SSA Royals

Austell sits on the west side of Atlanta, the kind of Georgia town where youth football runs through a single academy rather than a patchwork of clubs, and Southern Soccer Academy is that academy. SSA Royals grew out of it as the women's side to sit alongside SSA Kings, entering the USL W League — the third tier of the American women's game — for the 2022 season after the league announced their acceptance on 8 November 2021. The Royals name followed a month later, on 13 December.

Home matches are played at Marathon Park, a compact ground holding 1,000 people. The office end of the operation sits in nearby Marietta, but match day belongs to Austell.

Three seasons in the South Central Division have followed a similar shape: fourth place in 2022, fourth again in 2023, and fourth once more in 2024. The closest the club came to breaking that pattern was 2023, when they reached the divisional final and lost 0-2 to Tennessee SC. No divisional title, no league play-off run yet.

What the club has produced is a pipeline into NCAA Division I soccer. Lani Steed moved on to Florida and San Diego, Gisela Espinoza — a Mexico U-17 international — went to Furman, Abby Schwartz to Amherst, Mackie Rainwater to Kennesaw State. Carly Banks took a different path back through the club, having played at LSU and for the Houston Aces before turning out in Finland for IK Myran, then returning to Austell to both play and assist with coaching across 2023 and 2024.

Three fourth-place finishes in three years at a 1,000-seat ground in Austell.