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If you’re new to soccer, or only follow international leagues due to allegiances or just pure interest, the U.S. soccer model may seem a bit confusing . . . or just weird. We don’t do relegation, we don’t have exorbitant amounts of money and we have playoffs, so here’s a couple of key differences between American soccer and European soccer.
Unlike the European leagues, there is less of a defined youth structure in place to help talented youth prospects grow and develop into top players. Due to the recent failure to qualify for the 2018 World Cup, there have been improvements made to MLS academies from numerous clubs. But the league, as a whole, has a long way to go if it wants to match that of European clubs and famed academies such as La Masia, AFC Ajax Youth Academy and the Manchester United Academy, among others.
Additionally, the way MLS acquires players is very different from Europe. Without promotion and relegation, once teams are out of the playoff hunt, they get the higher picks in the MLS SuperDraft in the hope of evening out the talent distribution in the league.
This draft structure will be familiar to many, as it is similar in the NFL, MLB and NBA.
Europe, on the other hand, takes over developing youngsters for the future. They feed them, train them and take care of the kids on a daily basis. By the time they are around the age of 18, they are likely working with the first team or reserve team. In the U.S., players at that age are just entering college and will be well behind their European counterparts by the time they reach the professional level, wherever that may be.
Case and point: Joao Felix with Atletico Madrid, Kylian Mbappe at PSG and Jadon Sancho at Borussia Dortmund.
Now, a look at our league structure here in America.
MLS (Top Division)
Regardless of where the soccer is played, each league operates in some form of a hierarchy, and the U.S. is included in that. So, at the top of the three professional leagues we have in the United States, is MLS. Big shock, right?
MLS was founded in 1994, as a part of the USA hosting the World Cup, but didn’t begin playing until 1996. After launching with an original 10 teams, MLS now includes 24 and will expand even further as time progresses. The next three cities in line for expansion are Miami, Nashville and Austin, set to begin play in 2020.
Each club plays 34 games from March to October. Home to players like Zlatan Ibrahimović, Josef Martinez, Tim Howard and Carlos Vela, it is undeniably the biggest soccer league in the U.S. It culminates with a playoff at the end of the season, where seven teams from each division make the cut. The winner of the playoffs is crowned MLS Cup champion. Embed from Getty Images
This isn’t the only league for men’s soccer, though.
USLC (Second Division)
The USL Championship (USLC) is the tier below MLS, and was formed in 2010, even though the organization that runs it has created leagues dating back to 1988, technically.
What we now know as the USL Championship began as a third division league, but it was just recently given second division status in 2017.
With 36 teams as of 2019 — divided into East and West, like MLS — they play a 34-game schedule from March to October. The USLC, like MLS, ends its season with a playoff, with 10 teams from each division qualifying and then competing in single elimination games until a champion is crowned.
The USLC continues to grow, rather rapidly, with San Diego and Oakland expected to join the league by 2021. With that being said, the wages are smaller than MLS and stadiums as well, so there is decreased attendance.
The best way to look at it would be to compare it to MLB and AAA minor league baseball or NBA and the G-league. The one thing that some may not know is that most MLS teams have a direct affiliation with a USLC team due to an agreement in place where MLS teams can field reserve or affiliate teams in the USLC.
USL League One/NISA (Third Division)
Now, the third division of U.S. soccer. USL League One is composed of 10 teams and was only recently established as a recognized division three league for soccer. NISA (National Independent Soccer Association), the other recognized division three league, expects to kick off in September with eight teams confirmed, possibly more to follow soon.
Well, that just about does it. It’s only an overview of the three parts to our professional soccer pyramid in the U.S., but hopefully it helped to increase your understanding of how we do soccer in America.
