you’ll see two clubs sitting atop the standings.

However, if you look at who is playing in Thursday’s Southeast Conference Championship, you’ll notice it’s not the same two clubs.

This year, 865 Alliance and Decatur FC each grabbed the Pioneer and Peachtree Division titles for the first time respectively, though it’s the two clubs situated in second behind them, namely Nashville Rhythm FC and Chattanooga FC, who will play for the right to call themselves 2025 Southeast Conference Champions.

Why is this?

The answer for this is fairly simple, though requires some explaining. Each WPSL season, every club is given the option to opt in or out of conference and national playoffs. There’s a number of reasons a club may opt out, be it the expectation of roster attrition, travel costs, any number of things.

In 2024, 865 Alliance originally opted into potential playoff participation, before roster attrition forced them to back out after the deadline to make that decision had passed, resulting in a fine and a one-year suspension from further playoff participation, which of course excludes them from this year.

We understand that Decatur FC chose to opt out this season, under the expectation of roster attrition as well.

It’s important to remember that even if a club can manage to keep a roster put together into deeper parts of the summer than is usual (many of these players have college commitments, after all), the club must also cover any travel and logistics on their own, out of pocket.

Many clubs in WPSL are very young, and are still forging the financial partnerships necessary to fund things like this, and some years the numbers just don’t add up. For instance of what this can look like, Nashville Rhythm’s run to the National Semifinals in 2022 required a GoFundMe to be supported by soccer fans across the mid-state just to get the team to and from Stillwater, Oklahoma.

Thus, it’s up to the second place teams in each division to crown a conference champion. In this case, that’s the aforementioned Rhythm and Chattanooga.

They meet on Thursday in the Scenic City at 7PM EST. Check back here for a preview of that game a little later.