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USL Championship Soccer

USL Championship is a professional sports league and the second-tier soccer league in the United States and Canada. It is run by the United Soccer League and is contested by 63 teams from the United States and 3 from Canada. The league's two conferences, Eastern and Western, are then split into three regional divisions each: East, Central, and West. The USL Championship season runs from March to October. Each team plays 32-34 matches over the course of the season (including preseason and playoffs). At the end of the regular season, the top eight teams in each of the Eastern and Western Conferences qualify for the playoffs. The playoff structure consists of four rounds: the single-elimination conference quarterfinals, semifinals and finals. The conference champions battle for the League Championship in a single match final hosted by the higher-seeded team. The 2019 season holds many of the same popular teams such as: LA Galaxy II, Phoenix Rising FC, and Sacramento Republic FC from the Western Conference; as well as FC Cincinnati, Louisville City FC, and Ottawa Fury FC from the Eastern Conference. Popular current players in the league include Celtic FC loanee Derrick Jones, USL Championship player of the 2019 season Akiel Barrett, and San Diego Loyal SC's Anthony Pulis. USL Championship is the highest and longest-running sanctioning body for US soccer competitions. The competitions have continued from its amateur roots in the late 1970’s to several divisions of professional soccer, including the USL Championship. Since its launch in 2011, the league has steadily grown in popularity. In 2019, the league set a record for attendance, surpassing the 2 million mark for an individual season, and in 2020 the league was successfully expanded to 37 teams. The USL Championship boasts an impressive list of accomplishments and firsts. It introduced the United Soccer League Player Combine in 2017, offering an additional professional development pathway to the league’s top players. In 2019 the championship game set a live streaming viewership record with over 43,000 unique viewers. The USL Championship has achieved great success in its first 10 years and looks poised for continued growth in the years to come.