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 f ...

(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 ba ...

(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 Cana ...

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

History

On August 27, 2009, Nike agreed to sell their stake in the

to investment company NuRock, instead of

Jeff Cooper John Dean "Jeff" Cooper (May 10, 1920 – September 25, 2006) was a United States Marine, the creator of a " modern technique" of handgun shooting, and an expert on the use and history of small arms. Early life and education Cooper wa ...

, 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 ...

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, Rochester Rhinos, 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 tier ...

) 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 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 team that ...

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 only ...

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

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 (

Portland Timbers The Portland Timbers are an American professional men's soccer club based in Portland, Oregon. The Timbers compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The Timbers have played their home games at ...

) *Defender of the Year: Greg Janicki (

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 ...

) *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 named ...

(

) *Rookie of the Year: Maxwell Griffin (

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 ...

) *Coach of the Year: Bob Lilley ( Rochester Rhinos)

Best XI

*GK:

(

) *DF: Greg Janicki (

) *DF: Aaron Pitchkolan ( Rochester Rhinos) *DF: Troy Roberts ( Rochester Rhinos) *MF: Ryan Pore (

) *MF: Martin Nash (

) *MF: Jamie Watson (

) *MF: Paulo Araujo Jr. (

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 Daniel Paladini (born November 11, 1984 in Northridge, California) is an American soccer player. Career Youth and college Paladini was twice named an all-state selection as a high schooler at St. Francis High School in 2000 and 2001, and playe ...

( Carolina RailHawks) *FW: Eddie Johnson (

) *FW: Ali Gerba ( 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