El Farolito SC

El Farolito is an amateur soccer club based in San Francisco, California. It currently plays in the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), generally considered the fourth tier of U.S. Soccer, within the Golden Gate Conference. The team is best known for its 1993 U.S. Open Cup championship under its previous name, Club Deportivo (CD) Mexico.

El Farolito

Full name	El Farolito Soccer Club
Nickname(s)	Faro Burrito Boys[1]
Founded	1985
Stadium	Boxer Stadium
Capacity	3,500
Owners	Salvador Lopez
Head Coach	Santiago Lopez
League	National Premier Soccer League
2024	Golden Gate Conference: 1st Playoffs: Champions
Current season

History

The club was founded in 1985 and was first known as El Farolito, named after the owner's chain of restaurants. They played at Boxer Stadium and were a new force in the San Francisco Soccer Football League (SFSFL), where they started in the lower divisions.^[2] El Faro fielded teams with immigrant players, including former professionals, and employees of the restaurant chain.^[3] The team earned successive promotions to the top division of the SFSFL within five years.^{[citation needed]} By the 1991–92 season, the club had won the SFSFL championship and had reached the final of the National Amateur Cup. The following season, El Faro retained the title as 'Club Deportivo Mexico'.

In 1993, San Francisco C.D. Mexico won the U.S. Open Cup, an American soccer competition open to all United States Soccer Federation (USSF) affiliated teams. The team pulled off wins against the defending tournament champion San Jose Oaks, Milwaukee Bavarian SC, before defeating United German Hungarians in the final.^[2][4][5] As U.S. Open Cup champions, C.D. Mexico qualified for the 1994 CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup and played Club Necaxa of the Mexican First Division in the quarterfinals. They lost 5–1 in San Jose.^[6]

When the California Premier Soccer Association (CPSA) was formed in 1993, CD Mexico was one of the SFSFL representatives along with Greek-American A.C., SF United, and Concordia. The CPSA was developed as a 'super league' composed of teams from the SFSFL, Peninsula Soccer League, and the San Joaquin Valley Soccer League. The team, returning to their original name El Farolito, won multiple titles over the next two and a half decades.

On November 20, 2017, El Farolito announced it would field a team in the National Premier Soccer League for the 2018 season.^[7]

On March 22, 2023, El Farolito defeated Inter San Francisco 3–0 in the first round of the 2023 U.S. Open Cup, scoring all three goals in extra time.^[8] The team lost in the second round to fellow Bay Area team Oakland Roots SC of the USL Championship.^[9]

El Farolito once again qualified for the Open Cup and defeated MLS Next Pro side Portland Timbers 2 in the first round on March 19, 2024. The reserve team was representing their parent team, the Portland Timbers of Major League Soccer, after the league had withdrawn from the U.S. Open Cup.^[3] El Farolito defeated Central Valley Fuego FC, another third-division team, but were eliminated in the third round by the Oakland Roots for the second consecutive year.^[10] El Farolito won their first NPSL championship in 2024 by defeating FC Motown, a four-time finalist, 2–1.^[11]

El Farolito have once again exceeded the expectations in the 2025 US Open Cup, beating Real Monarchs of MLS Next Pro 3-1 in the first round and Monterey Bay FC of USL Championship 2-1 in the second. And then their US Open Cup season came to a close, as they were defeated to USL Championship side Sacramento Republic in the third round on April 16th, 1-0. ^[12]

Year-by-year

Year	League	Regular Season	Playoffs	U.S. Open Cup	Notes
Limited information available on early seasons in the San Francisco Soccer Football League
1991–92	SFSFL[a]	1st, Major Division[13]		did not qualify
1992–93		1st, Major Division[13]		Champions	Defeated United German-Hungarians, 5–0, in U.S. Open Cup Final
1993–94		No information available
1994–95
1995–96		1st, Premier Division[13]		did not qualify
1997		No information available
1998
1999		1st, Premier Division[13]		did not qualify
2000		3rd, Premier A Division[14]		did not qualify
2001		1st, Premier Division[13]		did not qualify
2002		2nd, Premier Division[15]		did not qualify
2003		1st, Premier Division[16]		did not qualify
2004		4th, Premier Division[17]		did not qualify
2005		3rd, Premier Division[18]		did not qualify
2006		3rd, Premier Division[19]	Semifinal[20]	did not qualify	Lost to San Francisco Glens SC in CPSA Semifinal
2007		1st, Premier Division[21]	Champions	did not qualify	Defeated San Francisco Glens SC, 4–1, in the CPSA Final
2008		2nd, Premier Division[22]	Semifinals	did not qualify	Lost to Olympic Club in the CSPA Semifinal
2009		1st, Premier Division[23]	Champions	did not qualify	Defeated Rosal FAS, 2–0, in the CSPA Final
2010				did not qualify
2011		2nd, Premier Division[24]		did not qualify
2012		1st, Premier Division[25]	Champions	did not qualify	Defeated Olympic Club, 1–0, in Cup Final
2013		2nd, Premier Division[26]	Champions[27]	did not qualify	Defeated Olympic Club, 1–0, in Cup Final
2014		3rd, Premier Division[28]	Semifinals	did not qualify	Lost to Olympic Club in Cup Semifinal
2015		1st, Premier Division[29]	Champions[30]	did not qualify	Defeated Olympic Club, 1–0, in Cup Final
2016		2nd, Premier Division[31]	League Final	First Qualifying Round	Lost to Olympic Club in Cup Final
2017		1st, Premier Division[32]	Champions[33]	First round	Defeated Olympic Club, 3–2, in Cup Final
2018	NPSL	1st, Golden Gate Conference	Regional semifinal	Disqualified[34]	Lost to FC Mulhouse Portland in Regional semifinal
2019		5th, Golden Gate Conference	did not qualify	Second round
2020		Season cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic[35]
2021		Finalist, Golden Gate Conference Playoffs	Golden Gate Conference did not participate in regular league play	Not held	Lost to Academica SC in conference playoffs
2022		2nd, Golden Gate Conference	Regional Finals	Did not qualify	Lost to Crossfire Redmond in Regional Finals
2023		1st, Golden Gate Conference	Regional Finals	Second round	Lost to Crossfire Redmond in Regional Finals
2024		1st, Golden Gate Conference	Champions	Third round	Defeated FC Motown, 2–1, in NPSL National Championship Game

Honors

San Francisco Soccer Football League

• Division 1 Champions (11):^[b] 1991–92, 1992–93, 1995–96, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2007, 2009, 2012, 2015, 2017
• Playoff Champions (6): 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2017

National Premier Soccer League

• National Championship (1): 2024
• Golden Gate Conference Champions (3): 2018, 2023, 2024

U.S. Open Cup

• Champions (1) 1993
• Participants (5): 1993, 2017, 2019, 2023, 2024

CONCACAF Cup Winners Cup

• Participants (1): 1994

Hank Steinbrecher Cup

• Champions (1): 2025

Notes

1. Beginning in 1993, the SFSFL formed the California Premier Soccer Association (CPSA) along with the Peninsula Soccer League and the San Joaquin Valley Soccer League. The CPSA housed the top teams from all 3 leagues with yearly promotion and relegation cycles. In the late 2000s, the "Premier Division" name was adopted by the SFSFL as its new top division and the league began to only house teams from within its own ranks.
2. Includes California Premier Soccer Association titles