United States Soccer Federation - Professional Leagues

Professional Leagues

The professional first-division league in the United States is Major League Soccer, which as of the upcoming 2012 season has 16 teams in the U.S. and three in Canada. The United Soccer Leagues (USL) are a collection of five leagues spanning the lower divisions of men's professional soccer, as well as women's soccer and youth soccer. Since 2011, the second-level league has been a new incarnation of the North American Soccer League (NASL). As of 2012, it has six teams on the U.S. mainland, one in Canada, and one in Puerto Rico (a U.S. possession with its own national federation). Previously, the USL First Division operated as the professional second-division league in the United States. However, a dispute among its teams and ownership led to the creation of the NASL, which applied for second division status. A compromise league, the USSF Division 2 Professional League operated in 2010 while the dispute was resolved. After the 2010 season, the USL folded its former First and Second Divisions into a new professional third-division league, USL Pro, that launched in 2011. At launch, it had 15 teams in all—11 on the U.S. mainland, three in Puerto Rico, and one in the Caribbean country of Antigua and Barbuda—but the Puerto Rican teams, plagued by ownership and economic issues, were soon dropped from the league. One mainland team folded after the 2011 season, leaving the league with 11 teams for the 2012 season. The fourth-division league in the United States is the USL Premier Development League, which as of 2012 is expected to have 69 U.S. teams, nine Canadian teams, and one Bermudan team. Though the PDL does have some paid players, it also has many teams that are made up entirely or almost entirely of college soccer players who use the league as an opportunity to play competitive soccer in front of professional scouts during the summer, while retaining amateur status and NCAA eligibility. In addition to MLS and the USL, the United States Adult Soccer Association governs amateur soccer competition for adults throughout the United States, which is effectively the amateur fifth-division of soccer in the United States. The USASA sanctions regional tournaments that allow entry into the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the oldest continuous national soccer competition in the United States. Since 1914, the competition has been open to all U.S. Soccer affiliated clubs, and currently pits teams from all five levels of the American soccer pyramid against each other each year, similarly to England's FA Cup.

Women's soccer in the United States has also been played at the professional level, but is no longer active as of 2012. The most recent attempt at a fully professional women's soccer league in the U.S., Women's Professional Soccer, first suspended its planned 2012 season and then folded completely in May of that year. The champion of WPS' first season in 2009 was Sky Blue FC, out of the New York–New Jersey area. They defeated the Los Angeles Sol 1–0 at The Home Depot Center in Carson, California. WPS launched with seven teams, all based in the United States. The Sol folded after the league's inaugural season, and two new teams joined for 2010, bringing WPS to eight teams. However, the 2010 season saw considerable instability, with another charter team, Saint Louis Athletica, folding during the season, champions FC Gold Pride folding after the season, and the Chicago Red Stars deciding to regroup in the second-tier Women's Premier Soccer League (WPSL). The 2011 season, in which six teams based along the East Coast played, was marked by low attendance for most of the season and conflict with Dan Borislow, who had purchased the former Washington Freedom, moved the team to South Florida, and renamed it magicJack. The dispute between WPS and Borislow led the league to suspend the magicJack franchise, with Borislow responding by suing. The legal battle led WPS to suspend its 2012 season, with hopes of returning in 2013, but WPS soon decided to fold completely.

Today, the top-level women's league is the semi-pro WPSL Elite, established by the WPSL as a response to the troubles plaguing WPS. It launched in 2012 with eight teams; five of these are fully professional, and three previously played in WPS (the Red Stars, Boston Breakers, and the final WPS champions, the Western New York Flash).

The second tier of women's soccer is occupied by two semi-professional leagues. The USL's W-League contains 30 U.S.-based teams and seven Canadian-based teams, while the independently operated WPSL has 63 teams in the U.S. only. Both leagues serve roughly the same purpose for women's soccer that the USL's PDL serves for men's soccer, in that they allow collegiate players to maintain NCAA eligibility while continuing to develop their game against quality opponents. There is no equivalent to the U.S. Open Cup in the women's game currently.

Despite the growth of men's and women's professional soccer in the United States in the last few decades, by far the largest category of soccer in the United States, at least in terms of participation, is boys and girls youth soccer. Though organized locally by organizations all over the United States, there are two main youth soccer organizations working nationwide through affiliated local associations. The United States Youth Soccer Association boasts over three million players between the ages of five and 19, while American Youth Soccer Organization has more than 300,000 players between the ages of four and 19. This makes soccer one of the most played sports by children in the United States.