The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's

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 in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system behind

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 Cana ...

. It was operated by United Soccer Leagues (USL) and was known as the

A-League A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competiti ...

, from 1997 until 2004. Several teams left the league in 2009 to form the new

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 ba ...

, with the intent of running their own second-tier league. Following a brief legal dispute, the two leagues operated in tandem under United States Soccer Federation (USSF) mediation as the USSF Division 2 Professional League in 2010 before the split became final. The teams that remained in the First Division were merged with the USL Second Division in 2011 to form USL Pro.

History

When the A-League became the USL First Division in 2005, the league comprised 12 teams:

Atlanta Silverbacks The Atlanta Silverbacks FC were an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1998 as Atlanta Ruckus, the club played in many leagues over the years before folding after the 2015 season. The team played its home gam ...

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are one of the oldest continuously operating professional soccer clubs in th ...

, Minnesota Thunder, Montreal Impact, Portland Timbers, Puerto Rico Islanders, Richmond Kickers, Rochester Raging Rhinos, Seattle Sounders, Toronto Lynx,

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 March ...

, and Virginia Beach Mariners. The Calgary Mustangs,

Edmonton Aviators The Edmonton Aviators were a soccer club based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The club was founded in 2003 as a member of the United Soccer League's A-League and folded after playing only one season in 2004. Midway through the season, with the cl ...

, and

Syracuse Salty Dogs The Syracuse Salty Dogs (formally Syracuse Football Club) were a professional men's soccer team based in Syracuse, New York. The name of the club originates from "Salty Dog" which is nautical slang for an experienced sailor who has spent much o ...

, all of whom competed in the final A-League season in 2004, folded during the offseason, and did not take up their places in the new league. The Seattle Sounders won the inaugural USL1 championship, beating Richard on penalty kicks in the championship game after a 1–1 tie in regulation time. The

won the first of their two USL1 titles in 2006 by beating the Rochester Raging Rhinos 3–0 in the championship game, while Seattle won their second title in 2007 by overcoming the

in a one-sided 4–0 final. Vancouver won their second USL1 championship in 2008 by beating the Puerto Rico Islanders 2–1 in the first USL1 final to feature no American teams; the championship went north of the border again in 2009 when Montreal Impact won their first USL1 title, beating Vancouver 6–3 on aggregate over two legs in the first all-Canadian affair. On August 27, 2009, Nike agreed to sell its stake in the

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 f ...

(USL) to Rob Hoskins and Alec Papadakis of

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

-based NuRock Soccer Holdings, instead of to the USL Team Owner's Association (TOA), a group comprising the owners of several USL First Division clubs. In the months that followed, several prominent TOA members began to voice their concerns about the state of the league in general, its management structure and ownership model, the leadership of USL president Francisco Marcos, and about the sale of the league to NuRock, which the TOA felt was counter-productive and detrimental to the development of the league. Within several weeks, a number of TOA member clubs threatened to break away from USL and start their own league; this break away became official on November 10, 2009, when the majority of USL-1 clubs, as well as one of the expected 2010 expansion franchises, applied to the United States Soccer Federation, the

Canadian Soccer Association The Canadian Soccer Association (Canada Soccer) is the governing body of soccer in Canada. It is a national organization that oversees the Canadian men's and women's national teams for international play, as well as the respective junior sides ...

, and

FIFA FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' (French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

for approval to create a new

, reducing the league's membership to just three teams. After lawsuits were filed and heated press statements exchanged, the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) declared they would sanction neither the NASL nor the USL First Division in 2010, and ordered both "camps" to work together on a plan to temporarily allow their teams to play a 2010 season. The interim solution was announced on January 7, 2010, with the USSF running the new

USSF D2 Pro League The USSF Division 2 Professional League (D2 Pro League) was a temporary professional soccer league created by the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) for the 2010 season. The twelve-team league was formed as a compromise between the feuding Un ...

comprising clubs from both USL-1 and NASL. All 12 teams from the USL First Division and the NASL competed in the USSF D2 Pro League in 2010, which was won by the Puerto Rico Islanders. On September 8, 2010, the USL announced the formation of USL Pro which would merge the USL First Division and USL Second Division to begin play in 2011. The merger is meant to consolidate USL's position within the American professional soccer landscape and focus on commercial growth and professional development of soccer in 4 main regions throughout the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. The First Division was formally dissolved following the completion of the temporary season to make way for USL Pro.

Expansion and contraction

Prior to 2010, the league had a steady rate of expansion and contraction. Richmond was voluntarily relegated to the USL Second Division in 2006 to cut costs, Toronto was voluntarily relegated to the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syst ...

in 2007 because of MLS expansion, and on March 30, 2007, the Virginia Beach Mariners folded just prior to the start of the 2007 season due to an ownership dispute which left the team without financing. These teams were replaced by two new teams: the Carolina RailHawks from the

Triangle A triangle is a polygon with three edges and three vertices. It is one of the basic shapes in geometry. A triangle with vertices ''A'', ''B'', and ''C'' is denoted \triangle ABC. In Euclidean geometry, any three points, when non- colline ...

region of

North Carolina North Carolina () is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 28th largest and List of states and territories of the United ...

, playing out of Cary, and

California Victory The California Victory was a USL First Division professional soccer team based in San Francisco, California. It was an expansion team for the 2007 season, but ceased operation in September of that year after parent club Deportivo Alavés withdrew ...

, a team in Northern

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

under the ownership of

Dmitry Piterman Dmitry Piterman ( ua, Дмитро Пітерман; born 18 December 1963) is a Ukrainian-American businessman. He owned Spanish La Liga football clubs Racing de Santander and Deportivo Alavés in the 2000s. Early years Piterman was born to a Jew ...

(chairman of Spanish team Deportivo Alavés) which folded after the end of the 2007 season, having played only one season. In November 2008, the

announced that they would sit out the 2009 season to "reassess the landscape," and would possibly return at a future date. Similarly, the Seattle Sounders left prior to the 2009 season due to the imminent entrance of

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

into

. Their spot in the league was taken by the Cleveland City Stars, who won the USL Second Division title in 2008, and voluntarily moved up to USL-1 for the 2009 season, folded at the end of the year. On December 2, 2009, Inside Minnesota Soccer reported that the USL had asked the City Stars to terminate the contracts of all the players, as the franchise was to be dissolved. Posting an email addressed to all players under contract with the Cleveland City Stars and written by team president Jonathan Ortlip and executive director Aaron Tredway, the club executives went on to accept the decision to terminate the franchise. On June 19, 2008, an announcement was made that an expansion slot had been awarded to a

Tampa Bay, Florida Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

-based franchise led by main investors

Andrew Nestor Andrew is the English form of a given name common in many countries. In the 1990s, it was among the top ten most popular names given to boys in List of countries where English is an official language, English-speaking countries. "Andrew" is freq ...

(CEO) and Hinds Howard (chairman) of Citrus Ventures. The plan was for the club to join the league in 2010 and be named the Tampa Bay Rowdies.

Expansion rumors

Possible cities mentioned for future campaigns included

Fort Lauderdale, Florida Fort Lauderdale () is a coastal city located in the U.S. state of Florida, north of Miami along the Atlantic Ocean. It is the county seat of and largest city in Broward County, Florida, Broward County with a population of 182,760 at the 2020 Unit ...

and

Syracuse, New York Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester. At the 2020 census, the city' ...

. Syracuse had had a highly attended team in the A-League from 2002 to 2004, but it folded due to stadium issues, having ground-shared with the local baseball team. Fort Lauderdale also had a history of teams from the NASL, American Soccer League, and USL First Division. There was also discussion that Argentinian team River Plate is interested in putting a second USL team in

Puerto Rico Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...

, as well as discussion that recent start-up team, the San Diego Flash may also join either the USL or NASL. Prior to the 2009 NASL split several other cities had been mentioned as being locations where future USL-1 franchises might launch, including St. Louis, Missouri (led by the current

(PDL) franchise St. Louis Lions);

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

(with Mexican side

Pachuca Pachuca (; ote, Nju̱nthe), formally known as Pachuca de Soto, is the capital and largest city of the Mexican state of Hidalgo. It is located in the south-central part of the state. Pachuca de Soto is also the name of the municipality of wh ...

being rumored as connected to it);

Milwaukee, Wisconsin Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee i ...

;

Detroit, Michigan Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at ...

;

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of ...

;

San Antonio, Texas ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_ ...

; and Ottawa, Ontario. On September 1, 2009, a group from Ottawa formally applied for USL-1 team, contingent on the approval of updates to Lansdowne Park. The team would share a field with the

Ottawa Redblacks The Ottawa Redblacks (officially stylized as REDBLACKS) ( French: Le Rouge et Noir d'Ottawa) are a professional Canadian football team based in Ottawa, Ontario. The team plays in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). Starti ...

football team. The Ottawa group subsequently committed to the NASL.

Structure

Unlike most other nations, there is no system of merit-based

promotion and relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues ...

in the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

and Canadian pyramids, meaning that the champions of USL-1 could not move up to

and, similarly, the worst teams in MLS were not in danger of being demoted to USL-1. However, some USL-1 teams had in the past chosen to take voluntary relegation to a lower level of the USL system, often to reduce operating costs, while teams had also decided to move up to USL-1 after finding success at the lower levels.

Playoff format

The top seven teams advanced to the playoff tournament, with the Commissioner's Cup winner (regular season champion) receiving a bye into the semi-finals. Each round consisted of two legs, the lower seeded team hosting the first leg, and the higher seed hosting the second. Prior to 2009, the final was played as a single leg at the higher seed's stadium. After the first legs were completed, the lowest remaining seed played the Commissioner's Cup winner, and the higher seeds played each other. The highest remaining seed hosted the penultimate game of the Finals. The playoffs started the week after the completion of the regular season, and typically ended in mid-October.

Teams

(2005–08) *

Austin Aztex The Austin Aztex were a soccer team based in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 2011 as a member of the Premier Development League, the team played the 2015 season in the United Soccer League, the second tier of the United States soccer py ...

(2008–09) (2010 season played in

) *

(2007) * Carolina RailHawks (2007–09) (2010 season played in USSF D2 Pro League for NASL Conference) *

(2005–09) * Cleveland City Stars (2009) *

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 tier ...

(2010) (2010 season played in USSF D2 Pro League) * Miami FC (2006–09) (2010 season played in USSF D2 Pro League for NASL Conference) * Minnesota Thunder (2005–09) * Montreal Impact (2005–09) (2010 season played in USSF D2 Pro League for NASL Conference) * Portland Timbers (2005–10) (2010 season played in USSF D2 Pro League) * Puerto Rico Islanders (2005–10) (2010 season played in USSF D2 Pro League) * Richmond Kickers (2005) * Rochester Rhinos (2005–10) (2010 season played in USSF D2 Pro League) * Seattle Sounders (2005–08) * Toronto Lynx (2005–06) *

(2005–09) (2010 season played in USSF D2 Pro League for NASL Conference) * Virginia Beach Mariners (2005–06) DateFormat = mm/dd/yyyy Define $now = 09/01/2014 ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:22 Period = from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2014 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal PlotArea = right:20 left:0 bottom:50 top:5 #> to display a count on left side of graph, use "left:20" to suppress the count, use "left:20"<# Colors = id:barcolor value:rgb(0.99,0.7,0.7) id:line value:black id:lightline value:rgb(0.5,0.5,0.5) id:bg value:white id:Full value:rgb(0.742,0.727,0.852) # Use this color to denote a current club id:Former value:rgb(0.996,0.996,0.699) # Use this color to denote a former club id:USSFD2 value:rgb(0.000,0.996,0.996) # Use this color to denote a USSF D2 season id:MLS value:rgb(0.996,0.598,0.996) # Use this color to denote a club that moved on to MLS id:NASL value:rgb(0.398,0.699,0.996) # Use this color to denote a club that went to NASL id:USL value:rgb(0.551,0.824,0.777) # Use this color to denote a club that went to USL league id:PDL-D2 value:rgb(0.897,0.698,0.698) # Use this color to denote a club that went to PDL id:Hiatus value:rgb(0.996,0.797,0.598) # Use this color to denote a club that was on hiatus for a period but returned PlotData= width:15 textcolor:black shift:(5,-5) anchor:from fontsize:s bar:1 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2008 text:

(2005–08) bar:1 color:Hiatus from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2010 bar:1 color:NASL from:01/01/2011 till:end text: NASL (2011-2015) bar:2 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2009 text:

(2005–2009) bar:2 color:PDL-D2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text: USL 2nd Div bar:2 color:USL from:01/01/2011 till:end text: USL Pro (2011-present) bar:3 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2009 text: Minnesota Thunder (2005–2009) bar:4 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2009 text: Montreal Impact (2005–2009) bar:4 color:USSFD2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text: USSF D2 bar:4 color:NASL from:01/01/2011 till:12/31/2012 text:NASL (2011) bar:4 color:MLS from:01/01/2012 till:end text: Montreal Impact in MLS (2012-present) bar:5 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2009 text: Portland Timbers (2005–2009) bar:5 color:USSFD2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text:USSF D2 bar:5 color:MLS from:01/01/2011 till:end text: Portland Timbers in MLS (2011-present) bar:15 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2009 text: Puerto Rico Islanders (2005–2009) bar:15 color:USSFD2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text:USSF D2 bar:15 color:NASL from:01/01/2011 till:12/31/2012 text:NASL (2011-2012) bar:6 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2005 text: Richmond Kickers (2005) bar:6 color:PDL-D2 from:01/01/2006 till:12/31/2010 shift:(50,-5) text: USL Second Division (2006-2010) bar:6 color:USL from:01/01/2011 till:end text:USL Pro (2011-present) bar:7 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2009 text: Rochester Rhinos (2005–2009) bar:7 color:USSFD2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text:USSF D2 bar:7 color:USL from:01/01/2011 till:end text:USL Pro (2011-present) bar:8 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2008 text: Seattle Sounders (2005–2008) bar:8 color:MLS from:01/01/2009 till:end text: Seattle Sounders in MLS (2009-present) bar:9 color:Former from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2006 text: Toronto Lynx (2005–2006) bar:9 color:PDL-D2 from:01/01/2007 till:12/31/2014 text: USL PDL (2008-2014) bar:10 color:Full from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2009 text:

(2005–2009) bar:10 color:USSFD2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text:USSF D2 bar:10 color:MLS from:01/01/2011 till:end text:

in MLS (2011-present) bar:11 color:Former from:01/01/2005 till:12/31/2006 text: Virginia Beach Mariners (2005–2006) bar:12 color:Full from:01/01/2006 till:12/31/2009 text: Miami FC (2006–2009) bar:12 color:USSFD2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text:USSF D2 bar:12 color:NASL from:01/01/2011 till:end text:

Fort Lauderdale Strikers Fort Lauderdale Strikers may refer to: *Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1977–1983), member of North American Soccer League from 1977 to 1983 * Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1988–1994), member of American Soccer League from 1988 to 1989 and American Profe ...

in NASL (2011-present) bar:13 color:Former from:01/01/2007 till:12/31/2007 text:

(2007) bar:14 color:Full from:01/01/2007 till:12/31/2009 text: Carolina RailHawks (2007–2009) bar:14 color:USSFD2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text:USSF D2 bar:14 color:NASL from:01/01/2011 till:end text:NASL (2011-2017); USL (2018–) bar:20 color:Full from:01/01/2008 till:12/31/2009 text:

(2008–09) bar:20 color:USSFD2 from:01/01/2010 till:12/31/2010 text:USSF D2 bar:20 color:Hiatus from:01/01/2011 till:12/31/2011 bar:20 color:PDL-D2 from:01/01/2012 till:12/31/2014 text:USL PDL (2012-14)† bar:20 color:USL from:01/01/2014 till:end text:USL Pro (2015-) bar:21 color:Former from:01/01/2009 till:12/31/2009 text: Cleveland City Stars (2009) ScaleMajor = gridcolor:line unit:year increment:1 start:01/01/2005 ScaleMinor = gridcolor:lightline unit:month increment:6 start:01/01/2005 TextData = fontsize:L textcolor:black pos:(0,30) tabs:(400-center) text: #> If the chart uses more than one bar color, add a legend by selecting the appropriate fields from the following six options (use only the colors that are used in the graphic.) Leave a blank line after the end of the timeline, then add a line with the selected values from the list, separated by a space. <# †The Austin Aztex have been awarded a USL Pro franchise and will begin play in 2015 in that league. * ''See also

League champions / top goal scorer

Regular season champions (Commissioner’s Cup winners)

Most successful clubs

League average attendance

All-time USL leaders

*Note: includes stats from the old A-League

Notes

* (*) Puerto Rico can qualify for the

CFU Club Championship The Caribbean Club Championship, also known as the CFU Club Championship or CFU Club Champions' Cup, was an annual international football competition held amongst association football clubs that are members of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU). ...

via a domestic cup competition.

References

External links

Official site
(archived)
Unofficial fan site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Usl First Division Fir Defunct soccer leagues in the United States Defunct soccer leagues in Canada