USL League One

From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
Jump to: navigation, search

<templatestyles src="Module:Hatnote/styles.css"></templatestyles>

"USL1" redirects here. For the league that existed from 2005 to 2010, see USL First Division.
USL League One
File:USL League One vert dark logo.svg
Country United States
Confederation CONCACAF
(North American Football Union)
Founded April 2, 2017; 7 years ago (2017-04-02)
First season 2019
Number of teams 11
Level on pyramid 3
Domestic cup(s) U.S. Open Cup
Current champion(s) Union Omaha (2021)
Current regular
season title		 Union Omaha (2021)
Most championships Greenville Triumph SC
North Texas SC
Union Omaha (1 title each)
Most regular
season titles		 North Texas SC
Greenville Triumph SC
Union Omaha
(1 title each)
TV partners ESPN+
YouTube
Website uslleagueone.com
2022 USL League One season
United Soccer League divisions
50px 50px 50px
Championship League One League Two

USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championship and other leagues. As of 2022, the league has 11 teams who play 30 regular season games, followed by playoffs.

History

The USL Championship was granted second division sanctioning by the United States Soccer Federation in January 2017, leaving the third tier of American soccer unoccupied. From 1996 to 2009, the United Soccer League operated leagues at the lower divisions under various names, including the USL Second Division, and the second division as USL First Division.[1] On April 2, 2017, the USL announced that it would launch a new third division league in 2019, with a minimum of eight clubs and lower requirements than the second division USL.[2][3] The new league had the temporary name USL Division III (USL D3).[2] The league announced that they would target cities with a population of 150,000 to one million, mostly in cities currently without a professional team.[4]

In the following months, the league began searching for cities and markets in which to locate new member teams. From April 26 to May 3, 2017, league vice president Steven Short toured the southeast region of the United States, stopping in the cities of Lexington, Kentucky, Knoxville, Tennessee, Asheville, North Carolina, Greenville, South Carolina, and Columbia, South Carolina.[5] After the closing of the tour, the league announced a possible plan for Tormenta FC, a Premier Development League team from Georgia, to join the league.[6] A few weeks later, league executives announced they would be visiting the Midwest area in the United States between May 22 and 26, stopping in Dayton, Ohio, Toledo, Ohio, Fort Wayne, Indiana, Lansing, Michigan, and Grand Rapids, Michigan.[7] After the original tour concluded, Vice President Short visited Des Moines, Iowa to meet with the Des Moines Menace of the Premier Development League to join the league.[8] Preceding the tour of the Midwest, Short visited two more cities in North Carolina: High Point and Fayetteville. Following the tour, Short announced potential plans to build a new multi-purpose stadium in High Point and had positive outlooks on potentially sharing a J. P. Riddle Stadium with the Fayetteville SwampDogs, or the ballpark for the Fayetteville Woodpeckers that ultimately opened in 2019 as Segra Stadium.[9]

The unveiling of the first founding member, South Georgia Tormenta FC, took place on January 25, 2018.[10] This was followed by FC Tucson on February 6,[11][12] Greenville Triumph SC on March 13,[13][14] and Madison, Wisconsin on May 17.[15] Toronto FC II of the USL was announced on July 2,[16] and Chattanooga, Tennessee was announced on August 1.[17]

On August 22, 2018, Rochester Stadium Operations, LLC announced that the Rochester Rhinos will be stepping down from the USL Championship and joining League One in 2020.[18] On September 11, 2018, the league announced that Richmond Kickers would also be dropping down from Championship to League One due to financial difficulties competing in the higher league.[19] On October 8, 2018, Penn FC, another long-time USL member, announced they would follow Rochester in stepping down to League One in 2020.[20] On October 10, the Lansing City Council unanimously approved a deal for the new Lansing Ignite FC team to begin USL League One play at Cooley Law School Stadium in the inaugural 2019 season.[21] On October 2, 2018, the tenth and final founding member was revealed to be the reserve team of FC Dallas. Four days later, the club unveiled its branding as North Texas SC.

The league filed for Division III status with the USSF on August 14, 2018. Ten founding teams were listed in the application.[22][23] On December 14, 2018, USSF voted to provisionally sanction League One as a Division 3 league for 2019.[24][non-primary source needed][better source needed] The league currently shares Division III status with the National Independent Soccer Association.[25]

The first League One game was played on March 29, 2019, when Tormenta FC defeated Greenville Triumph SC 1–0 before a crowd of 3,519 at Eagle Field in Erk Russell Park. Alex Morrell scored the first goal in the 72nd minute.[26][27]

On May 1, 2019, an Omaha, Nebraska team to start play in 2020 was unveiled.[28] On October 9, 2019, it was announced that both the New England Revolution and Inter Miami CF would be placing reserve teams in the league, bringing the total number of teams for the 2020 season to 12 teams.[29] On October 21, 2019, it was announced that one of its inaugural teams, Lansing Ignite FC, would fold after its first and only season in existence.[30]

Teams

The league will have 11 teams participating in the 2022 season.[22]

Team City Stadium Capacity Founded Joined Head coach
Current teams
Central Valley Fuego FC Fresno, California Fresno State Soccer Stadium 1,000 2020 2022 Mexico Martín Vásquez
Charlotte Independence Charlotte, North Carolina American Legion Memorial Stadium 10,500 2014 2022 United States Mike Jeffries
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC East Ridge, Tennessee CHI Memorial Stadium 5,500 2018 2019 United States Jimmy Obleda
Forward Madison FC Madison, Wisconsin Breese Stevens Field 5,000 2018 2019 United States Matt Glaeser
Greenville Triumph SC Greenville, South Carolina Legacy Early College Field 4,000 2018 2019 United States John Harkes
North Carolina FC Cary, North Carolina WakeMed Soccer Park 10,000 2006 2021 United States John Bradford
Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC Windsor, Colorado Future Legends Complex 6,000 2021 2022 Libya Éamon Zayed
Union Omaha Papillion, Nebraska Werner Park 9,023 2019 2020 United States Jay Mims
Richmond Kickers Richmond, Virginia City Stadium 22,611 1993 2019 United States Darren Sawatzky
South Georgia Tormenta FC Statesboro, Georgia Optim Health System Field 3,500 2015 2019 Scotland Ian Cameron
FC Tucson Tucson, Arizona Kino North Stadium 3,200 2010 2019 United States Jon Pearlman

Future teams

Team City Stadium Capacity Founded Joining Head coach
Planned expansion teams
Fort Wayne FC Fort Wayne, Indiana Shield's Field 3,200 2019 2023 United States Mike Avery
Lexington SC Lexington, Kentucky Bell Soccer Complex 3,370 2021 2023 vacant
USL1 Spokane Spokane, Washington Downtown Spokane Stadium 5,000 2021 2023 vacant

Location map

USL League One clubs
Blue pog.svg Club; Red pog.svg Future club

Former teams

Club City Stadium Capacity Joined Final season MLS affiliation Fate
Fort Lauderdale CF Fort Lauderdale, Florida DRV PNK Stadium 18,000 2020 2021 Inter Miami CF Moved to MLS Next Pro[31]
Lansing Ignite FC Lansing, Michigan Cooley Law School Stadium 7,527 2019 2019 Chicago Fire FC Folded[30]
New England Revolution II Foxborough, Massachusetts Gillette Stadium 20,000 2020 2021 New England Revolution Moved to MLS Next Pro[31]
North Texas SC Arlington, Texas Choctaw Stadium 48,114 2019 2021 FC Dallas Moved to MLS Next Pro[31]
Orlando City B Kissimmee, Florida Osceola County Stadium 5,400 2019 2020 Orlando City SC Moved to MLS Next Pro[31]
Toronto FC II Toronto, Ontario BMO Training Ground 1,000 2019 2021 Toronto FC Moved to MLS Next Pro[31]

Timeline

Champions

Teams that no longer participate in USL League One are in italics.

Team USL1 Cup Year(s) won Regular season
title		 Year(s) won
North Texas SC 1 2019 1 2019
Greenville Triumph SC 1 2020 1 2020
Union Omaha 1 2021 1 2021

USL League One Finals

Season Champions Score Runners–up Venue Attendance MVP
2019 North Texas SC 1–0 Greenville Triumph SC Toyota Stadium 3,245 Arturo Rodríguez (NTX)
2020 Greenville Triumph SC Cancelled[32] Union Omaha Legacy Early College Field 0 None selected
2021 Union Omaha 3–0 Greenville Triumph SC Werner Park 5,221 Damià Viader (OMA)

See also

References

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ 31.0 31.1 31.2 31.3 31.4 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

  • No URL found. Please specify a URL here or add one to Wikidata.
Retrieved from "https://infogalactic.com/w/index.php?title=USL_League_One&oldid=726366685"