Feb 11, 2026
2026 Schedule Release: Aurora readies for club’s fifth season
Season tickets for Minnesota Aurora FC’s upcoming campaign are on sale now, the club announced Tuesday. The four-time defending Heartland Division champions return to the pitch in 2026 to celebrate its fifth anniversary season.
Check out Minnesota Aurora’s 2026 game schedule, and buy your season tickets today!
After winning the Central Conference and reaching the league’s National Semifinal for the second time in club history, Aurora look to keep its regular season purple patch alive, having yet to drop a non-playoff fixture since its first season in 2022.
Between returning rivals and another division shake-up, the upcoming season offers several intriguing storylines for fans to keep tabs on in 2026.
Familiar Foes
Four clubs return to the Heartland Division from last season: River Light FC, Rochester FC, Sioux Falls City FC and RKC Third Coast.
Sioux Falls City stormed on to the scene in their inaugural USL W League campaign a season ago, finishing second in the Heartland Division table. Aurora FC had the unique distinction of facing off against Sioux Falls three times during the 2025 season, marking only the third time in club history Minnesota has faced the same team more than twice in the same season.
Aurora claimed the season series 2-0-1, including a 2-0 win at TCO Stadium in June.
After reaching the 2024 USL W Playoffs as a Wild Card, River Light are back for their third season in the league, posting a third-place table finish in the Heartland in 2025. RLFC have proven to be Aurora’s fiercest in-division competition, playing Minnesota to a 1-1 draw each of the last two seasons.
RKC Third Coast are set to return for their fourth year as a member of the USL W’s Heartland Division and are coming off a last place table finish for the first time in club history. Despite a difficult 2025, Third Coast finished the season with victories in two of their final three fixtures.
Aurora’s in-state rivals Rochester FC round out the Heartland Division returners for 2026. The Loons have made impressive strides since their first season in 2023. Last year, Rochester posted a fourth-place table finish, their highest in club history.
Like all derbies, matches between Rochester and Aurora have been spirited; however, more recently, they’ve also been highly competitive. In June of last season, RFC held Aurora, a top 10 scoring offense in the league, to a single goal in Minnesota’s 1-0 win.
In fact, half of the last six overall matchups have been decided by a single goal.
New Faces in New Places
Three new clubs join the fold in the division for the 2026 season: Rally Madison, Edgewater Castle and Rockford Raptors, all three newcomers to the USL W League.
Edgewater Castle may be a newcomer to the United Soccer League, but they are no stranger to success. The Chicago-based club participated in the United Women’s Soccer League (UWS) last season, posting a 9-0-0 record en route to winning the league’s National Championship.
Like Aurora FC, Edgewater Castle are a community owned club. Founded in 2017, the club currently has more than 50 community owners, including former US Men’s National Team midfielder Kellyn Acosta.
Rockford returns to the fold of USL play for the first time in over two decades, launching their first ever women’s club under the United Soccer League banner.
Raptors FC were founded in 1994 as a professional men’s club, spending four seasons in the USL’s now-retired Second Division before moving to the defunct Premier Development League from 1999 to 2000. After leaving the professional space, Rockford have turned their attention to youth development, sponsoring ECNL sides from the U8 division up to U18, with over 5,000 players currently in their youth system.
Madison joins a growing list of USL W League teams which share ownership groups with either a USL Championship or USL League One club on the men’s side of the league’s professional pyramid.
Operated by the same group who manages Forward Madison, the club based out of Wisconsin’s capital was awarded an expansion bid following the success of the league’s first-ever USL W League showcase that saw Aurora FC defeat now-defunct Chicago City Dutch Lions, 4-0.
The club has already announced a flurry of high-profile signings for its inaugural season and will be led by manager Giuliano Oliviero, who boasts 25 years of professional playing experience.
News and Notes
The Heartland Division is not the only division to undergo change this offseason. In total, the number of clubs now part of the USL W League has swelled to 96 across the country, with 15 new teams joining for 2026. As a result, the league added one new division ahead of the new campaign, the Northeast Division, which sits within the league’s Eastern Conference.
Clubs such as Vermont Green, who played exhibition fixtures last year under the direction of former US Women’s National Team midfielder Sam Mewis, and Hartford Athletic will compete in the newly formed division.
Like in years past, teams across the USL W League will play a maximum of 12 regular season fixtures against division foes, which precedes the league’s annual 16 team playoff.
By the Numbers
24 – 24 players who have donned a Minnesota Aurora shirt have gone on to play professionally across the globe, including four that have completed the USL’s women’s pathway by signing with USL Super League clubs.
48 – Aurora FC have recorded 48 combined wins across both regular season and postseason play, the most of any team in the USL W League.
9 – Aurora recorded nine clean sheets last season, tied for the most record in a single campaign in club history.
For more information on tickets and the 2026 schedule, click here.
