The Philadelphia Soul can refer to one of two successive professional arena football teams in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They both have competed in the Arena Football League (AFL). The Soul made Six ArenaBowl appearances, winning their first appearance and losing their next two appearances. The Soul won in their fourth appearance, against the Rattlers in 2016, winning 56–42. They also won in their fifth appearance in 2017 against the Tampa Bay Storm, winning 44–40 before losing in their sixth appearance in 2019 to the Albany Empire 45-27.
One of the Philadelphia Soul's end zones
2004 home uniform
2019 home uniform
The Soul in 2017
The Arena Football League (AFL) can refer to one of three successive professional indoor American football leagues in the United States. The first of these was founded in 1986, and played its first official games in the 1987 season, running for 22 consecutive seasons until going bankrupt following the 2008 season. The second league, consisting largely of teams from the first AFL and arenafootball2, purchased the first league's assets out of bankruptcy and resumed play in 2010 as a continuation of the first AFL; this second AFL ran for ten further seasons, before again going bankrupt following the 2019 season. The third and current AFL, which is not directly connected to the previous two iterations of the league but claiming their histories and trademarks, launched in 2024.
An AFL goalpost