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 is the 16th season of the USL Championship and the ninth season under Division II sanctioning.

Before the start of the season, the United Soccer League Players Association (USLPA) authorized a player strike, pending resolution of ongoing labor negotiations between the league and the association. [1]

25 teams in two conferences will compete in the regular season.[2] The Brooklyn FC men's team, which was originally scheduled to begin play in 2025, debuted 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 of entering USL Premier in 2028 with a new stadium in Raleigh.[3][4]

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 2026 USL Championship season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

Changes from 2025

Expansion clubs

Departing clubs

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 Centreville Bank Stadium 10,500
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 Jay Heaps Phanuel Kavita Hummel Coca-Cola
Brooklyn FC Marlon LeBlanc Thomas McNamara Diaza
Charleston Battery Ben Pirmann Hummel
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC Alan McCann Matt Mahoney Capelli Sport CommonSpirit Health
Detroit City FC Danny Dichio Devon Amoo-Mensah Adidas AlumniFi
El Paso Locomotive FC Junior Gonzalez Arturo Ortiz Hummel Southwest University at El Paso
FC Tulsa Luke Spencer Abdoulaye Cissoko Hummel Williams
Hartford Athletic Brendan Burke Jordan Scarlett Hummel Trinity Health of New England
Indy Eleven Sean McAuley Sean Zawadzki Under Armour Ford
Las Vegas Lights FC Devin Rensing Joma
Lexington SC Masaki Hemmi Kendall Burks Hummel UK HealthCare Sports Medicine
Loudoun United FC Anthony Limbrick Jacob Erlandson Capelli Sport CORAS
Louisville City FC Danny Cruz Kyle Adams Puma GE Appliances
Miami FC Gastόn Maddoni Daltyn Knutson Macron Avianca
Monterey Bay FC Jordan Stewart Nico Gordon Charly Montage Health
New Mexico United Dennis Sanchez Will Seymore Puma Meow Wolf (home)
Sandia Resort and Casino (away)
Oakland Roots SC Ryan Martin Tyler Gibson, Tommy McCabe Charly Anthem
Orange County SC Danny Stone Tom Brewitt Hummel Hoag
Phoenix Rising FC Pa-Modou Kah Pape Mar Boye Adidas Carvana
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC Rob Vincent Danny Griffin Hummel Allegheny Health Network (home)
84 Lumber (away)
Rhode Island FC Khano Smith Koke Vegas Capelli Sport Breeze Airways
Sacramento Republic FC Neill Collins Lee Desmond Hummel UCDavis Health
San Antonio FC Carlos Llamosa Mitchell Taintor Charly Community First Health Plans
Sporting Club Jacksonville Liam Fox Adidas Ascension St. Vincent's
Tampa Bay Rowdies Dominic Casciato Charly Union Home Mortgage

Regular season

Format

The teams will play an unbalanced 30-game schedule plus four USL Cup games. Each team will play its conference opponents twice, home and away, and five or six of the teams in the opposite conference. The top eight teams in each conference will make the playoffs.[2][5]

Eastern Conference

Pos Team Pld W L T GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Louisville City FC 3 3 0 0 10 4 +6 9 Playoffs
2 Hartford Athletic 3 2 0 1 5 1 +4 7
3 Tampa Bay Rowdies 2 2 0 0 4 0 +4 6
4 Charleston Battery 2 2 0 0 5 3 +2 6
5 Detroit City FC 2 1 1 0 4 2 +2 3
6 Indy Eleven 2 1 1 0 2 2 0 3
7 Brooklyn FC 3 1 2 0 2 5 −3 3
8 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 3 1 2 0 4 7 −3 3
9 Loudoun United FC 2 0 1 1 2 3 −1 1
10 Rhode Island FC 2 0 1 1 1 4 −3 1
11 Miami FC 2 0 1 1 1 4 −3 1
12 Sporting Club Jacksonville 2 0 1 1 1 4 −3 1
13 Birmingham Legion FC 3 0 2 1 2 4 −2 1
Updated to match(es) played on March 21, 2026. Source: USL Championship Standings
Rules for classification: 1) total wins against conference opponents; 2) goal differential against conference opponents; 3) goals scored against conference opponents; 4) head-to-head points against conference opponents; 5) points per game against conference opponents; 6) points per game against non-conference opponents; 7) fewest disciplinary points; 8) coin toss or drawing of lots

Western Conference

Pos Team Pld W L T GF GA GD Pts Qualification
1 Oakland Roots SC 3 2 0 1 5 3 +2 7 Playoffs
2 San Antonio FC 3 2 0 1 3 1 +2 7
3 Sacramento Republic FC 3 1 0 2 3 1 +2 5
4 Orange County SC 3 1 0 2 3 2 +1 5
5 El Paso Locomotive FC 2 1 0 1 5 2 +3 4
6 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 3 1 1 1 5 5 0 4
7 FC Tulsa 3 1 1 1 3 4 −1 4
8 Phoenix Rising FC 3 0 1 2 4 5 −1 2
9 Lexington SC 2 0 1 1 1 2 −1 1
10 Las Vegas Lights FC 3 0 2 1 5 7 −2 1
11 Monterey Bay FC 3 0 2 1 1 5 −4 1
12 New Mexico United 2 0 2 0 1 3 −2 0
Updated to match(es) played on March 21, 2026. Source: USL Championship Standings
Rules for classification: 1) total wins against conference opponents; 2) goal differential against conference opponents; 3) goals scored against conference opponents; 4) head-to-head points against conference opponents; 5) points per game against conference opponents; 6) points per game against non-conference opponents; 7) fewest disciplinary points; 8) coin toss or drawing of lots


Attendances

Pos Team Total High Low Average Change
1 Oakland Roots SC 14,419 14,419 14,419 14,419 +72.2%†
2 Sacramento Republic FC 11,569 11,569 11,569 11,569 +18.0%†
3 Sporting Club Jacksonville 10,357 10,357 10,357 10,357 n/a†
4 Louisville City FC 9,009 9,009 9,009 9,009 −7.6%†
5 Lexington SC 13,862 8,277 5,585 6,931 +63.1%†
6 Rhode Island FC 6,758 6,758 6,758 6,758 −24.2%†
7 San Antonio FC 6,512 6,512 6,512 6,512 +2.3%†
8 El Paso Locomotive FC 6,079 6,079 6,079 6,079 +10.2%†
9 Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC 6,039 6,039 6,039 6,039 −16.6%†
10 Phoenix Rising FC 6,026 6,026 6,026 6,026 +23.8%†
11 FC Tulsa 5,717 5,717 5,717 5,717 +79.9%†
12 Detroit City FC 5,559 5,559 5,559 5,559 −10.8%†
13 Charleston Battery 5,012 5,012 5,012 5,012 +27.1%†
14 Brooklyn FC 4,500 4,500 4,500 4,500 n/a†
15 Birmingham Legion FC 8,761 4,787 3,974 4,381 −3.5%†
16 Monterey Bay FC 7,190 4,240 2,950 3,595 +7.6%†
17 Orange County SC 3,475 3,475 3,475 3,475 −24.0%†
18 Loudoun United FC 1,696 1,696 1,696 1,696 −27.3%†
19 Hartford Athletic 0 0 0 0 −100.0%†
20 Indy Eleven 0 0 0 0 −100.0%†
21 Las Vegas Lights FC 0 0 0 0 −100.0%†
22 Miami FC 0 0 0 0 −100.0%†
23 New Mexico United 0 0 0 0 −100.0%†
24 Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC 0 0 0 0 −100.0%†
25 Tampa Bay Rowdies 0 0 0 0 −100.0%†
League total 132,540 14,419 1,696 6,534 +17.5%†

Updated to games played on 14 March 2026.
Source:
Notes:
1. Team played last season in 2025 USL Championship season.

USL Cup

Main article: 2026 USL Cup

References

  1. ^ https://www.si.com/soccer/us-soccer-players-playing-strike-tense-labor-talks
  2. ^ a b "USL Championship reveals the 2026 schedule". USL Championship. USL Championship Staff. December 16, 2025. Retrieved December 18, 2025.
  3. ^ "Raleigh Group To Apply For United Soccer League Division I Franchise". North Carolina FC. Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  4. ^ "North Carolina Football Club suspending operations in hopes of going into new league". ABC11 Raleigh-Durham. 2025-11-04. Retrieved 2026-01-22.
  5. ^ Staff, USLChampionship com (2025-12-10). "USL Championship Announces Competition Format for 2026 Season". USL Championship. Retrieved 2026-01-22.
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