The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

league created by the

United States Soccer Federation The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is ...

(USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding

United Soccer Leagues United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * ''United'' (2011 film), a BBC Two fi ...

(USL) and the

North American Soccer League The North American Soccer League may refer to: *North American Soccer League (1968–1984), a former Division I league *North American Soccer League (2011–2017) The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league b ...

(NASL). The D2 Pro League was the second tier of the

United States soccer league system The United States soccer league system is a series of professional and amateur soccer leagues based, in whole or in part, in the United States. Sometimes called the American soccer pyramid, teams and leagues are not linked by the system of prom ...

below

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 ...

. The league also included two clubs from Canada and one club from Puerto Rico.

History

On August 27, 2009,

Nike Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

agreed to sell their stake in the

to investment company NuRock, instead of Jeff Cooper, who had aligned with a group of

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

team owners. Disappointed with the sale and state of the league, the ownership group broke away after the 2009 season with the intent to form a new incarnation of the

. The leagues sued each other, but ultimately withdrew their lawsuits and agreed to mediate with the

. The USSF found that three of the NASL teams (

NSC Minnesota Stars NSC may refer to: Sport and competition * NSC United, an American soccer team * National Scholastics Championship, an American quiz bowl competition * National Scrabble Championship, now known as the Scrabble Players Championship * National Sho ...

Rochester Rhinos Rochester New York FC, formerly known as the Rochester Rhinos, are an American professional soccer team based in Rochester, New York, United States. Founded in 1996, as the Rochester Raging Rhinos, they changed their name to Rochester Rhinos to ...

, and

FC Tampa Bay The Tampa Bay Rowdies are an American professional soccer team based in St. Petersburg, Florida. The club was founded in 2008 and first took the pitch in 2010. Since 2017, the Rowdies have been members of the USL Championship in the second ti ...

) had binding contracts to play in the USL First Division in 2010, leaving the NASL with too few teams to be sanctioned. However, this left the USL First Division with only six teams, also too few for sanctioning. The USSF stripped the USL First Division of its sanctioning, and denied sanctioning to the NASL. After a week of negotiations among the three, the USSF agreed to run a 12-team interim league for 2010. The six extant teams in each league would each occupy their own conference, but teams belonging to both leagues would play each other.

Teams

Competition format

Pods

It was announced that the season would be centered around what are called ''pods''. The pods are constructed around geographic regions and do not follow conference lines. Teams within the same pod played each other four times, twice at home and twice away. Teams played one team outside of their pod four times, twice at home and twice away, and played the rest of the teams outside their pod twice, once at home and once away. This resulted in a thirty-game season for each team, and had the additional advantage of reducing travel costs. The season ended a playoff format to crown a league champion.

Playoff format

At the end of the regular season, the top teams in each conference qualified for the playoffs as the top two seeds. In addition, the remaining six teams with the highest point totals, regardless of conference, also advanced to the playoffs. Each round of the playoffs was a two-game aggregate goal series (the

away goals rule The away goals rule is a method of tiebreaker, tiebreaking in association football and other sports when teams play each other twice, once at each team's home ground. Under the away goals rule, if the total goals scored by each team are equal, the ...

was not applied as a tie-breaker). In the event that the aggregate score is tied after the second game of the series, the teams played two 15-minutes periods of

extra time Overtime or extra time is an additional period of play specified under the rules of a sport to bring a game to a decision and avoid declaring the match a tie or draw where the scores are the same. In some sports, this extra period is played onl ...

. If the score is still tied after extra time, the series was to be decided by a

penalty shootout The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

2010 season

NASL Conference standings

USL Conference standings

Playoff standings

Match results

Final regular season results. Based on the results at th
NASL results table
an
USL schedule table
/small>

Playoffs

:''Each round was a two-game aggregate goal series. Home teams for the first game of each series listed at the bottom of the bracket.''

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

Finals

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Top assists

Individual awards

*Most Valuable Player:

Ryan Pore Ryan Pore (born September 23, 1983 in Mansfield, Ohio) is an American former professional soccer player and the current head men's soccer coach of he Kansas City Roos men's soccer team at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. Career Youth a ...

( Portland Timbers) *Defender of the Year:

Greg Janicki Gregory Janicki (born July 9, 1984) is an American soccer player who last played for Detroit City FC in the NPSL. Career Youth and college Born in Rochester, Michigan, Janicki attended Anchor Bay High School, where he recorded a school socce ...

(

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Mar ...

) *Goalkeeper of the Year:

Jay Nolly Jay Nolly (born January 2, 1982) is an American former soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. College Nolly played college soccer at Indiana University, where he backstopped the Hoosiers to the College Cup in 2003 and 2004 and was name ...

(

) *Rookie of the Year: Maxwell Griffin ( Austin Aztex) *Coach of the Year: Bob Lilley (

)

Best XI

*GK:

(

) *DF:

(

) *DF: Aaron Pitchkolan (

) *DF: Troy Roberts (

) *MF:

( Portland Timbers) *MF:

Martin Nash Martin Nash (born December 27, 1975) is a Canadian association football, soccer coach and former player. He is currently the head coach of York United FC, York United of the Canadian Premier League. A five-time all-league selection in the USL ...

(

) *MF: Jamie Watson ( Austin Aztex) *MF:

Paulo Araujo Jr. Paulo Morais de Araújo Júnior (born January 23, 1989) is a Brazilian association football, footballer who most recently played as a Forward (association football), forward for Forward Madison FC in USL League One. Career Brazil Araujo was a ...

(

Miami FC The Miami FC is an American professional soccer team based in Miami, Florida that competes in the USL Championship, the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club began play in the North American Soccer League (NASL) in the 2016 se ...

) *MF: Daniel Paladini (

Carolina RailHawks North Carolina FC is an American professional soccer team in Cary, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh. Founded in 2006, the team plays in USL League One, the third tier of the American league system. The team has played its home games ...

) *FW: Eddie Johnson ( Austin Aztex) *FW:

Ali Gerba Ali Ngon Gerba (; born September 4, 1981) is a former professional soccer player who played as a forward. Born in Cameroon, he represented the Canada national team. Club career Canada and United States In 2000 Gerba signed with the Montreal ...

( Montreal Impact)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:USSF Division 2 Professional League United States Soccer Federation Defunct soccer leagues in the United States Defunct soccer leagues in Canada 2