With the 2023 Women’s World Cup looming, a new soccer league in the United States is on its way for the 2024-25 season.
The USL Super League will begin play in ’24 with teams in eight markets, it officially announced Tuesday morning. It will include teams in the Charlotte, Dallas-Fort Worth, Lexington, Ky., Phoenix, Spokane, Tampa Bay, Tucson and Washington D.C. metropolitan areas.
According to a Tuesday morning report from ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle, “more could be added in the weeks ahead.” Five additional areas—Chattanooga, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Madison, Wisc. and Oakland—could join the league pending the completion of stadiums.
The USL Super League is attempting to compete directly with the National Women’s Soccer League as a Division I league, and is seeking certification from U.S. Soccer that would give the league formal status as such.
In order to obtain Division I certification, the league must meet a set of standards that include “a minimum of eight teams in the league spread across at least two time zones” in its first year, as well as 75% of league teams playing in metro markets of 750,000 or more people. Every stadium in the league must also seat 5,000 or more.
Notably, the league will operate on a traditional fall-to-summer calendar in line with the rest of the world, done per the league’s website in part to “(ensure) players are able to represent both club and country.”
