USL League Two: A Primer

The United Soccer League is one of the major professional organizations for soccer teams in the United States. The league and its divisions have had a bit of a weird and wobbly history, but long story short: the USL as a whole currently sits below Major League Soccer in the American soccer system, with teams unable to move between divisions (for now - though a pro/rel system is supposedly in the works). Something important to note here is that the USL is NOT a "minor league" for MLS, as soccer operates differently than most North American sports when it comes to player development (MLS teams do have reserve/academy sides in a league known as MLS Next PRO).

On the men's side, there are currently three levels of the USL: the USL Championship, USL League One, and USL League Two. The Championship and League One are technically professional leagues (and MLS Next PRO is generally considered to be the same tier as USL1), but League Two is another beast altogether. USL2 is commonly referred to as a "pre-professional" league, and it sits at what is commonly considered the fourth tier of soccer in the United States (as the US Soccer Federation does not define anything below Division 3); another soccer league known as the National Premier Soccer League is essentially at this level as well (both are "national" amateur leagues that get automatic U.S. Open Cup slots).

As pre-professional leagues, both the NPSL and USL2 see a lot of college players who are either trying to stay active going into the fall (when college soccer starts up) and/or looking to showcase themselves for MLS teams (similar to summer wood-bat leagues in baseball)¹. In addition, while USL2 is divided into regional divisions like the NPSL, its organization and scheduling is a little more "centralized": The league's entire schedule typically releases all at once (as opposed to the NPSL having its divisions release their schedules one by one over a WILDLY long period of time), and most of the divisions start around the same time.