2026 USL Championship season

USL Championship
Season2026
Dates
  • March 7 – October 24
    (regular season)
  • October 30 – November 20-22
    (playoffs)
← 2025
2027 →

The 2026 USL Championship season will be the 16th season of the USL Championship and the ninth season under Division II sanctioning.

25 teams in two conferences will compete in the regular season.[1] The Brooklyn FC men's team, which was originally scheduled to begin play in 2025, will debut in 2026 alongside Sporting Club Jacksonville. North Carolina FC dropped out of the USL Championship and went on hiatus following the 2025 season, with hopes to enter the USL Division One in 2028 with a new stadium in Raleigh.

All 25 teams will participate in the Prinx Tires USL Cup alongside the 18 USL League One teams.

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds FC are the defending league champions and Louisville City FC are the defending Players' Shield winners.

Teams

Locations of teams for the 2025 USL Championship season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

Changes from 2025

Expansion clubs

  • Brooklyn FC
  • Sporting Club Jacksonville

Departing clubs

  • North Carolina FC

Stadiums and locations

Team Stadium Capacity
Birmingham Legion FC Protective Stadium 47,000
Brooklyn FC Maimonides Park[A] 7,000
Charleston Battery Patriots Point Soccer Complex 5,000
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Weidner Field 8,000
Detroit City FC Keyworth Stadium 7,933
El Paso Locomotive FC Southwest University Park[A] 9,500
FC Tulsa ONEOK Field[A] 7,833
Hartford Athletic Trinity Health Stadium[A] 5,500
Indy Eleven IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium[A] 10,524
Las Vegas Lights FC Cashman Field 9,334
Lexington SC Lexington SC Stadium 7,500
Loudoun United FC Segra Field 5,000
Louisville City FC Lynn Family Stadium 15,304
Miami FC Pitbull Stadium[A] 25,000
Monterey Bay FC Cardinale Stadium 6,000
New Mexico United Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park[A] 13,500
Oakland Roots SC Oakland Coliseum[A] 53,200 (15,000[B])
Orange County SC Championship Soccer Stadium 5,000
Phoenix Rising FC Phoenix Rising Soccer Stadium 10,000
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Highmark Stadium 5,000
Rhode Island FC Beirne Stadium[A] 5,252
Sacramento Republic FC Heart Health Park 11,569
San Antonio FC Toyota Field 8,296
Sporting Club Jacksonville Hodges Stadium 12,000
Tampa Bay Rowdies Al Lang Stadium[A] 7,227
  1. ^
    Non-soccer specific stadium.
  2. ^
    Soccer seating capacity.

Personnel and sponsorships

Team Head coach Captain(s) Kit manufacturer Kit sponsor
Birmingham Legion FC Mark Briggs Hummel Coca-Cola
Brooklyn FC Marlon LeBlanc
Charleston Battery Ben Pirmann Hummel The Ideal Life
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Alan McCann Capelli Sport CommonSpirit Health
Detroit City FC Danny Dichio Adidas Metro Detroit Area Chevrolet Dealers
El Paso Locomotive FC (Vacant) Hummel Southwest University at El Paso
FC Tulsa Luke Spencer Puma Williams
Hartford Athletic Brendan Burke Hummel Trinity Health of New England
Indy Eleven Sean McAuley Under Armour Ford
Las Vegas Lights FC Devin Rensing Hummel LiUNA!
Lexington SC Masaki Hemmi Nike UK HealthCare Sports Medicine
Loudoun United FC Vacant Capelli Sport CORAS
Louisville City FC Danny Cruz Adidas GE Appliances
Miami FC Gastόn Maddoni Macron micromobility.com
Monterey Bay FC Jordan Stewart Puma Montage Health
New Mexico United Dennis Sanchez Meow Wolf (home)
Sandia Resort and Casino (away)
Oakland Roots SC Ryan Martin Charly Elevance Health
Orange County SC Danny Stone Hummel Hoag
Phoenix Rising FC Pa-Modou Kah Adidas Carvana
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Rob Vincent (Interim) Charly Allegheny Health Network (home)
84 Lumber (away)
Rhode Island FC Khano Smith Capelli Sport Breeze Airways
Sacramento Republic FC Neill Collins Hummel UCDavis Health
San Antonio FC Carlos Llamosa Puma Community First Health Plans
Sporting Club Jacksonville Liam Fox
Tampa Bay Rowdies Dominic Casciato Puma DEX Imaging

Regular season

Format

The teams will play an unbalanced 30-game schedule plus four USL Cup games. Each team will play their conference opponents twice, home and away, and eight of the teams in the opposite conference. The top eight teams in each conference will make the playoffs.[1]

Eastern Conference

Pos Team Pld W L T GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Birmingham Legion FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Playoffs
2 Brooklyn FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Charleston Battery 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Detroit City FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Hartford Athletic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 Indy Eleven 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Loudoun United FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Louisville City FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Miami FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 Rhode Island FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 Sporting Club Jacksonville 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
13 Tampa Bay Rowdies 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: March 7, 2026. Source: USL Championship Standings
Rules for classification: 1) head-to-head points; 2) head-to-head goal differential; 3) points-per game within conference; 4) total wins; 5) total goal differential; 6) total goals scored; 7) points earned against top four Conference finishers; 8) disciplinary points; 9) coin toss or drawing of lots

Western Conference

Pos Team Pld W L T GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Playoffs
2 El Paso Locomotive FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3 Las Vegas Lights FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
4 Lexington Sporting Club 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
5 Monterey Bay FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
6 New Mexico United 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
7 Oakland Roots SC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
8 Orange County SC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
9 Phoenix Rising FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
10 Sacramento Republic FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
11 San Antonio FC 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
12 FC Tulsa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
First match(es) will be played: March 7, 2026. Source: USL Championship Standings
Rules for classification: 1) head-to-head points; 2) head-to-head goal differential; 3) points-per game within conference; 4) total wins; 5) total goal differential; 6) total goals scored; 7) points earned against top four Conference finishers; 8) disciplinary points; 9) coin toss or drawing of lots

USL Cup

References

  1. ^ a b "USL Championship reveals the 2026 schedule". USL Championship. USL Championship Staff. December 16, 2025. Retrieved December 18, 2025.

Template:2026 in American soccer

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