2026 USL Championship season

USL Championship

Season	2026
Dates	March 7 – October 24 (regular season) October 30 – November 20-22 (playoffs)
← 2025 2027 →

The 2026 USL Championship season will be the 16th season of the USL Championship and the ninth season under Division II sanctioning.

25 teams in two conferences will compete in the regular season. ^[1] The Brooklyn FC men's team, which was originally scheduled to begin play in 2025, will debut in 2026 alongside Sporting Club Jacksonville. North Carolina FC dropped out of the USL Championship and went on hiatus following the 2025 season, with hopes to enter the USL Division One in 2028 with a new stadium in Raleigh.

All 25 teams will participate in the Prinx Tires USL Cup alongside the 18 USL League One teams.

The Pittsburgh Riverhounds FC are the defending league champions and Louisville City FC are the defending Players' Shield winners.

Teams

BHM

BKN

CHS

COS

DET

ELP

MB

HFD

IND

JAX

LVL

LEX

LDN

LOU

MIA

NMU

OAK

OCSC

PHX

PGH

RI

SAC

SAN

TBR

TUL

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Locations of teams for the 2026 USL Championship season
Western Conference   Eastern Conference

Changes from 2025

Expansion clubs

• Brooklyn FC
• Sporting Club Jacksonville

Departing clubs

• North Carolina FC

Stadiums and locations

Team	Stadium	Capacity
Birmingham Legion FC	Protective Stadium	47,000
Brooklyn FC	Maimonides Park [A]	7,000
Charleston Battery	Patriots Point Soccer Complex	5,000
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC	Weidner Field	8,000
Detroit City FC	Keyworth Stadium	7,933
El Paso Locomotive FC	Southwest University Park [A]	9,500
FC Tulsa	ONEOK Field [A]	7,833
Hartford Athletic	Trinity Health Stadium [A]	5,500
Indy Eleven	IU Michael A. Carroll Track & Soccer Stadium [A]	10,524
Las Vegas Lights FC	Cashman Field	9,334
Lexington SC	Lexington SC Stadium	7,500
Loudoun United FC	Segra Field	5,000
Louisville City FC	Lynn Family Stadium	15,304
Miami FC	Pitbull Stadium [A]	25,000
Monterey Bay FC	Cardinale Stadium	6,000
New Mexico United	Rio Grande Credit Union Field at Isotopes Park [A]	13,500
Oakland Roots SC	Oakland Coliseum [A]	53,200 (15,000 [B] )
Orange County SC	Championship Soccer Stadium	5,000
Phoenix Rising FC	Phoenix Rising Soccer Stadium	10,000
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC	Highmark Stadium	5,000
Rhode Island FC	Beirne Stadium [A]	5,252
Sacramento Republic FC	Heart Health Park	11,569
San Antonio FC	Toyota Field	8,296
Sporting Club Jacksonville	Hodges Stadium	12,000
Tampa Bay Rowdies	Al Lang Stadium [A]	7,227

1. ^
   Non-soccer specific stadium.
2. ^
   Soccer seating capacity.

Personnel and sponsorships

Team	Head coach	Captain(s)	Kit manufacturer	Kit sponsor
Birmingham Legion FC	Mark Briggs		Hummel	Coca-Cola
Brooklyn FC	Marlon LeBlanc
Charleston Battery	Ben Pirmann		Hummel	The Ideal Life
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC	Alan McCann		Capelli Sport	CommonSpirit Health
Detroit City FC	Danny Dichio		Adidas	Metro Detroit Area Chevrolet Dealers
El Paso Locomotive FC	(Vacant)		Hummel	Southwest University at El Paso
FC Tulsa	Luke Spencer		Puma	Williams
Hartford Athletic	Brendan Burke		Hummel	Trinity Health of New England
Indy Eleven	Sean McAuley		Under Armour	Ford
Las Vegas Lights FC	Devin Rensing		Hummel	LiUNA!
Lexington SC	Masaki Hemmi		Nike	UK HealthCare Sports Medicine
Loudoun United FC	Vacant		Capelli Sport	CORAS
Louisville City FC	Danny Cruz		Adidas	GE Appliances
Miami FC	Gastόn Maddoni		Macron	micromobility.com
Monterey Bay FC	Jordan Stewart		Puma	Montage Health
New Mexico United	Dennis Sanchez			Meow Wolf (home) Sandia Resort and Casino (away)
Oakland Roots SC	Ryan Martin		Charly	Elevance Health
Orange County SC	Danny Stone		Hummel	Hoag
Phoenix Rising FC	Pa-Modou Kah		Adidas	Carvana
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC	Rob Vincent		Charly	Allegheny Health Network (home) 84 Lumber (away)
Rhode Island FC	Khano Smith		Capelli Sport	Breeze Airways
Sacramento Republic FC	Neill Collins		Hummel	UCDavis Health
San Antonio FC	Carlos Llamosa		Puma	Community First Health Plans
Sporting Club Jacksonville	Liam Fox
Tampa Bay Rowdies	Dominic Casciato		Puma	DEX Imaging

Regular season

Format

The teams will play an unbalanced 30-game schedule plus four USL Cup games. Each team will play their conference opponents twice, home and away, and eight of the teams in the opposite conference. The top eight teams in each conference will make the playoffs. ^[1]

Eastern Conference

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Birmingham Legion FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Playoffs
2	Brooklyn FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Charleston Battery	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Detroit City FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Hartford Athletic	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	Indy Eleven	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Loudoun United FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Louisville City FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Miami FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	Rhode Island FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	Sporting Club Jacksonville	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
13	Tampa Bay Rowdies	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: March 7, 2026. Source: USL Championship Standings
Rules for classification: 1) head-to-head points; 2) head-to-head goal differential; 3) points-per game within conference; 4) total wins; 5) total goal differential; 6) total goals scored; 7) points earned against top four Conference finishers; 8) disciplinary points; 9) coin toss or drawing of lots

Western Conference

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	L	T	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	Playoffs
2	El Paso Locomotive FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
3	Las Vegas Lights FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
4	Lexington Sporting Club	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	Monterey Bay FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
6	New Mexico United	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	Oakland Roots SC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
8	Orange County SC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
9	Phoenix Rising FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
10	Sacramento Republic FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
11	San Antonio FC	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
12	FC Tulsa	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

First match(es) will be played: March 7, 2026. Source: USL Championship Standings
Rules for classification: 1) head-to-head points; 2) head-to-head goal differential; 3) points-per game within conference; 4) total wins; 5) total goal differential; 6) total goals scored; 7) points earned against top four Conference finishers; 8) disciplinary points; 9) coin toss or drawing of lots

USL Cup

Main article: 2026 USL Cup

References

1. "USL Championship reveals the 2026 schedule". USL Championship. USL Championship Staff. December 16, 2025. Retrieved December 18, 2025.