Real Central New Jersey is a soccer club from

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County. It was the federal capital, capital of the United States from November 1 until D ...

, United States, founded in 2020. The club's men's First Team competes in the Mid-Atlantic Division of

USL League Two USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States, forming part of the United States soccer league system. The league will featu ...

, and began playing in the

2021 season 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. The women's team participates in the

Women's Premier Soccer League The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) is an amateur women's soccer league in the United States. History The WPSL is the longest-running active women's soccer league as it enters its 25th season in 2023. The WPSL is also the largest women ...

. The club marks the first soccer team to play in Mercer County since the Penn-Jersey Spirit of the now-disbanded

American Professional Soccer League The American Professional Soccer League (APSL) was a professional men's soccer league with teams from the United States and later Canada. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the third American Soccer League with the Western Soccer League. ...

last played in 1991 and the

New Jersey Wildcats The New Jersey Wildcats is an American women's soccer team, founded by Vincent Baldino in 1996. The team was a member of the United Soccer Leagues USL W-League (1995–2015), W-League, the second tier of women's soccer in the United States and C ...

which folded in 2012. Like the Spirit, RCNJ intended to play out of

The College of New Jersey The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) is a public university in Ewing Township, New Jersey. It is part of New Jersey's public system of higher education. Established in 1855 as the New Jersey State Normal School, TCNJ was the first normal school, ...

's Lions Stadium. Due to COVID-19 related issues, the club played its first two seasons at

Mercer County Community College Mercer County Community College (MCCC) is a Public university, public, community college in Mercer County, New Jersey, Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. More than 7,000 students enroll in one or more credit courses each year. Esta ...

. The USL2 team kicked off the season against in-state rivals the Ocean City Nor'easters, losing 3–0. In its inaugural campaign, Real Central NJ's WPSL team placed second in the Metropolitan Conference South. After besting MatchFit Academy in the semi-finals, the team lost to the NJ/NY Gotham FC Reserve team in the conference finals. The club's women's program is coached by Brian Thomsen, the Technical Director of Next Level Soccer Academy in Pennington, NJ. The men's first team inaugural coach was Patrick Snyder, former college and PDA Soccer staff coach. Following the 2021 season, retiring William Patterson men's head coach Brian Woods was named to the clubs USL team top job. In 2022, the RCNJ WPSL team topped the Mid-Atlantic Conference with a record of 6-1-1. The team secured the title on the last matchday of the season with a 3-2 home victory against Lehigh Valley Tempest, earning the club the duty of hosting the Eastern Region Playoffs. The team lost to VT Fusion in the regional semi-final in kicks from the penalty mark after 120 minutes of scoreless play. In 2023, the club's USL2 side placed 3rd in the Mid-Atlantic Conference with a 6-6-2 record. Among the season highlights was attacker Stas Korzeniowski's 18 minute hat-trick against Philadelphia Lone Star in the opening match of the season. The club believes this to be the fastest hat-trick in league history. The RCNJ men's program also participates in the Delaware River Conference of the

Eastern Premier Soccer League The American Premier Soccer League (APSL) is a United States Adult Soccer Association affiliated amateur soccer league that includes teams from the Eastern United States. Currently the league has members from Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusett ...

and fields a team in the Garden State Soccer League.

Professional Expansion

In November 2022 RCNJ and the United Soccer Leagues announced the club would explore professional expansion efforts. According to a joint press release, "The USL League Two side is aiming to bring men's and women's professional soccer to Central Jersey." No additional details have been publicly released. In April 2024, League One Updater stated a reliable source stated "while the project is active and progressing, it is still in the early stages, indicating a jump in 2026 at the very earliest."

Year-by-year

References

{{New Jersey Sports USL League Two teams Soccer clubs in New Jersey Association football clubs established in 2020 2020 establishments in New Jersey Mercer County, New Jersey