While all of us are waiting to see when soccer will return, we at Protagonist are still reaching out to clubs old and new to find out what makes them tick. This week we were fortunate enough to get the scoop on AFC Hearts of San Francisco of the UPSL Wild West. We appreciate the time Founder and President Maurice Johnson took to answer our questions about where his club come from and where AFC Hearts of San Francisco is headed.

Soccer in San Francisco goes way back to the 1890's - when and why were you founded, and does that soccer pedigree ever cross your path?

We founded our club in 2017, fifty years after San Francisco’s iconic summer of love. Our goal is to be the preeminent player development club in the Bay Area. The peace sign is in our logo to symbolize San Francisco’s peace movement. The heart, widely regarded as San Francisco’s talisman, in our logo is made up of phoenix feathers which hallmark San Francisco’s resilience after the 1906 earthquake.

With as many leagues as there are to choose from, why did you go with UPSL? What benefits did you see joining that league instead of SFSFL, NPSL, or USL-L2?

Although we currently do not have a club in the San Francisco Football Soccer League (SFFSL), we have played friendlies with some of their winning teams, and we plan to have a reserve club in the SFFSL in the future. In fact, we want all soccer fans to recognize the stay home and shelter orders from Governor Newsome, and watch our matches against the SFFSL’s San Francisco Metropolitans, and San Francisco Glens SC on our YouTube channel.

Considering there is so much soccer happening, all the time, in the Bay Area, does your club play year-round? Do you set up friendlies with clubs from other leagues?

The United Premier Soccer League is the fastest growing player development league in the United States. The league offers competitive play at the regional level that Sunday leagues don’t offer. We have a three to five-year plan to move up to a higher league, but the United Premier Soccer league current placement in the United States Soccer Pyramid is idea for our club being only two years old. In the meantime, it would be great if someone could organize a San Francisco Cup between the USL 2, NPSL, SFFSL, and UPSL. We would be in!

The 2026 World Cup is a few years away, but with Levi's Stadium on the list down in the South Bay, are you anticipating a bump in interest locally? Do you have supporters?

Yes, we have played clubs in the SFFSL, the USL 2, and we’re playing this Spring in the Liga NorCal Premier. We have played the Glens twice, and we have an open invitation to play El Farolito, and San Francisco City FC. Both El Farolito, and San Francisco City have agreed to play us, we just need to sync our calendars. We definitely want to play the Oakland Roots, or Project 510 in the future. For now, we’ve planned the last two spring seasons in the UPSL due to most of our players coming from the collegiate ranks. We will be playing this Fall for the first time in the UPSL. Creating a supporter club is one of our primary goals. If you know of people interested in joining our ranks, please have them email us at info@sfhearts.com or text us at 415.816.6358.

Soccer is experiencing a golden age in the Bay Area. For example, London is the home for over one hundred soccer clubs. With that being said, the pie is huge for the Bay Area to have many sustainable clubs. With everyone being stuck at home, I’m hoping that San Franciscans can rediscover their local soccer clubs via YouTube and social media. For this reason, we’re rebroadcasting some of our matches on YouTube. Since most people don’t know the results of these local matches, I’m hoping these games can be a distraction to soccer fans during these challenging times. Our total viewership on our online streaming site, mycujootv/afc-sanfrancisco-hearts.com, is over 7,000 views, and we have household viewership from over sixty different countries. Our YouTube viewership is comparable to our mycujootv numbers. I’m hoping that this exposure helps us drive supporter membership.

Clubs often are able to draw young players in from a youth organization - is AFC Hearts connected to a youth funnel at all? Where do you get most of your players from?

It is our goal to have a youth program in place by the summer of 2021. The San Francisco Aztecs have provided ball service at a few of our matches and one of our players, Omar Diaz, is very active with the San Francisco Aztecs. We would like to partner with a local youth organization, and or partner with an international soccer academy. People interested in volunteering with us should contact us at info@sfhearts.com or text 415.816.6358. Currently, our players a mostly current, and former local college players.

What is the most important part of running a club at this level? What types of things keep you up at night?

The player is the apex of our program. All of our efforts are player centric in design, and in mind. Our goal is to be the preeminent player development club in the Bay Area. To do this we must have the resources to hire the best coaching, and to secure the best facilities. During our two years in existence, we have formed an excellent relationship with City College of San Francisco. Not only has their coaching staff created a winning tradition at City College San Francisco, but they have brought this same winning tradition to the Hearts. Further, playing on a soccer only field has also provided our club with a competitive advantage over our peer clubs in San Francisco. We can say with confidence that our facilities at City College San Francisco are second to none. We are actively seeking sponsorship to pay for equipment, uniforms, and travel cost. Our audience can be an excellent conduit for companies locally, and internationally.