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. The first announced teams were the five remaining Second Division clubs – the
Charleston Battery,
Charlotte Eagles,
Harrisburg City Islanders,
Pittsburgh Riverhounds, and
Richmond Kickers; alongside were the Austin Aztex, the lone surviving First Division club, who joined as
Orlando City SC after relocating to
Orlando, Florida, and a reactivated
Wilmington Hammerheads, who last played in the Second Division. USL President Tim Holt initially hoped to launch USL Pro with 14-20 across four
conferences. 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. 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 were divided into the "American" and "National" divisions. 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. Financial issues plagued the three PRSL clubs, leading to their expulsion five weeks into the season 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. As a result, the American and National divisions were replaced by a single eleven-team table for the
2012 season,
MLS partnership and expansion (2013–2016) fielded by
MLS clubs, such as 2016 champions
New York Red Bulls II (pictured), populated the league from 2014 to 2022. 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. The
LA Galaxy pioneered the model in 2014 by founding a standalone
reserve team rather than affiliating with a USL club, and seven more MLS clubs followed suit in 2015 amid the demise of the
MLS Reserve League.
Sacramento Republic FC illustrated the league's growing commercial potential, winning the league and nearly doubling the average attendance record in their 2014 debut.
(pictured) repeatedly broke attendance records during their tenure in the USL from 2016 to 2018. As the Championship grew to 24 teams, the USL dropped "Pro" from its name, and introduced the "
Eastern" and "
Western" conferences to the league. It also applied for
Division 2 status in 2015. Three more MLS reserve teams entered in the
2016 season alongside
San Antonio FC, MLS expansion bidders
FC Cincinnati, and
Rio Grande Valley FC Toros – a "hybrid" club with independent ownership, but managed by the MLS's
Houston Dynamo FC. Cincinnati broke the all-time USL record for single-match attendance three times in its inaugural season, with the highest being 24,376, while
New York Red Bulls II became the first MLS reserve team to win a USL title.
D2 status, NASL demise, and restructure (2017–2019) (pictured) were one of four NASL clubs to join the USL amid its collapse during 2017 and 2018. 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, 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, but for the
2018 season, the USL gained full D2 status, while the NASL was stripped of theirs. A
preliminary injunction against the decision was denied, leading to the NASL's collapse and its clubs scattering, two of whom –
Indy Eleven and
North Carolina FC – joined the USL.
(pictured) won two consecutive championships in 2017 and 2018. 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. Louisville City won back-to-back championships in 2017 and 2018, the latter by defeating the Rising in Drogba's final professional game. Cincinnati's final season set all-time USL records for single-match attendance (31,478), average attendance (25,717), and total attendance (437,197). 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, beneath it. Several clubs moved down to the third-division league in 2019, including the Richmond Kickers and the Rochester Rhinos, 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.
COVID-19 and the MLS exit (2020–2022) (pictured) was one of three
NISA clubs to join the USL Championship in a span of three seasons, along with Miami and Oakland. 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, 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. pictured) continued to experience rapid growth. 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. 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).
Recent history (2023–present) (pictured) were one of a handful of teams in the USL Championship affected by MLS expansion. 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. 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, with play targeted to begin in 2028. 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. Several Championship clubs have already begun positioning themselves for the new structure, with
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC in August 2025, followed by
Louisville City FC in September, 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. ==Teams==