Following the unveiling of its new structure and brand identity for each of its top three leagues prior to this season, the United Soccer League today announced its new postseason branding for the USL Championship, USL League One, and USL League Two that will go into effect in the coming months.
Under the new naming conventions, each of the three properties will see their postseasons be labelled as the USL Championship Playoffs, USL League One Playoffs, and USL League Two Playoffs, respectively. Each division will conclude with the USL Championship Final, the USL League One Final and USL League Two Final, where the respective champions will be crowned.
USL Championship
In its biggest season to date, the USL Championship Playoffs will lead into the USL Championship Final in November.
The 36-team chase will finish with 10 teams per conference reaching the playoff stage in October, with opening matchups between seeds No. 7 and 10 and No. 8 and 9 taking place in the Play-In Round. The higher advancing seed from the Play-In Round will face the No. 2 seed, and the lower advancing seed will face the No. 1 seed in the Eastern and Western Conference Quarterfinals, with the postseason then proceeding in a fixed bracket that will see the higher seed host through the Conference Semifinals and Conference Final. The Eastern and Western Conference champions will then meet in the 2019 USL Championship Final, which will air on an ESPN Network between Nov. 14-18.
USL League One
Making its debut in 2019, the USL League One Playoffs will feed into the USL League One Final in October after the regular season ends on Saturday, Oct. 5. The top four teams will face off in the League One Semifinals with the No. 1 seed hosting the No. 4 seed and the No. 2 seed hosting the No. 3 seed between Oct. 11-13. The higher remaining seed will then host the 2019 USL League One Final between Oct. 17-21.
USL League Two
The USL League Two season concluded on Sunday, July 14, kicking off the start of the 2019 USL League Two Playoffs where top four teams in each of the Eastern, Southern, Central, and Western Conferences playing in the Conference Finals on the weekend of July 19-21. The winner of each conference advanced to represent their region in the USL League Two Semifinals on the weekend of July 26-28, with the two finalists—Reading United and the Michigan Bucks—set to meet in the USL League Two Final on Saturday, Aug. 3 at 7 p.m. CT.
