The United Soccer League (USL) has officially announced the launch of USL Premier, its Division One men's professional league, set to begin play in 2028. This announcement also unveils a new interconnected three-tier framework designed to support long-term growth, competitive integrity, and the introduction of promotion and relegation within the USL structure.

USL Premier will sit atop the USL's men's professional pathway, which also includes the USL Championship (Division Two) and USL League One (Division Three). The USL is aligning competition formats across these divisions to support balanced schedules, movement between the tiers, and future expansion.

Under this structure, USL Premier (Division One) will operate as a single national table, with a long-term target of 20 clubs. The USL Championship (Division Two) will also switch to a single national table with a target of 20 clubs, strengthening competitive consistency and national reach. Meanwhile, USL League One (Division Three) will continue to grow nationally but will organize competition regionally, allowing clubs to compete closer to home and build local rivalries.

With the launch of USL Premier, the USL will introduce a promotion and relegation system, creating a merit-based professional pathway that rewards performance, raises the level of competition across all divisions, and delivers more meaningful matches for clubs, players, fans, and partners. At the end of each season, the best-performing teams in the Championship would be promoted to USL Premier, replacing the worst-performing teams in USL Premier. Similarly, the best-performing teams in League One would be promoted to the Championship, replacing the worst-performing teams in the Championship.

USL President Paul McDonough has stated that he is realistically aiming to have 14 teams participate in the inaugural USL Premier season. USL Premier must have a minimum of 12 teams at launch to meet U.S. Soccer's current Pro League Standards for a Division I league. McDonough expects eight or nine of the initial top-level clubs to be existing USL Championship teams that choose to move up to Division I. The remaining spots would be filled through expansion, either with entirely new clubs or existing clubs from outside the USL system. The USL is currently reviewing applications from clubs interested in competing in USL Premier and will announce the league's inaugural members at a later date.

Alec Papadakis, CEO of the United Soccer League, said that USL Premier is a defining piece of their long-term vision for the men's game. He added that they have built a multi-tier professional system that is both scalable and rooted in communities, creating a strong foundation for clubs, players, and fans, and unlocking opportunities for stakeholders.

The USL believes that this is the right time to launch a men's Division One professional league, citing the unprecedented momentum of soccer in the U.S., with rising participation, increased media exposure, and global events like the 2026 FIFA World Cup and 2028 Olympics fueling interest. The USL's new men's Division One league will provide more opportunities for players, teams, front offices, and communities, strengthen competition and player development, and align more closely with the global structure of the sport.