USL to undertake first promotion-relegation system in United States

For the primary time in United States soccer historical past, a promotion-relegation system can be coming to the nation.

USL membership homeowners voted for promotion-relegation to be applied, much like that of the European-style, the league introduced Wednesday. The USL beforehand introduced in February that they might be launching a brand new Division One males’s skilled league in 2027.

This new league would rival MLS regardless of working underneath the identical sanctioning by U.S. Soccer as knowledgeable soccer league.

“A brand new chapter in American soccer begins. The choice by our homeowners to approve and transfer ahead with this daring course is a testomony to their dedication to the long-term development of soccer in the USA,” USL CEO Alec Papadakis stated in a press release.

“It is a vital milestone for the USL and highlights our shared imaginative and prescient with our staff possession to construct a league that not solely offers top-tier competitors but in addition champions neighborhood engagement. Now, simply as it’s within the world sport, extra communities in America can aspire to compete on the highest degree of soccer. It’s time.”

The brand new Division One league stands as the very best of three ranges for the USL, that features the USL Championship (Division Two) and USL League One (Division Three). Promotion-relegation is utilized in lots of the world’s prime leagues together with the English Premier League, German Bundesliga, and Spanish La Liga, however by no means appeared set for use in MLS.

The USL launched in 1986 and later introduced a ladies’s pathway that features the top-tier USL Tremendous League (Division I), which debuted in 2024.

U.S. Soccer later voiced its assist for the USL’s construction change for its new league.

“The continued funding into the sport displays the power of the USA as a soccer nation, which is able to solely speed up as we construct towards internet hosting the 2025 FIFA Membership World Cup, the 2026 FIFA Males’s World Cup and bid for the 2031 FIFA Girls’s World Cup,” a federation assertion stated. “We welcome innovation and development to the panorama of American soccer, and we stay up for studying extra.”