The season
Soccer all year, built into the school
Training runs through the school year, and each member school schedules around the league's showcase weekends and playoffs. The program is part of how the school runs.
Boys' soccer · Student-athletes
The Prep Premier League
A boys' soccer league for U.S. boarding schools that train and compete all year, so a student can have an American boarding school education and a serious soccer season in the same year.
Talk with a GESP consultantFirst season
2023
Member schools
10 in 2026, in two divisions
Players
Boys, 19 or younger on July 1 of their final season
National coverage
Weekly rankings on Sports Illustrated's High School on SI
Why the league exists
At most New England prep schools, soccer is a fall sport: about three months of training and games, after which league rules limit coaches to informal sessions with a few players at a time. A boy with professional ambitions had to choose between an American boarding school and the training his game needed. The member schools of the Prep Premier League run soccer all year, and they set their calendars around the league's season.
The players
Rosters from around the world
Member rosters are filled with players who came to the U.S. for this level of soccer, many of them in a postgraduate year preparing to play in college or beyond.
Exposure
Every match on film, honors of its own
The home team films every league match and shares it with the visiting team within 48 hours. Each season the league names an All-League Team, a Golden Boot, a Golden Glove and a Most Outstanding Player.
How it started
The league was built by coaches who had spent years running year-round programs and wanted their teams playing each other. It started with eight schools and has ten in 2026.
2023
Eight schools, one season
Eight boarding schools played the first season, each meeting every other once. The Woodstock Academy won the first title, beating Northwood School 3–1 in the final.
2024
Playoffs take shape
Andrews Osborne Academy and Spire Academy joined. A quarterfinal round was added to the playoffs, and Woodstock won again.
2025
A new champion
Darrow School joined, and Hoosac School beat Woodstock in the final, then finished third in the national prep rankings.
2026
Ten schools, new bylaws
The Linsly School, Masters Academy International and St. Thomas More School joined. New bylaws set out how the league is run, and the season added two showcase weekends at Westtown School.
The people behind it
The league was founded by three coaches: Owen Finberg, Jonty Loukes and Jon Moodey. The coaches of its eight charter schools shaped its first rules with them.
Co-founder
Owen Finberg
Director of Prep Soccer at The Woodstock Academy. Before that he led South Kent School's program for nearly two decades, winning six Prep Top 10 national titles.
Co-founder
Jonty Loukes
Head coach and Director of Soccer at The Kiski School from 2017 to 2025, where he built a roster from 13 countries. A former Barnsley FC player.
Where GESP fits
137
GESP-placed players on league rosters, 2024–2026
20
Countries those players came from
3 in 4
GESP soccer placements at member schools who played for the league team in their first year
Counts from GESP's placement records and the league's rosters for the 2024 to 2026 seasons.
What it means for your son
01
Your son's whole profile
Your consultant starts with his studies, character and goals, then looks at league schools alongside the others that fit him.
02
A year of soccer at the level he came for
He trains through the school year and plays the other member schools at showcase weekends and in the playoffs, with and against players who crossed the world for the same reason.
03
College coaches can see him play
Every league match is filmed, and the league's honors and SI's weekly rankings give college coaches a full season to judge him on.
Member schools, 2026
East
West
Questions families ask
Teams belong to member schools, so a player takes part by enrolling at a member school and making its team.
No. Member schools field American and international players, including post-graduate students. What the schools share is a year-round soccer program.
The league’s co-founders, Owen Finberg and Jonty Loukes, are GESP Educational Consultants, and many of its international players were placed by GESP. Member schools are independent, and the league decides its own membership.
Next step
Find out where your son's soccer fits
Tell us about his game, his studies and what he hopes for. A consultant will suggest the schools that fit him.
Talk with a GESP consultantNo Dream Is Too Big.