For the first time, New Hampshire will host the prestigious Steinbrecher Cup at Manchester Memorial High School’s stadium. This tournament will crown the men’s soccer national amateur champion, and one of the teams in the running is New Hampshire’s own Seacoast United.

The Seacoast United Phantoms are one of the only United Soccer League teams in the Granite State and have one of the leading youth development academies in New England. Many Seacoast players have gone on to play for NCAA Division I programs, and now the club will have the opportunity to fight for the title of best amateur club in the country.

The Phantoms qualified for the cup because they recently won the title in USL2, one of the highest amateur tiers of soccer in the country. The founder, Paul Willis, said that he never envisioned the team reaching these new heights but could not be more excited for what’s yet to come.

“The four national champions from the various leagues, for them to be able to come together in New Hampshire is a massive step up for New Hampshire,” Willis said. “Because, like I said, Franklin Pierce, Southern New Hampshire (University), Seacoast United Phantoms, we’ve all won national championships, but New Hampshire has never hosted a national championship for soccer.”

It’s an exciting time for soccer in New England as the University of Vermont recently won the NCAA D-I championship and other teams from the USL, such as Rhode Island FC, Maine’s Portland Hearts of Pine and Vermont Green FC have been drawing bigger crowds.

Seacoast is now led by head coach Josh Taylor, who is also the head coach for SNHU’s men’s soccer team. He joined after former coach Alex Ryan departed to be an assistant coach with the Portland Hearts.

Taylor said that the challenge of coaching USL has been very exciting for him, and although he’s focused on the Steinbrecher, Seacoast still has regular-season games to take care of.

“Just an honor to be part of it, and it’s the amateur version of a Champions League,” he said. “You get the best clubs from Italy, Spain. We just obviously had the (UCL) final this past weekend with (Paris Saint-Germain) winning it. This is our mini version out here.

“Soccer is such an up-and-coming sport, and it’s such a different. I’m 38, I’ll be 39 in July, and it’s a completely different landscape than when I was growing up, and it’s so fun to see,” Taylor added.

Three other teams will compete for the Steinbrecher Cup title: West Chester United SC (defending 2023 Steinbrecher Cup Champions from Pennsylvania), Houston Regals (2025 USSSA National Champions) and El Farolito (the 2024 National Premier League National Champions from San Francisco).

Founded in 2013, the Steinbrecher Cup was created to unite the many U.S. men’s amateur champions from leagues across the country and determine a champion through a single-elimination tournament. It was named in honor of former U.S. Soccer secretary general and Werner Fricker Builder Award winner Hank Steinbrecher, who was instrumental in founding Major League Soccer.

“I am excited to hold this event in New Hampshire in partnership with the Seacoast Phantoms,” said U.S. Soccer adult council chair John Motta.

“The Phantoms, the USL 2 national champions, were founded in 1995 as a Division III professional team in the old USISL. I was actually the first owner of this team, so it’s with great pride to see them in this prestigious tournament. We have the best adult amateur teams in the country vying for the Steinbrecher Cup and Hank Steinbrecher was a dear friend, so hosting this event to honor him is very special to me,” he added.

The semifinals will be played on Thursday. The first semifinal between El Farolito and West Chester United will be played at 5 p.m., with Seacoast meeting the Houston Regals at 7:30 p.m.

The championship match will happen on Sunday at 1 p.m. in Manchester. Tickets for the Steinbrecher Cup can be purchased at the gate.

Alexander Rapp can be reached at arapp@cmonitor.com.