US soccer 2024

 US Soccer - an overview

Professional soccer in the US, like everywhere else, is sorted into tiers. Unlike pretty much everywhere else, there is no promotion and relegation, although teams will occasionally move up or down a tier, depending on finance, ambition, and the whim of the gods. At the top of the tower is Major League Soccer, about to enter its 29th season and looking in rude health. Underneath that, the US Soccer Federation recognises the top division of the United Soccer League - the USL Championship - as the sole second tier league in the country. There are 3 third tier leagues - USL League One, MLS Next Pro, and the National Independent Soccer Association - and the differences between them are quite stark.

Below these professional leagues - and the women have professional eagues of their own but it's not my area of expertise - there are no firm tiers. However, two "national" leagues are given preferential seeding into the US Open Cup, the USSF's equivalent of the FA Cup. These are USL League Two and the National Professional Soccer League, and their members vary from semi-professional to amateur. There's also the almost wholly amateur United Premier Soccer League and a slew of regional leagues that should be considered fifth tier organisations at best.

All these leagues are invited to enter teams into the US Open Cup, although the number of entrants and stage of entry varies depending on the USSF. Teams from leagues that meet the USSF's criteria at the fifth tier compete in a qualification tournament held the previous year, with the number of places on offer depending on how many professional sides are seeded through to the US Open Cup proper. The higher leagues then enter at successive stages, with those MLS sides competing in the CONCACAF Champions Cup last to enter.

Major League Soccer

Unusually for a top level soccer competition, MLS is a single entity whose franchise owners are regarded as investors in the league. As the value of MLS has risen over the years, so too has the entry price for new franchises, with the thirtieth awarded last year to a consortium in San Diego for $500 million. They will start playing in 2025 and so the 2024 MLS season will involve 29 teams - 26 from the USA and 3 from Canada. The Canadian teams play in all MLS competitions but do not compete in the US Open Cup. Instead, they play in a separate Canadian Canadianship and can only qualify for CONCACAF competition from that cup.

The 29 teams are divided into 2 regional divisions - the Western Conference and Eastern Conference. Each team plays 34 regular season matches - home and away against their Conference rivals, with the difference made up from inter-Conference games. The regular season starts on February 21st when Inter Miami host Real Salt Lake, and is scheduled to finish on "Decision Day," October 19th. The top 9 teams in each Conference will make it through to the play-offs, with 8th and 9th in each Conference playing off in a Wild Card match to join the top 7 in each Conference for the play-offs proper. It will all come to an end on December 7th, 290 days after it starts (which sounds like a long season but is only 8 days longer than the Premier League). Columbus Crew are the reigning champions, having defeated LAFC 2-1 in the MLS Cup match in December 2023.

Besides the league campaign, MLS teams also compete in the Leagues Cup, a Frankenstein of a competition staged with the top division in Mexico, Liga MX. MLS play stops for 31 days while this happens. YMMV on its merits. Inter Miami are the reigning champions, defeating Nashville on penalties in the final.

All MLS (and Leagues Cup) games are broadcast live on AppleTV through its MLS Season Pass subscription. Throughout the regular season, 3 or 4 games a week have been given away for free to non-subscribers. These tend to be the games shown on terrestrial TV in the US. Most games kick off at 7.30 local time and so will run from 0.30am to 3.30am UK time, although the first four weeks of the season have plenty of "early" kick-offs for those of us who can't handle late nights. Highlights are usually available within a few hours on the MLS YouTube page.

Average attendances vary from a low of 15.027 at Houston to a high of 47,526 at Atlanta, with the league average coming in at 22,094, on a par with France's Ligue 1.

MLS stars: Thiago Almada (Atlanta), Sebastian Driussi (Austin), Karol Swiderski (Charlotte), Luciano Acosta (Cincinnati), Cucho Hernandez (Columbus), Christian Benteke (DC United), Hector Herrera (Houston), Leo Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez (all Inter Miami), Alan Pulido, Johnny Russell (Kansas City), Riqui Puig (LA Galaxy), Denis Bouanga (LAFC), Teemu Pukki (Minnesota), Hany Mukhtar, Walker Zimmerman (both Nashville), Carles Gil (New England), Julian Carranza, Daniel Gazdag (both Philadelphia), Cristian Arango (RSL), Cristian Espinoza (San Jose), Jordan Morris (Seattle), Federico Bernardeschi (Toronto), Roman Burki, Joao Klauss, Eduard Lowen (all St Louis), Ryan Gauld (Vancouver)

Players you know: Brad Guzan (Atlanta), Ashley Westwood (Charlotte), Xherdan Shaqiri (Chicago), Jonathan Bond (LA Galaxy), Hugo Lloris (LAFC), Sam Surridge (Nashville)

Players you should know: Giorgos Giakoumakis (Atlanta), Jon Gallagher (Austin), Matt Miazga (Cincinnati), Aidan Morris (Columbus), Corey Baird (Houston), Robert Taylor, Benjamin Cremaschi (both Inter Miami), Ryan Hollingshead (LAFC), Bongokuhle Hlongwane (Minnesota), Tomas Chancalay (New England), John Tolkin (NY Red Bulls), Duncan McGuire (Orlando), Leo Chu (Seattle)

USL Championship

The USL can trace its roots back to 1986, when it formed as the Southwest Indoor Soccer League, moving outdoors the next year, and occupying second or third tier status since the early 1990s. The Championship itself was formed in 2011 as a division 3 league and was granted division 2 status in 2017. The operation model is similar to MLS, with the league centrally owned and franchises awarded to aspirant cities, although for far less money than changes hands in MLS. MLS reserve sides previously played in the USL before the creation of MLS Next Pro.

There are 24 clubs, again split into 2 regional divisions. New for this season are North Carolina (who won USL League One last year but confirmed their ascension mid-season) and Rhode Island, a brand new club and the first professional team based in the state since the Stingrays folded in 2009. They lost 2 clubs from last season in Rio Grande Valley and San Diego, the latter as a result of the impending MLS franchise in the city.

Each team plays 34 regular season matches - home and away against their Conference rivals, and home or away against teams in the other Conference. The regular season starts on March 9th and will run to October 26th, with play-offs beginning on November 1st. The top eight in each Conference make the play-offs and the whole thing is wrapped up by November 25th. Teams also enter the US Open Cup and USL sides Birmingham, Memphis, Monterey Bay, and Pittsburgh all beat MLS opposition last season. Phoenix Rising are the reigning champions, having defeated Charleston Battery on penalties in the play-off final.

All USL games are broadcast live on YouTube (and on ESPN in the US), with highlights of each game appearing very quickly afterwards.

Average attendances vary from a low of 1,432 at Miami to a high of 10,627 at Sacramento, with the league average coming in at 5,803, on a par with League Two in England.

USL League One

USL-1 was formed in 2019 to fill a third tier gap left when USL-C moved up to division 2 status. Again, the league is centrally owned by USL. There are 12 teams competing in 2024, the same as 2023 but with new arrival Spokane Velocity replacing elevated champions North Carolina.

The 12 teams are placed in a single division and will play each other home and away during the rergular season which starts on March 9th and finishes on October 26th. The top six will make the play-offs, with 1st and 2nd placed sides earning a bye into the play-off semi-finals. In addition, USL-1 clubs will play in a league cup competition dotted throughout the regular season. USL-1 clubs also play in the US Open Cup and last season Northern Colorado, Omaha, and South Georgia all beat USL-C opposition.

All USL games are broadcast live on YouTube (and on ESPN in the US), with highlights of each game appearing very quickly afterwards.

Average attendances vary from a low of 701 at Central Valley to a high of 4,786 at Richmond, with the league average coming in at 2,453, on a par with the Scottish Championship.

NISA

The National Independent Soccer Association began play as a sanctioned division 3 league in 2019 and was originally created as a feeder league to the second North American Soccer League, which subsequently folded. They started as a winter league but switched to summer play in 2022. The league is owned by its clubs, who elect a committee to operate the league.

The current status of NISA is up in the air. There were numerous problems in 2023 with cancelled fixtures and non-payment of referees, and the league's only well-supported team - Chattanooga - have quit to join MLS Next Pro. If the most recent plans come to fruition, their place will be taken by Irvine Zeta, an ambitious club from southern California who play at the same stadium as NISA's LA Force. Question marks remain over the futures of champions Flower City Union, Albion San Diego (essentially a youth academy who may be reasessing the value of being a part of this league) and Michigan Stars, formed out of a split with the USL's Detroit City and whose practical reason for existence all but ceased to exist when the owner's son found a club in Europe. Club de Lyon went through 5 venues in 2023 and are the epitome of disorganisation.

Last season, NISA clubs played a weird, sometimes unbalanced, regular season, with league positions determined on a points per game basis, and the top 6 (of an 8-team league) made the play-offs. They also took part in the US Open Cup but were defeated on every occasion they faced opposition from higher tiers.

MLS Next Pro

MLS Next Pro is a division 3 sanctioned league operated by MLS, primarily for reserve sides. In its inaugural season, standalone side Rochester took part but folded at the end of that season. For 2024, two standalone sides will join - NISA standouts Chattanooga and the Eddie Pope-backed Carolina Core, playing in High Point, NC. Many of the reserve teams are unimaginatively named as such but there are some exceptions, with Huntsville (Nashville) and Tacoma (Seattle) playing in entirely different cities to their parent clubs.

Unlike MLS, player contracts are held by individual clubs and not by the league, and as such there are strict rules governing movement between MLS and MLS Next Pro squads.

The 31 teams split into 2 regional Conferences, and further divided into 2 regional Divisions within those Conferences. The regular season runs from March to September and the reigning champions are Austin II, who beat Colorado Rapids 2 in the play-off final last October.

MLS Next Pro teams are not permitted to take part in the US Open Cup. The only exceptions are Carolina and Chattanooga, who are not connected to MLS sides.

US Open Cup

The US Open Cup began life as the National Challenge Cup in 1913, organised as the only nationwide soccer competition in the US. For much of its history it was dominated by regional powerhouses, with the NASL declining to enter during its 17-year history. MLS sides have entered since the league's creation in 1996 and have won every year since, save for 1999 when the A-League's Rochester Raging Rhinos carried the trophy back to New York state. For the 2024 competition, MLS wants to send its reserve sides but the request has been denied by US Soccer. What will happen is anyone's guess.

The Open Cup for 2024 began with a qualification series in 2024 for amateur and semi-professional sides, with 11 making it through to the tournament proper. They will be joined in the 1st round by National Amateur Cup Winners SC MesoAmerica, UPSL Spring 2023 champions AS Frenzi, and 19 teams from the NPSL and USL League Two competitions.

Winners will progress to round 2, where the 2nd and 3rd tier teams enter, with round 3 introducing MLS sides who haven't qualified for the CONCACAF Champions Cup. Those who have will enter in round 4, and the whole thing finishes up in September, with the winners earning a place in the 2025 CONCACAF Champions Cup.​