IRVING, Texas - Missouri State men's soccer will join the American Athletic Conference as an affiliate member on July 1, 2025, the league announced.

The league affiliation updates were finalized this week and announced in conjunction with Missouri State on Friday. These moves coincide with Missouri State's pending move to Conference USA in July 2025 for its other sports.

"We are grateful that our men's soccer team has been invited to join the American Athletic Conference," MSU Director of Athletics Patrick Ransdell said. "This move gives Missouri State a unique opportunity to compete in a proven soccer conference and continue its elevation at the national level. It will also provide us with some strong regional matchups against similar programs."

Missouri State has competed in the Missouri Valley Conference in men's soccer since it began sponsoring the sport in 1991, joining Drake and Bradley as the longest-tenured MVC schools in the sport. The Bears are in their 34th and final year in the conference before joining The American in the fall of 2025.

"The American is an elite league with top soccer competition," Missouri State head coach Michael Seabolt said. "This is a great move for Bears soccer, and we are thankful to the coaches and administrators in The American for the warm welcome. Our alumni, supporters, coaches and student-athletes have invested years in the success of our program to achieve excellence and national prominence, and we look forward to our next chapter in that journey."

The Bears have won 11 regular season MVC titles (1997, 1999, 2009, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2017, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022), just one shy of the 12 owned by Creighton. Missouri State also has four MVC Tournament championships (1999, 2020, 2021, 2022), which also trails Creighton (13). 

"We are excited to add Missouri State to our league in men's soccer," American Athletic Conference Commissioner Tim Pernetti said. "Membership decisions for The American will always focus on creating incremental value and delivering top-tier competition. There is no question that Missouri State makes us stronger in men's soccer. They share our philosophy of providing the highest level of competition and experience for our student-athletes and will help cement our foundation as a consistent multiple-bid conference."

The American currently consists of eight teams in men's soccer after SMU left for the Atlantic Coast Conference in July. Four teams from The American (SMU, Charlotte, Florida International and Memphis) made the NCAA Tournament in 2023 with Charlotte earning the conference's automatic NCAA Tournament berth. All four teams advanced to at least the second round with SMU advancing to the Round of 16. A conference-record five teams earned NCAA bids in 2022.

The addition of Missouri State gives the American Athletic Conference nine teams in men's soccer beginning with the 2025 season. The Bears will compete against UAB, Charlotte, Florida Atlantic, FIU, Memphis, South Florida, Temple and Tulsa.