San Francisco Metropolitan Football Club was founded in 2017 by Francis Langbein, inspired by playing for Adam Khanamelli in Vancouver, British Columbia during college years before.
Adam is and was a great leader who founded UBC Metropolitan Football Club, the University of British Columbia affiliate team in the Vancouver Men’s Soccer League. UBC Metro was built on a strong foundation of comradery, commitment, and purpose among the core players, who worked hard and played hard, striking the perfect balance between high level soccer and living their best college lives. Most importantly, Adam selected each player for the club, not just for skill, but for having exceptional character, and Adam was an exceptional judge of that.
Francis, originally from the Bay Area, moved back from Vancouver and thought he could take what Adam built and apply it in the SFSFL, the most competitive soccer league in San Francisco. But he also added an unflinching interest in winning and playing the best quality soccer possible. The intention was to prove that if a team of quality individuals could be put together and operate with both class and confidence in every moment, that team could win consistently and win well. In 2017, Metro took the field for the first time.
After a strong formation year, the results have spoken for themselves in 2018 and 2019. Metro won 2 championships was the first team to win back-to-back 1st place promotions in the SFSFL division in over 30 years. The team was promoted from 1st Division to Majors, and Majors to Premier, jumping to 5th on the US soccer pyramid During that run, Metro broke goal records in the 1st Division and also added a Reserve Team.
The pandemic cancelled the 2020 season. 2021 brought an abbreviated SFSFL season and was Metro’s chance to three-peat championships, but unfortunately the team fell short. Seldom one to blame external factors, a post-pandemic season proved very difficult for success.
But as a redemption after the summer season ended, in September Metro launched its first US Open Cup Campaign and had a fantastic run. Metro took the club all the way through four rounds of US Open cup qualifiers to a single penalty kick away from a birth in the main tournament. It proved there were still big things to come.
2022 - Expansion
2022 was been a huge year of growth for the club, with two substantial developments: Metro and San Francisco Elite Academy, the best youth program in San Francisco, merged to establish a combined program with 600 youth players - 300 boys and 300 girls - and a Mens program. As part of the merger, Metro changed its name to SF Elite Metro FC. The partnership completes a player funnel for SFEA players, and creates opportunities on and off the field for soccer players in San Francisco.
The second big one: SF Elite Metro expanded again to add a senior team, alongside its 2 SFSFL squads, one tier up in NISA Nation, the highest level amateur competition in the United States.
From our earliest days, Metro has been committed to moving up in a sustainable way at each level of the US Soccer Pyramid, rising and bringing up the soccer community with it, one foot in front of the other without shortcuts. Winning matters to us, truly, but how we’ve won, how we’ve built culture, with a no-assholes policy and a commitment to the team greater than individual goals, matters just as much, not more not less. We think about our history in the present and what it means for the future, and will always look back on the path that led us to where we are and where we’re going. Because how you get there matters just as much as where you go.
In 2022, we’re committed to expanding what we’ve created as a team to our local community in San Francisco. We’re building as many partnerships with the city as we can and discovering what the area wants out of a professional soccer team. We operate with the intention to support a greater purpose beyond our desire to hoist the biggest trophies. If the pandemic shutting down the NWSL and the MLS in 2020 taught us anything it’s that soccer isn’t a given. As a club, we need to think about what we can do for our community that affords us the privilege to play the beautiful game.
So, our focus in this year of expansion is: what can we do for San Francisco? Can we send some 19-year-olds to the pros? To top college programs? Can we get jobs for college graduates? How can we help local organizations and people thrive? How can we put on the best sporting events in the city? How can we attract the best players and fans? For us, this is what it means to level up on our journey.