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USL Championship
professional soccer league in the USA / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The USL Championship (also known as USLC) is a professional soccer league for men in the United States. It started in 2011 and is is the second-best level of professional soccer in the country, just below Major League Soccer.
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Founded | 2011 |
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Country | United States |
Level on pyramid | 2 |
Most championships | Cups: Louisville City (2) Shields: Orlando City (2) |
Website | Official Site |
The league is managed by the United Soccer League, and their main office is in Tampa, Florida. The USL Championship was created by combining two smaller leagues, USL First Division (USL-1) and USL Second Division (USL-2), after the 2010 season.
This combination happened because neither USL-1 nor the North American Soccer League (NASL) were officially recognized as Division II leagues by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). They had to play in a temporary league called USSF Division 2 Pro League for a while. The goal of putting these leagues together was to make the overall soccer situation better in the United States. They thought it would make soccer more stable and popular.