2026 USL Championship season

The 2026 USL Championship season will be the 16th season of the USL Championship and the ninth season under Division II sanctioning.
25 teams in two conferences will compete in the regular season. The Brooklyn FC men's team, which was originally scheduled to begin play in 2025, will debut in 2026 alongside Sporting Club Jacksonville. North Carolina FC dropped out of the USL Championship and went on hiatus following the 2025 season, with hopes to enter the USL Division One in 2028 with a new stadium in Raleigh.
All 25 teams will participate in the Prinx Tires USL Cup alongside the 18 USL League One teams.
The Pittsburgh Riverhounds FC are the defending league champions and Louisville City FC are the defending Players' Shield winners.

Teams

Changes from 2025

Expansion clubs

Departing clubs

North Carolina FC

Personnel and sponsorships

Team

Head coach

Captain

Kit manufacturer

Kit sponsor

Birmingham Legion FC

Regular season

Format

The teams will play an unbalanced 30-game schedule plus four USL Cup games. Each team will play their conference opponents twice, home and away, and five or six of the teams in the opposite conference. The top eight teams in each conference will make the playoffs.