USL League One 2024 preview

USL League One was established in 2019 as a third-tier league to give the USL representation at that level after it regained division II status in 2017. 10 teams competed in its inaugural season, 3 of which were MLS reserve sides, and those clubs – and more – continued to compete alongside USL clubs until the establishment of MLS Next Pro in 2022. Of the original 7 standalone clubs, 5 still play at this level and this season will again see 12 clubs line up. Along with the National Independent Soccer Association and MLS Next Pro, it is one of three division II leagues sanctioned by US soccer and all clubs are professional and average crowds range from just 700 in Fresno for Central Valley Fuego to almost 5,000 for Richmond Kickers. Reigning champions North Carolina FC have been promoted to the USL Championship, although it wasn’t a formal promotion as such as they’d already accepted the elevation before the title was secured. To counter the loss of the champions, expansion side Spokane Velocity will begin play this season, the first Pacific Northwest club to play in the USL at this level.

Central Valley Fuego began play in the 2022 USL League One season, replacing the former Fresno FC club which had moved west to Monterey, and has thus far struggled to match the bigger clubs in the East. New head coach Jermaine Jones, a former US international who spent a decade in the Bundesliga, is in for his first managerial job and will hope to corral his charges into producing some kind of form, at least at home. He’s retained just a handful of last year’s squad, with top scorer Alexis Cerritos having joined MLS Next Pro side Huntsville City, and has made 16 new signings, including goalkeeper Carlos Avilez from Chattanooga Red Wolves, midfielder Chris Hecklenberg from South Georgia Tormenta, and striker Shavon John-Brown, a former El Paso Locomotive player who has spent most of his career in New York’s Cosmopolitan League. I’m not sure it will be enough to make the play-offs but with such wholesale changes you never know!

Charlotte Independence were founded in 2015, having purchased the franchise rights of Charlotte Eagles, who subsequently dropped down to the amateur leagues. After 2 seasons in the third-tier, they moved up when the USL Championship was given division II status and stayed there until the 2022 season when they moved back down to USL League One. The move saw an increase in attendances but last season they fell back to their regular level of around 1,800 per game. Coach Mike Jeffries has been with the club since 2019 and relies upon former Manchester United man Gabriel Obertan to spark his side. Finishing fourth last season, they dispatched Greenville Triumph and Union Omaha on their way to the play-off final, losing out to local rivals North Carolina on penalties after a 1-1 draw. Jeffries has retained the spine of his side, with goalkeeper Austin Pack, centre-back Nick Spielman, midfielder Miguel Ibarra, and last year’s top scorer Tresor Mbuyu providing some consistency, and has brought in defensive reinforcements in the shape of Montreye Bay’s Hugh Roberts and Anthony Sorenson from Philadelphia Union II. As always, they’ll be there or thereabouts come season’s end.

Ever-presents in USL League One since its – and their – formation in 2019, Chattanooga Red Wolves had a disappointing season last year after finishing runners-up in 2022, especially with cross-city rivals Chattanooga FC topping the NISA table and accepting a sideways move into MLS Next Pro. Head coach Scott Mackenzie took over midway through last season and immediately improved their record, and has set about shaping the club to his liking with the signing of 18 players in the close season, shipping out 19 in the process. 5 of last year’s regulars have stuck around, though, including joint top-scorers Ropapa Mensah and Chevone Marsh, with midfield signings Ricky Ruiz (from the shuttered Rio Grande Valley Toros) and Lucas Coutinho (Greenville Triumph) expected to make a big difference in the centre of the park. All things being equal, Red Wolves should have a much better season than last and it wouldn’t be a shock to see them make the top four.

Another USL-1 club playing their sixth consecutive season are Forward Madison and coach Matt Glaeser has managed to keep all but a couple of his most regular starters from 2023, when they grabbed the last play-off spot, going down to Northern Colorado Hailstorm in the first round. Top scorers Christian Chaney is back for more alongside Derek Gebhard, and newcomers include midfielders Devin Boyce and Jimmie Villalobos from One Knoxville. With average crowds of over 4,000, they’re one of the league’s top clubs but have rarely proved it on the field, even if their prominent pink uniforms do mark them out as the snazziest dressers.

It’s also the sixth season for Greenville Triumph but their first without head coach John Harkes, who has stepped away from soccer for the time being. Winners in 2020, and losing finalists in 2019 and 2021, last season’s exit in the first round of play-offs was relatively disappointing. They play at Paladin Stadium, a college football stadium with off-putting gridiron markings, although they have been promising a stadium of their own in nearby Maudlin for 2 years now. A number of 2023 regulars have followed Harkes through the exit, including Jared Mazzola (to USL-C heavyweights Sacramento Republic) and Allen Gavilanes (The Miami FC), but veteran top scorer Leonardo Castro has stuck around, along with Noah Pilato, Evan Lee, and Tyler Polak. Chapa Herrera has come in from El Paso Locomotive to bolster the midfield and young striker Zion Scarlett arrives from Columbus Crew, and moving out of Harkes’s shadow might be the making of former assistant Rick Wright.

One Knoxville started life in the semi-professional USL League Two, moving up to League One last year when they missed out on the play-offs by 5 points but averaged over 2,000 fans at the Regal Stadium, home of the University of Tennessee’s women’s team. Goals were an issue for Mark McKeever’s side and he’s brought in Kempes Tikiela from the Luxembourg top flight, Rudi Castro from San Jose Earthquakes II, and Rwandan international Innocent Nshuti to try and arrest that, as well as bringing in Norwegian centre-back Sivert Haugli to shore things up at the back.

Lexington SC are another side which plays on the hated gridiron markings, and not even in Lexington but in Georgetown, twelve miles north. This is only their second season, though, and they are building a stadium for both this side and their women’s team (which will debut in the new USL Super League in the Fall) near I-75 on the outskirts of the city. Former Inter Miami assistant Darren Powell (who managed San Antonio in USL-C from 2016-19) is in charge for 2024, replacing Spaniard Nacho Novo who failed to take the Boys in Green to the play-offs last time out. Top scorer Ates Diouf has stuck around, but it’s the capture of Cameron Lancaster that has set tongues wagging, especially after the striker scored 9 goals at USL-C level last year. With Maltese midfielder Yannick Yankam also in from Birkirkara, Lexington should be worth watching this year, if you can stand the pitch markings.

Northern Colorado Hailstorm play at the soccer specific Future Legends Complex in Windsor, an hour north of Denver, and will start look to kick on this year after making the USL-1 play-off semi-finals last year. Head coach Eamon Zayed has been the club’s only coach since their formation and he was dealt a huge blow in the off-season when top scorer Trevor Amman – 26 goals last season - upped sticks for Sacramento Republic in the Championship.  Utility man Arthur Rogers has also stepped up – with FC Tulsa – while Nortei Nortey has moved to Union Omaha, but goalkeeper Lalo Delgado, defender Lucky Opara, midfielder Jackson Dietrich, and striker Billy King will still provide a decent spine. Ivorian winger Brahima Ouattara has arrived from Auda in Austria, along with Chelo Martinez (Forward Madison) and Danny Garcia (North Carolina), and the Hailstorm should be there or thereabouts this season.

Union Omaha’s late charge last season saw them finish top of the League One table, although they ultimately fell to runners-up Charlotte Independence in the play-off semi-finals. They began play in 2020 and call Werner Park - a baseball stadium in Papillon, Nebraska - home, although they have plans for a soccer-specific stadium in downtown Omaha. Half of last season’s regular XI have departed over the winter, with Alexis Souahy and John Scearce stepping up with FC Tulsa and Phoenix Rising, respectively, while Conor Doyle has moved on to South Georgia Tormenta, but top scorer Steevan dos Santos is still around and will look to add to the 13 goals he scored last year. Head coach Dominic Casciato has brought in 3 players with extensive USL-C experience in Haitian defender Mechack Jerome (from Indy Eleven), Brazilian playmaker PC (San Antonio), and striker Aaron Gomez (El Paso Locomotive), while the brilliantly named Nortei Nortey has switched from Northern Colorado Hailstorm, and Omaha have to be one of the favourites to pick up where North Carolina left off.

The league’s oldest and best supported club – they were formed in 1993 and averaged 4,786 fans a match last year – is Richmond Kickers, with a trophy cabinet that includes the 2006 and 2009 division III titles and the 1995 US Open Cup. They are currently the sole tenants of the City Stadium in Richmond and this will be their 30^th season at the ground. Of last season’s regular starters, only Akira Fitzgerald has gone, moving up to USL-C with North Carolina, with plenty of quality coming in. German midfielder Adrian Billhardt (at Detroit City last year), the former South Georgia Tormenta pair of Arthur Bosua and Pablo Jara, and English defender James Vaughan - last at Welling United in the National League South – will all add to long-time coach Darren Sawatzky’s options as he looks to improve on last year’s 11^th place finish.

Champions in 2022, South Georgia Tormenta failed to make the play-offs last year, which is more like regular service than an exception, but head coach Ian Cameron will be hoping that the club can weather the loss of top scorers Kazaiah Sterling and Mukwelle Akale to USL-C sides Pittsburgh Riverhounds and New Mexico, respectively. In fact, just 4 of last year’s regulars have been retained - Nick Akoto, Pedro Fonseca, Preston Kilwien, and Jackson Khoury – with Cameron bringing in a mix of youth and experience, led by Argentinian full-back Aaron Lombardi (from Chattanooga Red Wolves), former Union Omaha man Conor Doyle, and Scottish midfielder Daniel Steedman. It doesn’t look enough and it might be business as usual for the Statesboro side.

First announced in Spring 2021, Spokane Velocity are the first professional soccer side in eastern Washington state and will play at the purpose built One Spokane Stadium, a 5,000 capacity arena that will also be home to Spokane Zephyr of the USL Super League. Head coach Leigh Veidman has experience of coaching OKC Energy in the USL Championship in 2021 (before that club went on hiatus) and was latterly an assistant at Charleston Battery. He’s put together a side that starts with goalkeeper Carlos Merancio from the defunct Rio Grande Valley Toros club, and a defence that includes Marcelo Lage (with Las Vegas Lights in 2023), Derek Waldeck (One Knoxville), and Belgian full-back Romain Metanire. The midfield will be built around former Hartford Athletic man Andre Lewis, Collin Fernandez (last with FC Tulsa), and Luis Gil (Union Omaha), with goals expected to come from English striker Josh Dolling, signed from New Mexico United, and ex-MLS man Kimarni Smith. It’s all a shot in the dark for the new side, especially as both 2023 debutants failed to make the play-offs, but you never know…