The 2019 USL Championship season was the ninth season of the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

and third under Division II sanctioning. This was the first season in which the league operated under the name "USL Championship," using the moniker "United Soccer League" through 2018. The season began on March 8, 2019, and concluded on October 20, 2019, with each team playing 34 matches. 36 teams competed in the 2019 USL Championship season, split into 2 conferences of 18 teams each.

Louisville City FC Louisville City Football Club is an American professional soccer club based in Louisville, Kentucky. The team plays in the USL Championship, which is currently the second tier of the American soccer pyramid. The club was founded in 2014 after O ...

were the two-time defending champions. The 2019 season was the last for the current version of

Nashville SC Nashville Soccer Club is an American professional soccer club based in Nashville, Tennessee. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The team spent two seasons in the USL Championship before joining ...

. The club's identity transferred to a Major League Soccer team that started to play in 2020. Additionally, this season was the last for

Ottawa Fury FC Ottawa Fury Football Club was a Canadian professional soccer club based in Ottawa, Ontario. The club competed in the North American Soccer League and USL Championship and played its home games at TD Place Stadium. The Ottawa Fury FC were di ...

. On November 8, the club announced that it had suspended operations; Fury FC had received sanctioning from its country's governing body, Canada Soccer, but was denied by U.S. Soccer and the continental governing body of

CONCACAF The Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football, abbreviated as CONCACAF ( ; typeset for branding purposes since 2018 as Concacaf), is one of FIFA's six continental governing bodies for association football. Its 4 ...

Changes from 2018

;Expansion clubs *

Austin Bold FC Austin Bold FC (ABFC) was an American professional association football, 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 ...

* Birmingham Legion FC * El Paso Locomotive FC *

Hartford Athletic Hartford Athletic is an American professional association football, soccer team based in Hartford, Connecticut. The club was founded in 2018 and started play in the USL Championship in 2019. It is the only pro soccer team in Connecticut (thoug ...

* Loudoun United FC * Memphis 901 FC * New Mexico United ;Departing clubs * FC Cincinnati (moved to

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

) *

Penn FC Harrisburg City Islanders, known as Penn FC in their final season, were an American professional soccer team based in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 2003, the team most recently played in the USL Pro, the second tier of th ...

(folded) *

Richmond Kickers Richmond Kickers is an American professional soccer club based in Richmond, Virginia. The Kickers compete as a member of USL League One (USL1). The club was established in 1993, and began play that same year as a United States Interregional S ...

(moved to USL League One) * Toronto FC II (moved to USL League One) ;Rebranded clubs * Seattle Sounders FC 2 rebranded as Tacoma Defiance and moved to

Tacoma, Washington Tacoma ( ) is the county seat of Pierce County, Washington, United States. A port city, it is situated along Washington's Puget Sound, southwest of Seattle, southwest of Bellevue, Washington, Bellevue, northeast of the state capital, Olympia ...

Teams

The following teams are playing in the 2019 USL Championship season:

Competition format

The season began the weekend of March 8–10 and will conclude the weekend of October 18–20. The 2019 USL Cup Playoffs are expected to begin October 25–27, and conclude with the final match November 14–18. This is the first season where the USL teams will only play teams within their own conference for regular-season and playoff games until the USL Cup final. Thus, each team will play a balanced home-and-away schedule against each of the other teams in its conference, resulting in a 34-game schedule.

Managerial changes

League table

;Eastern Conference ;Western Conference

Results table

Playoffs

Format

The top 10 teams from each conference will qualify for the playoffs. Each conference will have a "play-in round" where the 7 seed will host the 10 seed and the 8 host 9. The lowest remaining seed will then play the 1 seed and the other play-in survivor will play the 2 seed to form an 8 team playoff bracket. Each of the 8 team playoff brackets will consist of teams within their respective conference and the matches will be hosted by the higher seed. The USL Cup will be the season's only match that involves teams from different conferences; it will be hosted by the conference champion with the better regular-season record.

Bracket

Eastern Conference

Western Conference

USL Championship Final

Championship Game MVP: Konrad Plewa ( SLC)

Attendance

Average home attendances

Ranked from highest to lowest average attendance. Updated to games of October 20, 2019.
Sources
USL ChampionshipSoccer Stadium Digest

Statistical leaders

Top scorers

Source:

Top assists

Source:

Shutouts

Source:

Hat-tricks

League awards

Individual awards

All-League Teams

Monthly awards

Weekly awards

References

External links

USL official website
{{2019 in Canadian soccer USL Championship seasons 2019 in American soccer leagues