American Professional Soccer Pyramid: 2025
Nov 9, 2025
The 2025 season is almost over but it is never too late to get yourself acquainted with the ins and outs of the American pyramid. We recently launched our first long form YouTube video covering everything you need to know about how the professional club game is structured in the United States (and sometimes Canada) and we couldn’t be more excited about it.
The video is linked above but also embedded at the end of this article. The one thing we didn’t do in the video that we are going to do here is really call out each and every club by name. So we’ll run down the pyramid and fill you in on who is playing where but watch the video to learn more about how all of the pieces fit together.
Women’s Professional Club Pyramid
The Women’s pyramid is a little lopsided at the moment as there are only two leagues and they both occupy spots in the first division. These leagues use different calendars and neither leagues share cities but it obviously looks a bit weird to have a top heavy “pyramid” like this. There are new leagues in the works that will help fill out the rest of these divisions but we will see what that looks like when there are more concrete details to work with.
National Women’s Soccer League
Founded in 2012 and beginning play in 2013, the National Women’s Soccer League fielded 14 clubs for the 2025 season.
Angel City Football Club - Los Angeles, California
Bay Football Club - San Jose, California
Chicago Stars Football Club - Chicago, Illinois
Gotham Football Club - Harrison, New Jersey
Houston Dash - Houston, Texas
Kansas City Current - Kansas City, Missouri
North Carolina Courage - Cary, North Carolina
Orlando Pride - Orlando, Florida
Portland Thorns FC - Portland, Oregon
Racing Louisville Football Club - Louisville, Kentucky
San Diego Wave Fútbol Club - San Diego, California
Seattle Reign FC - Seattle, Washington
Utah Royals - Sandy, Utah
Washington Spirit - Washington, D.C.
USL Super League
Founded in 2021 and beginning play in 2024, the USL Super League is fielding 9 clubs for the 2025/2026 season.
Brooklyn Football Club - New York City, New York
Carolina Ascent Football Club - Charlotte, North Carolina
Dallas Trinity FC - Dallas, Texas
DC Power Football Club - Washington, D.C.
Fort Lauderdale United FC - Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Lexington Sporting Club - Lexington, Kentucky
Spokane Zephyr FC - Spokane, Washington
Sporting Club Jacksonville - Jacksonville, Florida
Tampa Bay Sun Football Club - Tampa, Florida
Men’s Professional Club Pyramid
The Men’s professional club pyramid is far more complete than the Women’s, with all three professional divisions featuring at least one league. However, we did lose an entire league between 2024 and 2025 as the National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) lost its Division 3 sanctioning.
USL League One
Founded in 2017 and beginning play in 2019, USL League One featured 14 clubs during the 2025 season.
AV Alta FC - Lancaster, California
Charlotte Independence - Charlotte, North Carolina
Chattanooga Red Wolves SC - East Ridge, Tennessee
Forward Madison FC - Madison, Wisconsin
Greenville Triumph SC - Mauldin, South Carolina
One Knoxville Sporting Club - Knoxville, Tennessee
FC Naples - Naples, Florida
Portland Hearts of Pine - Portland, Maine
Richmond Kickers - Richmond, Virginia
South Georgia Tormenta FC - Statesboro, Georgia
Spokane Velocity FC - Spokane, Washington
Texoma FC - Sherman, Texas
Union Omaha - Omaha, Nebraska
Westchester Soccer Club - Mount Vernon, New York
MLS Next Pro
Founded in 2021 and beginning play in 2022, MLS Next Pro fielded 29 clubs for the 2025 season.
Atlanta United 2 - Kennesaw, Georgia
Austin FC II - Austin, Texas
Carolina Core FC - High Point, North Carolina
Chattanooga FC - Chattanooga, Tennessee
Chicago Fire II - Bridgeview, Illinois
Colorado Rapids 2 - Denver, Colorado
Columbus Crew 2 - Columbus, Ohio
Crown Legacy Football Club - Matthews, North Carolina
FC Cincinnati 2 - Highland Heights, Kentucky
Houston Dynamo 2 - Houston, Texas
Huntsville City Football Club - Huntsville, Alabama
Inter Miami CF II - Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Los Angeles Football Club 2 - Fullerton, California
MNUFC2 - Saint Paul, Minnesota
New England Revolution II - Foxborough, Massachusetts
New York Red Bulls II - Montclair, New Jersey
North Texas SC - Arlington - Texas
NYCFC II - New York City, New York
Orlando City B - Kissimmee, Florida
Philadelphia Union II - Chester, Pennsylvania
Real Monarchs - Herriman, Utah
Sporting KC II - Kansas City, Missouri
St Louis CITY2 - St. Louis, Missouri
Tacoma Defiance - Tukwila, Washington
Portland Timbers 2 - Portland, Oregon
Toronto FC II - Toronto, Ontario
The Town FC - Moraga, California
Ventura County FC - Thousand Oaks, California
Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 - Burnaby, British Columbia
USL Championship
With its first season in 2011, the USL Championship fielded 24 clubs in 2025
Birmingham Legion FC - Birmingham, Alabama
Charleston Battery - Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC - Colorado Springs, Colorado
Detroit City FC - Hamtramck, Michigan
El Paso Locomotive FC - El Paso, Texas
Hartford Athletic - Hartford, Connecticut
Indy Eleven - Indianapolis, Indiana
Las Vegas Lights Football Club - Las Vegas, Nevada
Lexington Sporting Club - Lexington, Kentucky
Loudoun United FC - Leesburg, Virginia
Louisville City FC - Louisville, Kentucky
Miami FC - University Park, Florida
Monterey Bay FC - Seaside, California
New Mexico United - Albuquerque, New Mexico
North Carolina FC - Cary, North Carolina
Oakland Roots Sports Club - Oakland, California
Orange County Soccer Club - Irvine, California
Phoenix Rising Football Club - Phoenix, Arizona
Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC - Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Rhode Island FC - Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Sacramento Republic FC - Sacramento, California
San Antonio FC - San Antonio, Texas
Tampa Bay Rowdies - St. Petersburg, Florida
FC Tulsa - Tulsa, Oklahoma
Major League Soccer
Founded in 1993 and beginning play in 1996, Major League Soccer fielded 30 clubs for the 2025 season.
Atlanta United FC - Atlanta, Georgia
Austin FC - Austin, Texas
Charlotte Football Club - Charlotte, North Carolina
Chicago Fire Football Club - Chicago, Illinois
FC Cincinnati - Cincinnati, Ohio
Colorado Rapids - Commerce City, Colorado
Columbus Crew - Columbus, Ohio
D.C. United - Washington, D.C.
FC Dallas - Frisco, Texas
Houston Dynamo Football Club - Houston, Texas
Sporting Kansas City - Kansas City, Kansas
LA Galaxy - Carson, California
Los Angeles Football Club - Los Angeles, California
Club Internacional de Fútbol Miami - Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Minnesota United Football Club - Saint Paul, Minnesota
Club de Foot Montréal - Montreal, Quebec
Nashville Soccer Club - Nashville, Tennessee
New England Revolution - Foxborough, Massachusetts
New York Red Bulls - Harrison, New Jersey
New York City Football Club - New York City, New York
Orlando City Soccer Club - Orlando, Florida
Philadelphia Union - Chester, Pennsylvania
Portland Timbers - Portland, Oregon
Real Salt Lake - Sandy, Utah
San Diego Football Club - San Diego, California
San Jose Earthquakes - San Jose, California
Seattle Sounders Football Club - Seattle, Washington
St. Louis CITY Soccer Club - St. Louis, Missouri
Toronto Football Club - Toronto, Ontario
Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club - Vancouver, British Columbia