The United Soccer League is Back for 2025
After announcing a new Division One soccer league at the MLS level (or not quite) and inviting Promotion/Relegation in the U.S., the USL looks to its biggest year ever.
The United Soccer League Championship (USLC) and League One (USL1) are back for their 2025 seasons, and for the first time the two divisions will feature inter-league play in the 2025 USL Cup (also referred to as the USL Jägermeister Cup for sponsorship reasons).
The USL is growing, too. Last summer, the USL Super League launched with teams including the Carolina Ascent, opening a new pathway in women’s soccer. Last month, the USL announced their boldest plan yet: a new Division One men’s league that could introduce European-style promotion and relegation to the United States. Just as the MLS used the 1994 World Cup as a springboard when the league launched three decades ago, the new league would take advantage of next year’s North American World Cup to jumpstart a new era for U.S. soccer.
If you haven’t had the chance, you can read our full story on that announcement below:
USL Championship and League One Return to the Carolinas
Since the end of last year, both of the USL’s professional men’s soccer leagues have added teams and lost others, creating new dynamics and rivalries.
The biggest change comes in USL1, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid, where five new teams have joined the league: AV Alta FC (Lancaster, California); FC Naples (Naples, Florida); Portland Hearts of Pine (Portland, Maine); Texoma FC (Sherman, Texas); and Westchester SC (Mount Vernon, New York).
Multiple teams left USL1, including Lexington SC, which now plays in the USLC, the second tier of U.S. soccer. 2024 USLC squad Memphis 901 FC was unable to secure a field, while Central Valley Fuego FC left the league and the Northern Colorado Hailstorm FC filed for bankruptcy, despite winning the inaugural USL Cup.
Every Carolinas team will continue to play in their 2024 league; North Carolina FC (Cary) and Charleston Battery will both continue in the Championship; while the Charlotte Independence and Greenville Triumph SC (South Carolina) will play in League One.
NCFC joined the Championship after winning League One in 2023, defeating the Independence in the playoff final; they had a disappointing first season in USLC before improving their form and sneaking into the playoffs in the final spot in the East. They fell to top-seeded Louisville City FC in the first round.
The Charleston Battery, a perennial second-tier powerhouse, finished second in the East in the regular season, falling in the semifinals to a surprising Rhode Island FC that improved significantly over the course of their first year in the league.
In League One, the Charlotte Independence could not replicate their 2023 success, losing to Forward Madison FC in the first round of the playoffs. Madison, also known as the Flamingos, were Charlotte’s achilles heel all year, defeating Charlotte in the semifinals of the USL Cup, and winning the season series with a 0-0 draw at home in Wisconsin and a 2-4 win away in North Carolina.
One bright spot for Charlotte was the return of captain Clay Dimick, who won the league’s Comeback Player of the Year.
The Greenville Triumph found more success, finishing a solid fourth in the regular season. Greenville’s Swiss international Lyam MacKinnon won the league’s Golden Boot award for the most goals, as well as Player of the Year honors.
The Magic of the Cup
On Friday, April 25, the North Carolina Derby returns as NCFC hosts the Charlotte Independence in the USL Cup. It will be the first time the teams have met in a competitive match since the 2023 USL1 final.
However, before that match is the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, which kicks off this week.
“We want to be competitive in the [Open Cup] games and be successful,” North Carolina FC head coach John Bradford told Soccer Sheet. “But we also want our club to stand for more than just a Saturday night game or something like that, and I think [the Open Cup] gives us the continued exposure against other good clubs in our in our State to do that - being a North Carolina guy for so many years. Anything I can do to see the sport grow in our State, and especially with our club, is is of interest to me.”
Because NCFC and the Charleston Battery made the USLC playoffs last year, their squads will enter in the third round of the tournament (April 15-16).
The Independence and the Triumph will both travel to face amateur sides; Greenville has a short trip to face USL League Two (pre-professional) side Asheville City SC on Tuesday, March 18, while Charlotte will travel to New York to face the Long Island Rough Riders on Thursday, March 20.
“We always take the Open Cup seriously as an important competition,” Charlotte Independence head coach Mike Jeffries told Soccer Sheet. “You know, we are realistic enough to know we're not winning [the Cup], but we want to get as far as we can. We enjoy playing when you get the opportunity to play an MLS side. I think it's a coup for for somebody that's in the lower leagues, and it's a big night for the players.”
The Independence had a good run in last year’s Open Cup, eventually falling to MLS side Atlanta United in the Round of 32, while North Carolina FC fell in the same round to fellow USLC side Phoenix Rising FC in overtime.
This week, Soccer Sheet will be at all of the first round Open Cup matches featuring Carolinas teams. Click below for our full preview of the Open Cup - including Boone’s Appalachian FC, High Point’s Carolina Core FC, and Columbia’s Soda City FC.
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