The 2022 USL Championship season is the twelfth season of the
USL Championship
The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, pl ...
and the sixth season under Division II sanctioning. The 2022 season sees 27 teams participate in two conferences during the regular season.
This season will be the last with
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...
reserve teams.
Changes from 2021
Expansion clubs
*
Detroit City FC
Detroit City FC (DCFC) is an American professional soccer club based in Detroit, Michigan, that competes in the USL Championship. The club played in the National Premier Soccer League from 2012 to 2019 and the National Independent Soccer Associ ...
(joined from
NISA)
*
Monterey Bay FC
Monterey Bay Football Club is an American professional soccer team based in Monterey County, California. The club was established on February 21, 2021, and is a member of the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer league system ...
On hiatus
*
Austin Bold FC
Austin Bold FC was an American professional soccer team located in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2017, the team made its debut in the USL Championship in 2019. In 2021, Austin Bold FC announced it would be moving to Fort Worth, Texas leaving Circuit ...
(change of ownership; will move to another Texas city in 2023)
*
OKC Energy FC
Oklahoma City Energy Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The club is a member of the USL Championship, the second division of the American soccer league system.
History
Oklahoma City businessm ...
(stadium upgrades; will return in 2023)
Departing clubs
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Charlotte Independence
Charlotte Independence is an American soccer team based in Charlotte, North Carolina that plays in the USL League One, the third tier of the American soccer pyramid.
The Independence currently play their home games at American Legion Memorial ...
(moved to
USL League One
USL League One (USL1) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that had its inaugural season in 2019. The Division III league is operated by United Soccer League, the same group that operates the Division II USL Championshi ...
)
MLS Affiliates withdrawn by their parent clubs to join
MLS Next Pro
MLS Next Pro is a men's professional soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer. It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and will expand to 28 in 2023. The league comprises 27 reserve sides for MLS club ...
.
*
Real Monarchs
Real Monarchs is a professional soccer club playing in the MLS Next Pro, a third division league of American soccer. The team is owned by, and operates as the reserve team of, the Major League Soccer club Real Salt Lake. While the senior club is ...
*
Sporting Kansas City II
Sporting Kansas City II is a MLS Next Pro club affiliated with Sporting Kansas City of Major League Soccer. For the 2022 season they will play their home games at Rock Chalk Park at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas, as well as Swope S ...
*
Tacoma Defiance
Tacoma Defiance, formerly Seattle Sounders FC 2, is an American professional soccer team based in Tacoma, Washington, U.S. that competes in the MLS Next Pro, the third tier of the national soccer pyramid, as the reserve team of Seattle Sounde ...
Teams
The following teams are playing in the 2022 USL Championship season:
Competition Format
In December 2021, it was announced that divisional play would be dropped and that there would be 2 conferences, Eastern and Western. They further announced a 34-game schedule, with each team playing their conference opponents twice, with the Eastern Conference filling out the 8 remaining games with interconference opponents. In the Western Conference, the 10 remaining games would be competed with intraconference and interconference opponents. The top 7 teams in each conference will make the playoffs, with the first place team receiving a bye in the first round.
Managerial changes
Results table
Conference tables
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:USL Championship season 2022
2022
File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...
2022 in American soccer leagues