United States soccer league system

The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Although sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by a system of promotion and relegation as is common in other countries. Instead, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF or U.S. Soccer) defines professional leagues in three levels, called divisions, with all other leagues sanctioned by the USSF not having an official designated level or division.
For practical and historical reasons, some teams from Bermuda, Canada, and Puerto Rico (considered a separate country by FIFA) can also compete in these leagues. However, these teams are not eligible for the U.S. Open Cup and cannot represent the United States in the CONCACAF Champions Cup because they are not affiliated with U.S. Soccer.
No professional league in any of the major pro sports leagues in the U.S. or Canada uses a system of promotion and relegation. The country's governing body for the sport, the United States Soccer Federation (also known as the USSF or U.S. Soccer), oversees the league system and is responsible for sanctioning professional leagues. The leagues themselves are responsible for admitting and administering individual teams. Amateur soccer in the United States is regulated by the United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA), the only amateur soccer organization sanctioned by the USSF. Automatic promotion and relegation between its leagues, as exists in many other national league systems, was considered by United Soccer League, but was never implemented; although voluntary promotion and relegation has occurred. Some amateur leagues sanctioned by the USASA also use promotion and relegation systems within multiple levels of their leagues. However, there has never been a merit-based promotion system offered to the USASA's "national" leagues, the NPSL and League Two.
College soccer in the United States is sanctioned by bodies outside the direct control of the USSF, the most important of which is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). See NCAA Division I women's soccer programs, NCAA Division I men's soccer programs, and NCAA Division II men's soccer programs for a list of college soccer programs in the United States.
The standards for Division I, II and III leagues are set by the USSF.
Ownership requirements
Market requirements
Financial viability
Media
Team organization
League operations
In addition to the required positions filled by full-time staff, the league office must have full-time staff performing the functions of a chief operations officer, a chief financial officer and a director of marketing/public relations on a year-round basis
Ownership requirements
Markets and stadia
Ownership requirements
Markets and stadia
Since 1996, Major League Soccer (MLS) has been the only sanctioned USSF Division I men's outdoor soccer league in the United States. MLS has grown from 10 teams in 1996 to 30 teams in 2025.
The USL Championship (USLC) is the only sanctioned Division II men's outdoor soccer league as of 2025. Formed in 2010 as a result of the merger of the former USL First Division and USL Second Division, the USL Championship was sanctioned as Division III league from 2011 to 2016 before becoming provisionally sanctioned as a Division II league for 2017, and receiving full Division II sanctioning in 2018.
The USL Championship expanded almost three-fold since its first season in 2011 to include 35 teams in the 2020 season, with the league divided into two conferences, Eastern and Western. After that season, held amid the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic, five teams left the league.
The previously Division II North American Soccer League (NASL) was formed in 2009, but did not debut until 2011 following the controversial 2010 season that saw neither the USL First Division nor the NASL receive Division II sanctioning from the USSF, resulting in the temporary USSF Division 2 Pro League.
The NASL was sanctioned as a Division II league from 2011 to 2016; when it fielded 8 teams for the 2017 season, U.S. Soccer only granted the league provisional sanctioning as it fell under the 12-team requirement. The USSF rejected the NASL's application to maintain provisional Division II status for the 2018 season as the NASL did not present a plan on how it would meet the Division II criteria. In response, the NASL filed "a federal antitrust suit against the U.S. Soccer Federation" in an attempt to force USSF to drop all Division designations. Due to the litigation against U.S. Soccer, the NASL wound up canceling the 2018 season and ceased operations entirely. In February 2025, a federal jury dismissed the suit.
In March 2017, the United Soccer League announced following the sanctioning of the USL Championship as a Division II league it would start a new tier in its professional structure. USL League One received sanctioning in December 2018 and conducted its first season in 2019 with 10 teams. Ahead of its 2025 season, the league is slated to have 14 teams.
A second Division III league, the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) also debuted in 2019 with eight teams. The league initially played a fall-to-spring season spanning two calendar years but switched to the standard U.S. schedule in 2022. NISA was not given professional sanctioning for the 2025 season.
In 2018, the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), a nationwide amateur league announced the intention to set up a professional division, NPSL Pro. As part of the announcement, NPSL initiated a single season competition, the NPSL Founders Cup, involving 11 teams that were to form the new league. As of 2025 this has not materialized and NPSL remains an amateur competition.
Soon after the NASL's antitrust case against USSF concluded, the USL announced plans to launch a new Division I league by 2028. Outside reporting revealed that the new league may have between 12–14 teams and focus on mid-size cities not currently serviced by Major League Soccer.
Below is a list of the number of teams sanctioned by the USSF under the current division sanctioning scheme described above.
Notes
The USSF does not officially recognize distinctions beyond the three professional divisions above. Currently, three other national leagues are sanctioned by the US Soccer Federation and one of those, the National Premier Soccer League (NPSL), is part of USASA which is a national association member of the USSF and the only member of the Adult Council. USL League Two (USL 2) is a national league run by the USL. Both are recognized in practical terms as playing at a higher level and both since 2020 are considered national leagues earning automatic berths to the US Open Cup first round based on their previous season's league results rather than going through local qualifying. The United Premier Soccer League (UPSL) is also recognized by the USSF as a National Affiliate, but does not gain automatic entry to the Open Cup through the National League track, instead going through local qualifiers. Additionally, clubs in USL2, UPSL and NPSL pay some of their players and are more accurately described as semi-professional leagues.
USL League Two takes place during the summer months, and has age restrictions. Thus, the player pool is drawn mainly from NCAA college soccer players seeking to continue playing high level soccer during their summer break, while still maintaining their college eligibility. The National Premier Soccer League is similar to USL2 and also attracts top amateur talent from around the United States. However, unlike USL2, the NPSL does not have any age limits or restrictions, thus incorporating both college players and former professional players.. The United Premier Soccer League takes place year round with two seasons, one in spring and one in fall. Unlike USL2 and NPSL, the UPSL does not rely on college players and is the national league with the most diverse participation.
The table below shows the current structure of the system. For each division, its official name, sponsorship name, number of clubs and conferences/divisions are given. The United States Soccer Federation regulates the standards for a league or division to be recognized as professional, while also determining the level of division for each league.
The system is only defined as far as Division 3. Some semi-professional leagues refer to themselves as fourth division, however any tier or division numbers are not recognized for these leagues as U.S. Soccer does not designate a division number nor directly sanction anything below Division 3. What follows is a list of additional notable leagues.
The Women's United Soccer Association started playing in 2001, but suspended operations in 2003. It was replaced in 2009 with Women's Professional Soccer. WPS closed after the 2011 season due to a dispute with owners, and the WPSL Elite League was the de facto top tier of women's soccer in 2012. In November 2012 the National Women's Soccer League, sponsored by the United States Soccer Federation, the Canadian Soccer Association and the Mexican Football Federation was announced. The league started play in April 2013. Mexico withdrew from sponsorship of the NWSL once it established its own women's league in 2017.
For many years, there were two leagues that acted as an unofficial lower division. The United Soccer Leagues ran the W-League from 1995 to 2015. The Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL) was founded in 1998. Almost immediately following the demise of the W-League, United Women's Soccer was founded with orphan W-League teams and WPSL breakaways. UWS then formed a U23 reserve league, UWS2, in early 2020.
After the 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup, USL began exploring the idea of creating a professional league to directly compete with NWSL. This effort was scaled back to running an amateur revival of the W-League, which would operate beneath the DII Women's Independent Soccer League (WISL) (operated by NISA) and a planned DIII league run by UWS. The amateur USL W League was officially revived in June 2021, called by USL as "pre-professional", and three months later, plans for a new USL Super League were announced, initially at Division II status in direct competition to WISL, both of which aimed to launch in 2023. USL later announced it would instead pursue Division I sanctioning for the USL Super League, launching with eight teams in 2024 and an additional five teams in 2025.
While there was never official distinction between the national amateur leagues, it was commonly assumed that the W-League was a higher quality than WPSL. Two W-League teams had effectively promoted into the first division – the Buffalo Flash becoming the Western New York Flash in 2011 and D.C. United Women becoming the Washington Spirit in 2013 – while no WPSL teams have ever done so. UWS, as W-League's spiritual successor, has strengthened this image of being the higher-quality amateur league by attracting four teams that had been associated with WPSL Elite.
Indoor soccer in North America is governed by the Pan-American Minifootball Federation (PAMF), a member of the World Minifootball Federation (WMF).