USL Championship

The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional soccer league in the second tier of the United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) as its premier league for men above USL League One. Operating under a franchise model, 25 teams divided between the league's Eastern and Western conferences compete in an annual round-robin regular season, lasting from spring to fall. At the end of the season, the top team overall wins the Players' Shield, while the top eight teams in each conference advance to a playoff tournament culminating in the USL Championship final, which determines the champion. The league's teams also simultaneously compete in the U.S. Open Cup and USL Cup.

Playing its first season in 2011 as USL Pro, and later the USL, the league formed from the merger of the USL's preceding two pro leagues, after a number of clubs broke away to establish the North American Soccer League. It was initially sanctioned by U.S. Soccer as a third-tier league, but was later promoted to the second tier in 2017. Reserve teams of Major League Soccer (MLS) franchises also competed in the league from 2014 to the advent of MLS Next Pro in 2022. The Championship adopted its current name following the re-establishment of a second pro league in 2019. A third pro league, USL Premier, is currently being planned to supersede the Championship as the USL's top league.

As of the 2025 season, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC are the current champions, while Louisville City FC and Orlando City SC have won the most championships each (2). The current Players' Shield holders are Louisville City FC, while Orlando City SC has won the most Players' Shields (3). Three former USL Championship teams – Orlando City SC, FC Cincinnati, and Nashville SC – are now MLS franchises.

History

Background

Founding and first seasons (2010–2012)

The USL Championship traces its origins to September 2010, when the USL announced the merger of its First and Second Division into the USL Pro, a new league with D3 status granted by U.S. Soccer.^[1][2] The first announced teams were the five remaining Second Division clubs – the Charleston Battery, Charlotte Eagles, Harrisburg City Islanders, Pittsburgh Riverhounds, and Richmond Kickers;^{[3][4][5][6][7]} alongside were the Austin Aztex, the lone surviving First Division club, who joined as Orlando City SC after relocating to Orlando, Florida,^[8][9] and a reactivated Wilmington Hammerheads, who last played in the Second Division.^[10]

USL President Tim Holt initially hoped to launch USL Pro with 14-20 across four conferences.^[11][12] To that end, the league added the Dayton Dutch Lions, then a Premier Development League (PDL) team, and the Rochester Rhinos, who abandoned plans to defect from the USL to the NASL.^[13] The league also recruited the Puerto Rico Soccer League's (PRSL) Puerto Rico United, River Plate Puerto Rico, and Sevilla FC Puerto Rico; and the Antigua Barracuda and Los Angeles Blues to form an "International" division for the inaugural 2011 season, while the nine existing USL clubs and expansion team, F.C. New York^[14] were divided into the "American" and "National" divisions.^[15][16]

The league's first match took place on April 2, 2011, at City Stadium in Richmond, Virginia, where the Kickers defeated Orlando City and Stanley Nyazamba scored the league's first goal.^[17][18] Financial issues plagued the three PRSL clubs, leading to their expulsion five weeks into the season^[19][20] and the abolishment of the International division. F.C New York, also beset by financial issues, departed for the National Premier Soccer League at the end of the season.^[21][22] As a result, the American and National divisions were replaced by a single eleven-team table for the 2012 season,^[23] during which the Battery won the title.^[24][25]

MLS partnership and expansion (2013–2016)

Beginning in the 2013 season, affiliations with Major League Soccer (MLS) clubs began as part of a partnership that aimed to improve "player development, competition and the overall business" of American soccer, according to MLS executive Todd Durbin.^{[26][27][28][29]} The LA Galaxy pioneered the model in 2014 by founding a standalone reserve team^[30][31] rather than affiliating with a USL club, and seven more MLS clubs followed suit in 2015 amid the demise of the MLS Reserve League.^[32][33] Sacramento Republic FC illustrated the league's growing commercial potential, winning the league and nearly doubling the average attendance record in their 2014 debut.

As the Championship grew to 24 teams, the USL dropped "Pro" from its name,^[34] and introduced the "Eastern" and "Western" conferences to the league. It also applied for Division 2 status in 2015.^[35] Three more MLS reserve teams entered in the 2016 season^[36][37][38] alongside San Antonio FC,^[39][40] MLS expansion bidders FC Cincinnati,^[41] and Rio Grande Valley FC Toros – a "hybrid" club with independent ownership, but managed by the MLS's Houston Dynamo FC.^[42] Cincinnati broke the all-time USL record for single-match attendance three times in its inaugural season, with the highest being 24,376,^[43][44] while New York Red Bulls II became the first MLS reserve team to win a USL title.^[45]

D2 status, NASL demise, and restructure (2017–2019)

The USL's rise to Division 2 status was accelerated by the collapse of the rival North American Soccer League. Seeking to stem financial losses incurred while playing in the NASL, the Ottawa Fury and Tampa Bay Rowdies defected to the USL ahead of the 2017 season,^[46][47] dropping the NASL membership below the twelve required for D2 status. U.S. Soccer responded by awarding provisional D2 status to both the NASL and USL,^[48] but for the 2018 season, the USL gained full D2 status, while the NASL was stripped of theirs.^[49] A preliminary injunction against the decision was denied, leading to the NASL's collapse and its clubs scattering, ^[50][51][52] two of whom – Indy Eleven and North Carolina FC^[53][54] – joined the USL.

Arizona United SC rebranded as Phoenix Rising FC, following its sale to an ownership group that included Premier League Hall of Famer Didier Drogba, who also signed for the club.^[55][56][57] Louisville City won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018, the latter by defeating the Rising in Drogba's final professional game.^[58][59][60] Cincinnati's final season set all-time USL records for single-match attendance (31,478), average attendance (25,717), and total attendance (437,197).^[61][62][63]

The USL returned to a two-division structure in the 2019 season. It rebranded its second division league as the USL Championship and introduced a new third division league, called USL League One,^[64] beneath it. Several clubs moved down to the third-division league in 2019, including the Richmond Kickers and the Rochester Rhinos,^[65] while a new wave of expansion clubs joined the Championship, among them New Mexico United who set the attendance record that season. Nashville SC, having used the USL as a launchpad for a successful MLS bid, became the 7th Championship club to depart for the MLS in 2020.^[66]

COVID-19 and the MLS exit (2020–2022)

The COVID-19 pandemic brought significant disruption to the league. Reno 1868 FC ceased operations in November 2020 citing the financial and operational impacts of COVID-19,^[67][68] while Saint Louis FC folded at the end of the same season, with ownership citing both COVID-19 and the impending arrival of MLS expansion side St. Louis City SC as a factor. Despite the disruption of COVID-19, the league continued to grow, including the additions of Miami FC, Oakland Roots SC, and Detroit City FC, three former NISA clubs across three successive seasons.

Two MLS clubs, the Philadelphia Union and Portland Timbers, withdrew their reserve sides, Philadelphia Union II and Portland Timbers 2, from the United Soccer League system in 2020.^[69] The MLS-USL partnership that started in 2014 came to a formal end the following year, when on December 6, 2021, Major League Soccer announced MLS Next Pro, a Division III league that would begin play in 2022. All MLS clubs with reserve teams in USL Championship or USL League One would be moving their affiliated teams to MLS Next Pro by 2023, except for Loudoun United FC (although under different ownership).^[70]

Potential CBA strike and recent history (2023–present)

The league continued to feel the effects of MLS expansion in the years following the partnership's end. San Diego Loyal SC shut down at the end of the 2023 season, citing an inability to find a "viable near- and long-term stadium solution" in a market the MLS had targeted for expansion, with San Diego FC beginning play in 2025.^[71] The closure was emblematic of a broader pattern in which MLS expansion had periodically reshaped the Championship's membership throughout its history.

Looking ahead, the most significant development of the recent era has been the USL's announcement in February 2025 of its intent to establish a new Division I league, USL Premier. The new league would supersede the Championship as the top of the USL's men's league structure,^[72] with play targeted to begin in 2028.^[73][74] The Championship would sit at the center of the USL's three tier professional pyramid, with a system of promotion and relegation connecting it to both USL Premier above and USL League One below.^[75][76][77] Several Championship clubs have already begun positioning themselves for the new structure, with Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC in August 2025,^[78][79] followed by Louisville City FC in September,^[80] the first to formally apply for USL Premier membership.

Brooklyn FC and Sporting Jax both added men's sides for the 2026 season, while North Carolina FC owner Steve Malik put the team on a temporary hiatus while trying to find a new stadium that would meet D1 requirements to restart the club in that league. The beginning of the 2026 was plagued with the looming threat of a potential delay or mid-season stoppage of the season, as tensions heated up between the player's association and the USL owners over the signing of a new collective bargaining agreement. Despite negotiations between the players association and the USL front office beginning in early August of 2024,^[81] efforts to sign a new CBA before the previous agreement expired at the end of 2025 failed, and the reality of a lockout and a potential cancellation of the 2026 USL Championship season became a possibility.^[82] Efforts by both sides to jostle for higher influence over the other commenced during the leadup and after the expiration of the previous CBA, with players of both FC Tulsa and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds wearing protest shirts during the 2025 USL Championship final.^[83]

As a new season approached with little progress made during negotiations, the players association authorized a potential players' strike in early February 2026.^[84] With the threat of a players' strike looming, the USL front office stirred controversy and faced accusations of union busting when just days before the start of the 2026 season, the USL front office sent emails to all players that provided information on how to quit the USL Players Association and cross picket lines.^[85] Although a strike was never called, protests were held during each league match by the players, where players would each refuse to play at the start of the game, and later, start of the second half.^[86] An agreement was finally reached in early May 2026, and the protests by the players ended.^[87]

Teams

The following teams will play in the 2026 season.^[88]

Expansion teams

Notes

1. ^ Shared facility; not a soccer-specific stadium
2. ^ Baseball park
3. ^ Soccer-specific stadium
4. ^ Known as USL League Two (USL2) since the 2019 season
5. ^ Renamed as Phoenix Rising FC in 2016.
6. ^ Puerto Rico United, River Plate Puerto Rico, and Sevilla Puerto Rico tried to participate in the USL's first season but had financial difficulties almost immediately and the league had to cancel all games after May and make significant changes to the remaining schedule

Former teams

Timeline

From beginning of USL Pro to reserve team exit

‡ Puerto Rico clubs Puerto Rico United, River Plate Puerto Rico, and Sevilla Puerto Rico began play in the league, but in May 2011 United Soccer Leagues announced that the teams would not finish the season due to financial difficulties.^[202]

Competition format

For the 2026 season, teams played an uneven schedule, playing home-and-away within their conference and an additional five or six games against teams in the opposing conference for an unbalanced 30-game schedule. At the conclusion of the regular season, the top eight teams in each conference will qualify for the playoffs.^[203] The USL Championship playoffs are a single-elimination tournament with a fixed bracket format, culminating in the USL Championship Final.^[204]

Media coverage

Fox Sports purchased the league's broadcasting rights for the 2011 and 2012 seasons, and aired matches on its Fox Soccer channel, while the league livestreamed matches on its USL Live website.^[23] The USL has been partnered with ESPN since the 2016 season. The first iteration of the deal brought 20 matches to ESPN3 and the championship match to one of its linear networks, while all remaining matches were broadcast directly by the league on its YouTube channel.^[205]

Beginning with the launch of ESPN+ on April 12, 2018, all USL matches moved to the over-the-top service, with 18 games of the week and the championship continuing to air on one of ESPN's linear channels.^[206] The 2019 final will also air on ESPN Deportes. The deal with ESPN expired after the 2019 season, but was subsequently renewed for three additional seasons. Although the ESPN+ match streams are not blacked out in-market, individual clubs are also allowed to syndicate the USL-produced broadcast to local television stations.^[207]

The English-language commentary team for the USL Championship on ESPN has included Mike Watts and Devon Kerr since 2018. Watts and Kerr also host a weekly program, USL All-Access, on Sirius XM FC. Broadcasts on ESPN Deportes have been led by Jesús Eduardo Acosta and José Armando Rodriguez.^[208]

In August 2020, the USL announced their first international broadcast partner with Caribbean broadcaster Flow Sports.^[209]

In August 2021, the USL announced a new broadcast agreement with OneFootball in Italy.^[210]

The USL announced that four-year media deal with CBS Sports beginning with the 2024 season through 2027.^[211] On February 27, 2024, the USL also announced multi-year deal with ESPN as a second broadcast partner through 2026.^[212]

Champions

Teams that no longer participate in the USL Championship are in italics.

USL Championship Final results

1. ^ Known as the "Commissioners Cup" from 2011 to 2014 and the "regular season champions" from 2015 to 2022.
2. ^ The 2020 final was scheduled to be played at Al Lang Stadium between Tampa Bay Rowdies and Phoenix Rising FC.
3. ^ Includes the canceled 2020 finals.

USL club honors

Updated to the end of the 2025 USL playoffs; sorted by major honors (championships).

Player records

Attendance

FC Cincinnati played before a record crowd of 20,497 at Nippert Stadium on April 16, 2016, in a rivalry match against neighboring Louisville City FC.^[213] This broke the USL Pro's previous record for attendance at a regular-season match of 20,231 set by Sacramento Republic in its home debut on April 26, 2014, at Hughes Stadium.^[214] Cincinnati broke the record again on May 14, 2016, with a new all-time high of 23,375.^[215] Cincinnati broke the single game attendance record again on October 2, 2016, in their first ever playoff match against the Charleston Battery, losing 2–1 in the quarterfinals of the 2016 USL playoffs. The attendance of 30,187 also set the USL playoff record.^[216]

Cincinnati broke the regular season record again on August 5, 2017, at Nippert Stadium, drawing 25,308 against Orlando City B. They broke their own record again about six weeks later drawing 30,417 to a 4–2 win over the New York Red Bulls II.^[217] Cincinnati broke the record once more in their final home regular season game as a USL team on September 29, 2018, drawing 31,478 versus Indy Eleven.^[218]

See also

• Soccer in the United States
• Soccer in Canada
• Professional sports leagues in the United States

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