What level is the NPSL? It's amateur and draws from largely the same pool of players as the PDL. As such, it seems to be clearly below the USL Second Division and at the fourth level along with the PDL. -- Balerion 22:14, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
This is a fine article and I think that it definitely provides clarity for the American soccer system, but I feel that the article is an imposition of the structure of European soccer associations onto the American soccer leagues.
I think the article should be more clear on the fact that many of these leagues are completely and wholly separate and that this pyramid is in no way official. 49giantsharks 05:52, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
I fail to understand how a league that fields teams from multiple countries is only an "American league" or pyramid of "American leagues". There are no references to support the claim that the league(s), despite including international clubs, are solely American (USA). — Muckapædia 15e mai 2007, 1h00 (UTC+0900) 머크백과 TALK/ CONTRIBS
Muckapædia- I believe the intent was originally to have the article be American and [some] Canadian. The Puerto Rico and Bermuda references are only for a single team each, much like how there is a welsh team in the english pyramid and I belive some teams ignore which side of the border they are on in England/Scotland and Ireland/Northern Ireland IIRC (and since Puerto Rico is an American Commonwealth, the point could be argued to be moot in it's case, but that's an aside).
Given the confused state of professional soccer in the US and Canada before the 1990's, no clear system nor heirarchy arose in either country. Sure, some organizations and leagues came and went (ie NASL) but no long lasting heirarchy nor system emerged until the consolidation of the USL from the merging of the USISL and the A-League. And the USISL and A-League (and later the USL) both followed the example of most major sports in US & Canada (ie Baseball, Basketball, Hockey) and included teams from both sides of the border. Thus Canadian soccer was in the partially merged situation where its 'officially' top teams played in the USL even though a good argument could be that the best Canadian competition was one or another of the local (solely Canadian), chaotic (in terms of organization/heirarchy) competitons. As this consolidation was taking place, the MLS was created in the US, officially above the USL. Now Canada was in the very odd situation where it's official top division was the American lower division, but still unofficially the local chaotic situation could of been considered unofficially equal (or even higher). Starting this season, a single Canadian team has been created within the MLS (and there are rumors of more in the future) so now they are back to the previous situation. For more examples, see the discussion they are having at Talk:Canadian_soccer_pyramid where they are having trouble determining the Canadian Pyramid since the CSL has some (de-facto or official, I'm not sure) recognition from FIFA as "the national league" (despite it only being in 2 of the provinces) but at the same time the USL-1 was previously (or is currently) rated as the Canadian Div I. (FIFA has not yet addressed the issue of the creation of a Canadian MLS team). Meanwhile, the CONCACAF website even reads that there is "no division one championship" and last I had checked the Canadian Confederation website only made indirect references to the provincial teams as the top level.
This is also a big part of why when Canada was given a spot in the new Champions League they had to create a special tournament to determine Canada's entrant to it whereas all the other countries entrants appear to be determined based on domestic Div I league results (or the Caribbean championship for which entry into it is in turn based on caribbean domestic Div I league results). Previously I think Canada was considered part of the unofficial "Northern Zone" of CONCACAF but in actuality had no representation in international club competitions (I had hoped that this new Superliga would emerge in this kind of role but that now appears unlikely).
It should also be noted that in Canada and the US, the national federations have a more hands off approach to organizing professional competitions than I believe is the case in other countries. Thus seperate organizations (not directly responsible to FIFA's organizational scheme) arose which followed the common northern North American sports economic model which "ignores" the American/Canadian border.
Burdman- In the past, wasn't there a couple of northern Mexican teams in one of the shortlived American leagues? Or was that in Indoor Soccer?
AW- Actually, in many parts of the america's outside of the US, the common confusion between American (meaning of the North or South America Continents) and American (meaning of the United States of America) can be a touchy subject, and they view it that we Americans (meaning of the USA) have usurped and horded the noun. Hence, on here on the 'globalized' Wikipedia, both America and American take you to what are effectively little more than disambiguation pages. But in general, depending on the context, yes it is usually understood which is meant.
all- sorry for rambling on for so long. I hope my words are coherent. Gecko G ( talk) 11:53, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
Rather than having a woefully incomplete and partial listing of a few leagues from the USASA, wouldn't it be better to just list something like "4 Geographic regions" or such? Or perhaps mention that it is organized into 55 state associtiations? Though that latter would exclude the two Region I "Regional Leagues" (CLS & MSSL). Gecko G ( talk) 10:22, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
What do you think of this as another section?
US Open Cup: All levels
George F. Donnelly Cup: Level 5
Greecepwns (#1 Red Bulls Supporter) ( talk) 20:30, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
Some of the USASA leagues have more than one division. Should we have an extra step for these divisions or just leave it as is? Greecepwns ( talk) 18:39, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
I'm concerned that the article (and indeed the comments above) seem to indicate that there's no actual pyramid system in place in the US, and that this is an imposition of an English term to refer to the collective football leagues in the Americas. If this is the case (and the disparity of the various league organisations, together with the lack of a serious promotion system, strongly indicates that it is) then these articles (both this one and the Canadian soccer pyramid) should be retitled and reorganised to reflect this. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 11:14, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
There are three official levels to the American soccer pyramid for men and women: these are Division I, Division II, and Division III, which are set by the United States Soccer Federation and correspond to levels 1, 2, and 3 as they exist now; see Policy 202 in this PDF. The remaining levels are all amateur, and are divided into categories based on participation by US Soccer. Divisions I-III are definitely U.S. designations and not North American designations. They may contain teams from other countries and be certified by other nations as well, but the U.S. soccer pyramid consists of those leagues recognized by U.S. Soccer and I think that's a meaningful distinction There is a separate Canadian soccer pyramid article that includes many of the same leagues, which seems like the right solution to me.-- Chapka ( talk) 20:33, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
Reflecting the comments below and in the spirit of Wikipedia:Be bold, I have entirely reworked the men's pyramid, in the process:
Comments and edits welcome, of course. -- Chapka ( talk) 21:33, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
Moved the information on individual USASA teams to an already existing page and linked-- Chapka ( talk) 17:06, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
The pyramid currently lists level two as NASL and level three as USL. Where is a source stating that the USSF has sanctioned the leagues in that manner. While people may believe that the NASL is a better league, it deals completely with sanctioning and until the source is present they are both Division 2 leagues. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.189.42.247 ( talk) 17:21, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
I'd like to restart discussion concerning the name of the article. Should this page be renamed United States soccer league system or be kept as is? The term "league system" seems to be a generic name for a hierarchy of leagues run by a federation. I'd assume this consensus exists all over Wikipedia as the United States and Canadian articles are the only ones using the pyramid term. Is there a reason for this? -- Blackbox77 ( talk) 04:16, 23 May 2011 (UTC)
Where in the pyramid should we include the MLS Reserve Division? Maybe 2nd along with NASL?-- Coquidragon ( talk) 06:25, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
I've moved the content here from the American soccer pyramid article. This naming is consistent with all of the soccer league system articles from around the world, many of which more resemble a "pyramid" (with promotion and relegation) than the United States does.
I've rewritten the introduction to reflect the new name, renamed most of the sections, and made updates and stylistic changes to the content where appropriate. I've also removed references to the old 15-tier or so division that was on this page before the last overhaul. Chapka ( talk) 15:11, 6 June 2012 (UTC)
I think the table revision placing the USASA Elite Amateur Leagues at the same level as the fourth-division nationwide leagues, while well-intentioned, probably made the lower portion of the pyramid less accurate than before. It's commonly held that the level of play in the PDL and NPSL is higher than that of the EALs, which is in turn somewhat higher than that in USCS and the USASA state leagues (the latter assertion is supported by the fact that USASA gave the EALs special classification to begin with). I'm not aware of any recent change in how any of these leagues are classified (or not) by USSF or USASA.
The prior version of the table that featured the EALs as spanning the fourth and fifth divisions was probably more accurate, given the somewhat ambiguous classifications of these leagues. I'll probably revert this revision in the near future unless there's some objection. -- Strongpoint ( talk) 04:12, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
<! COPY PASTE WIKICODE BELOW THIS POINT IF THIS GETS USED>
4* | Affiliated through United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) [1] | ||||
United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL) 56 clubs (in 4 conferences) |
National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) | ||||
≥5* |
USASA Elite Amateur Leagues | ||||
US Club Soccer (USCS) |
United States Adult Soccer Association state leagues |
* The tiers or levels here are approximate and not specifically so designated by USSF.
{{
cite web}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1=
(
help)
<! END OF COPY PASTE SECTION>
US CLUB SOCCER - THE NATIONAL ADULT LEAGUES IS 4TH TIER OF SOCCER IN THE UNITED STATES, NOT 5TH. PLEASE CHANGE. THANK YOU. — Preceding unsigned comment added by One100ton ( talk • contribs) 07:37, 31 May 2014 (UTC)
Without any substantive disagreement for some time, I'm implementing this new table. Please let me know if there are any issues. Strongpoint ( talk) 19:24, 13 January 2015 (UTC)
Shouldn't the last level be "≤5*" and not "≥5*"? The current label says that the teams are no lower than 5th level, when what is meant is that they rank no higher than 5th level. -- Khajidha ( talk) 13:27, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
So after allowing for a long discussion period about implementing revisions to the Men's Leagues table, I went ahead and put the new version into play ... and soon afterward, Trödel went ahead and added the American Soccer League to the table without any discussion.
I don't want to just jump in with a reversion, especially as there's some room for discussion about where ASL actually stands. Apparently it's a pro league that aspires to third-division status -- equal to USL Pro -- which if implemented would certainly put it above the NPSL and the USL-PDL, but that's not the case at the moment. Right now, it's a small (geographically as well as numerically) regional league with an indirect sanction through USASA, not directly from USSF, which would seem to place it below the NPSL and USL-PDL.
Thoughts? -- Strongpoint ( talk) 01:04, 23 January 2015 (UTC)
USASA affiliated leagues (amateur and semi-pro) | ||
---|---|---|
US PDL (19 entries / 34%) | ||
NPSL (11 entries / 14% ) | USASA Elite Leagues (10 entries / ??% ) | |
US Club Soccer (1 entry) | USSSA (1 entry) | USASA State Leagues |
Other Leagues | ||
ASL | NAL | others? |
Another question for those in the know - what is the difference between US Club Soccer and NAL - it appears to me that NAL is the adult league of US Club Soccer. -- Trödel 16:35, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
Still not satisfied with the Amateur table - there is no inclusion of the USSSA leagues even though they get a 1 team entry into the US Cup - and there is very little information about them and their leagues. -- Trödel 18:00, 2 February 2015 (UTC)
What the requirements for a league to be Division I, II or III. I know NASL are unhappy about changes to the Division I requirements, and other leagues want to 'move up'. I think it would be useful to add the requirements to the article. Red Jay ( talk) 19:08, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
I restructured this table to include the years back to when teams first started being sanctioned under the current Division I, Division II, and Division III sanctioning scheme (although I recognize that the requirements for sanctioning have changed over these years.) It didn't make sense to me to continue to list USL teams in the third column when they have Div II provisional sanctioning. There is plenty of information regarding the teams in each league already elsewhere in the article and the table really is about the loss and growth of professional teams since hosting the world cup in 1994. (IMNSHO - the loss of professional teams from over extending directly led to a lack of development of US players and contributed to the recent failure to qualify for the World Cup).
We should also include a 4th column for professional teams (or teams made up of players who are being paid a salary to play soccer) that are not playing in a league sanctioned as Div I, II, or III. The only league I can think of in this situation would be the MLS Reserve teams. As the change from MLS Reserve league to USL explains the growth from 14 to 24 teams and would better reflect the actual growth and loss of Professional teams in the US. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.131.254.90 ( talk) 16:58, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
Can somebody please separate the pyramid and league stats into to different tables? It makes no sense what so ever for them to be combined. SportsFan007( talk) 13:54, 25 October 2017 (UTC)SportsFan007
Level | Division | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Major League Soccer 19 U.S. teams, 3 Canadian teams
Western Conference | ||||||
2 |
North American Soccer League 6 U.S. teams, 1 Canadian team, and 1 Puerto Rican team |
United Soccer League 27 U.S. teams and 3 Canadian teams
Western Conference | |||||
3 | No officially sanctioned league currently at this level |
This is what it should look like:
SportsFan007(
talk) 18:33, 26 October 2017 (UTC)SportsFan007
<! COPY PASTE WIKICODE BELOW THIS POINT IF THIS GET'S USED>
Tier |
Leagues/divisions | ||||||||
Sanctioned by USSF as professional leagues | |||||||||
USSF Division I |
Major League Soccer (MLS) | ||||||||
Western Conference |
Eastern Conference |
||||||||
USSF Division II |
North American Soccer League (NASL) |
United Soccer League
[m 1] (USL) | |||||||
Western Conference (USL) |
Eastern Conference (USL) |
||||||||
USSF Division III |
National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) |
USL Division III (USL D3) (tentative name - starts in 2019) |
USASA to institute new standards
I oppose counting 8 teams from NISA even though the sanctioning lists 8 teams. At this point these teams don't exist - they have no named city and the ownership group doesn't appear to be listed yet. I propose listing only those teams that have been publicly announced. Making the change but opening up discussion here. Wikipedia principle I think applies: WP:FUTURE. We should wait at the least until they have names, if not on an official schedule. If NISA delivers on their promise that should be soon "In an announcement published Monday, NISA stated that the inaugural season will include teams in at least eight markets and that the remaining clubs are “expected to go public in the coming days.” [1] -- Trödel 23:24, 26 February 2019 (UTC)
Why were the links to the Canadian Soccer league system in the pyramids section of this page and the infoboxes of other pages (such as MLS and USLC)? I have no objection to it, I'm just curious as to why it was done. SportsFan007 ( talk) 08:51, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
Cite error: There are <ref group=m>
tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=m}}
template (see the
help page).
What level is the NPSL? It's amateur and draws from largely the same pool of players as the PDL. As such, it seems to be clearly below the USL Second Division and at the fourth level along with the PDL. -- Balerion 22:14, 26 February 2007 (UTC)
This is a fine article and I think that it definitely provides clarity for the American soccer system, but I feel that the article is an imposition of the structure of European soccer associations onto the American soccer leagues.
I think the article should be more clear on the fact that many of these leagues are completely and wholly separate and that this pyramid is in no way official. 49giantsharks 05:52, 4 May 2007 (UTC)
I fail to understand how a league that fields teams from multiple countries is only an "American league" or pyramid of "American leagues". There are no references to support the claim that the league(s), despite including international clubs, are solely American (USA). — Muckapædia 15e mai 2007, 1h00 (UTC+0900) 머크백과 TALK/ CONTRIBS
Muckapædia- I believe the intent was originally to have the article be American and [some] Canadian. The Puerto Rico and Bermuda references are only for a single team each, much like how there is a welsh team in the english pyramid and I belive some teams ignore which side of the border they are on in England/Scotland and Ireland/Northern Ireland IIRC (and since Puerto Rico is an American Commonwealth, the point could be argued to be moot in it's case, but that's an aside).
Given the confused state of professional soccer in the US and Canada before the 1990's, no clear system nor heirarchy arose in either country. Sure, some organizations and leagues came and went (ie NASL) but no long lasting heirarchy nor system emerged until the consolidation of the USL from the merging of the USISL and the A-League. And the USISL and A-League (and later the USL) both followed the example of most major sports in US & Canada (ie Baseball, Basketball, Hockey) and included teams from both sides of the border. Thus Canadian soccer was in the partially merged situation where its 'officially' top teams played in the USL even though a good argument could be that the best Canadian competition was one or another of the local (solely Canadian), chaotic (in terms of organization/heirarchy) competitons. As this consolidation was taking place, the MLS was created in the US, officially above the USL. Now Canada was in the very odd situation where it's official top division was the American lower division, but still unofficially the local chaotic situation could of been considered unofficially equal (or even higher). Starting this season, a single Canadian team has been created within the MLS (and there are rumors of more in the future) so now they are back to the previous situation. For more examples, see the discussion they are having at Talk:Canadian_soccer_pyramid where they are having trouble determining the Canadian Pyramid since the CSL has some (de-facto or official, I'm not sure) recognition from FIFA as "the national league" (despite it only being in 2 of the provinces) but at the same time the USL-1 was previously (or is currently) rated as the Canadian Div I. (FIFA has not yet addressed the issue of the creation of a Canadian MLS team). Meanwhile, the CONCACAF website even reads that there is "no division one championship" and last I had checked the Canadian Confederation website only made indirect references to the provincial teams as the top level.
This is also a big part of why when Canada was given a spot in the new Champions League they had to create a special tournament to determine Canada's entrant to it whereas all the other countries entrants appear to be determined based on domestic Div I league results (or the Caribbean championship for which entry into it is in turn based on caribbean domestic Div I league results). Previously I think Canada was considered part of the unofficial "Northern Zone" of CONCACAF but in actuality had no representation in international club competitions (I had hoped that this new Superliga would emerge in this kind of role but that now appears unlikely).
It should also be noted that in Canada and the US, the national federations have a more hands off approach to organizing professional competitions than I believe is the case in other countries. Thus seperate organizations (not directly responsible to FIFA's organizational scheme) arose which followed the common northern North American sports economic model which "ignores" the American/Canadian border.
Burdman- In the past, wasn't there a couple of northern Mexican teams in one of the shortlived American leagues? Or was that in Indoor Soccer?
AW- Actually, in many parts of the america's outside of the US, the common confusion between American (meaning of the North or South America Continents) and American (meaning of the United States of America) can be a touchy subject, and they view it that we Americans (meaning of the USA) have usurped and horded the noun. Hence, on here on the 'globalized' Wikipedia, both America and American take you to what are effectively little more than disambiguation pages. But in general, depending on the context, yes it is usually understood which is meant.
all- sorry for rambling on for so long. I hope my words are coherent. Gecko G ( talk) 11:53, 24 April 2008 (UTC)
Rather than having a woefully incomplete and partial listing of a few leagues from the USASA, wouldn't it be better to just list something like "4 Geographic regions" or such? Or perhaps mention that it is organized into 55 state associtiations? Though that latter would exclude the two Region I "Regional Leagues" (CLS & MSSL). Gecko G ( talk) 10:22, 21 March 2008 (UTC)
What do you think of this as another section?
US Open Cup: All levels
George F. Donnelly Cup: Level 5
Greecepwns (#1 Red Bulls Supporter) ( talk) 20:30, 22 March 2008 (UTC)
Some of the USASA leagues have more than one division. Should we have an extra step for these divisions or just leave it as is? Greecepwns ( talk) 18:39, 25 August 2008 (UTC)
I'm concerned that the article (and indeed the comments above) seem to indicate that there's no actual pyramid system in place in the US, and that this is an imposition of an English term to refer to the collective football leagues in the Americas. If this is the case (and the disparity of the various league organisations, together with the lack of a serious promotion system, strongly indicates that it is) then these articles (both this one and the Canadian soccer pyramid) should be retitled and reorganised to reflect this. Chris Cunningham (not at work) - talk 11:14, 22 September 2008 (UTC)
There are three official levels to the American soccer pyramid for men and women: these are Division I, Division II, and Division III, which are set by the United States Soccer Federation and correspond to levels 1, 2, and 3 as they exist now; see Policy 202 in this PDF. The remaining levels are all amateur, and are divided into categories based on participation by US Soccer. Divisions I-III are definitely U.S. designations and not North American designations. They may contain teams from other countries and be certified by other nations as well, but the U.S. soccer pyramid consists of those leagues recognized by U.S. Soccer and I think that's a meaningful distinction There is a separate Canadian soccer pyramid article that includes many of the same leagues, which seems like the right solution to me.-- Chapka ( talk) 20:33, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
Reflecting the comments below and in the spirit of Wikipedia:Be bold, I have entirely reworked the men's pyramid, in the process:
Comments and edits welcome, of course. -- Chapka ( talk) 21:33, 21 May 2009 (UTC)
Moved the information on individual USASA teams to an already existing page and linked-- Chapka ( talk) 17:06, 22 May 2009 (UTC)
The pyramid currently lists level two as NASL and level three as USL. Where is a source stating that the USSF has sanctioned the leagues in that manner. While people may believe that the NASL is a better league, it deals completely with sanctioning and until the source is present they are both Division 2 leagues. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.189.42.247 ( talk) 17:21, 17 January 2011 (UTC)
I'd like to restart discussion concerning the name of the article. Should this page be renamed United States soccer league system or be kept as is? The term "league system" seems to be a generic name for a hierarchy of leagues run by a federation. I'd assume this consensus exists all over Wikipedia as the United States and Canadian articles are the only ones using the pyramid term. Is there a reason for this? -- Blackbox77 ( talk) 04:16, 23 May 2011 (UTC)
Where in the pyramid should we include the MLS Reserve Division? Maybe 2nd along with NASL?-- Coquidragon ( talk) 06:25, 22 September 2011 (UTC)
I've moved the content here from the American soccer pyramid article. This naming is consistent with all of the soccer league system articles from around the world, many of which more resemble a "pyramid" (with promotion and relegation) than the United States does.
I've rewritten the introduction to reflect the new name, renamed most of the sections, and made updates and stylistic changes to the content where appropriate. I've also removed references to the old 15-tier or so division that was on this page before the last overhaul. Chapka ( talk) 15:11, 6 June 2012 (UTC)
I think the table revision placing the USASA Elite Amateur Leagues at the same level as the fourth-division nationwide leagues, while well-intentioned, probably made the lower portion of the pyramid less accurate than before. It's commonly held that the level of play in the PDL and NPSL is higher than that of the EALs, which is in turn somewhat higher than that in USCS and the USASA state leagues (the latter assertion is supported by the fact that USASA gave the EALs special classification to begin with). I'm not aware of any recent change in how any of these leagues are classified (or not) by USSF or USASA.
The prior version of the table that featured the EALs as spanning the fourth and fifth divisions was probably more accurate, given the somewhat ambiguous classifications of these leagues. I'll probably revert this revision in the near future unless there's some objection. -- Strongpoint ( talk) 04:12, 27 May 2014 (UTC)
<! COPY PASTE WIKICODE BELOW THIS POINT IF THIS GETS USED>
4* | Affiliated through United States Adult Soccer Association (USASA) [1] | ||||
United Soccer Leagues Premier Development League (PDL) 56 clubs (in 4 conferences) |
National Premier Soccer League (NPSL) | ||||
≥5* |
USASA Elite Amateur Leagues | ||||
US Club Soccer (USCS) |
United States Adult Soccer Association state leagues |
* The tiers or levels here are approximate and not specifically so designated by USSF.
{{
cite web}}
: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1=
(
help)
<! END OF COPY PASTE SECTION>
US CLUB SOCCER - THE NATIONAL ADULT LEAGUES IS 4TH TIER OF SOCCER IN THE UNITED STATES, NOT 5TH. PLEASE CHANGE. THANK YOU. — Preceding unsigned comment added by One100ton ( talk • contribs) 07:37, 31 May 2014 (UTC)
Without any substantive disagreement for some time, I'm implementing this new table. Please let me know if there are any issues. Strongpoint ( talk) 19:24, 13 January 2015 (UTC)
Shouldn't the last level be "≤5*" and not "≥5*"? The current label says that the teams are no lower than 5th level, when what is meant is that they rank no higher than 5th level. -- Khajidha ( talk) 13:27, 22 January 2015 (UTC)
So after allowing for a long discussion period about implementing revisions to the Men's Leagues table, I went ahead and put the new version into play ... and soon afterward, Trödel went ahead and added the American Soccer League to the table without any discussion.
I don't want to just jump in with a reversion, especially as there's some room for discussion about where ASL actually stands. Apparently it's a pro league that aspires to third-division status -- equal to USL Pro -- which if implemented would certainly put it above the NPSL and the USL-PDL, but that's not the case at the moment. Right now, it's a small (geographically as well as numerically) regional league with an indirect sanction through USASA, not directly from USSF, which would seem to place it below the NPSL and USL-PDL.
Thoughts? -- Strongpoint ( talk) 01:04, 23 January 2015 (UTC)
USASA affiliated leagues (amateur and semi-pro) | ||
---|---|---|
US PDL (19 entries / 34%) | ||
NPSL (11 entries / 14% ) | USASA Elite Leagues (10 entries / ??% ) | |
US Club Soccer (1 entry) | USSSA (1 entry) | USASA State Leagues |
Other Leagues | ||
ASL | NAL | others? |
Another question for those in the know - what is the difference between US Club Soccer and NAL - it appears to me that NAL is the adult league of US Club Soccer. -- Trödel 16:35, 28 January 2015 (UTC)
Still not satisfied with the Amateur table - there is no inclusion of the USSSA leagues even though they get a 1 team entry into the US Cup - and there is very little information about them and their leagues. -- Trödel 18:00, 2 February 2015 (UTC)
What the requirements for a league to be Division I, II or III. I know NASL are unhappy about changes to the Division I requirements, and other leagues want to 'move up'. I think it would be useful to add the requirements to the article. Red Jay ( talk) 19:08, 4 November 2015 (UTC)
I restructured this table to include the years back to when teams first started being sanctioned under the current Division I, Division II, and Division III sanctioning scheme (although I recognize that the requirements for sanctioning have changed over these years.) It didn't make sense to me to continue to list USL teams in the third column when they have Div II provisional sanctioning. There is plenty of information regarding the teams in each league already elsewhere in the article and the table really is about the loss and growth of professional teams since hosting the world cup in 1994. (IMNSHO - the loss of professional teams from over extending directly led to a lack of development of US players and contributed to the recent failure to qualify for the World Cup).
We should also include a 4th column for professional teams (or teams made up of players who are being paid a salary to play soccer) that are not playing in a league sanctioned as Div I, II, or III. The only league I can think of in this situation would be the MLS Reserve teams. As the change from MLS Reserve league to USL explains the growth from 14 to 24 teams and would better reflect the actual growth and loss of Professional teams in the US. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.131.254.90 ( talk) 16:58, 13 October 2017 (UTC)
Can somebody please separate the pyramid and league stats into to different tables? It makes no sense what so ever for them to be combined. SportsFan007( talk) 13:54, 25 October 2017 (UTC)SportsFan007
Level | Division | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Major League Soccer 19 U.S. teams, 3 Canadian teams
Western Conference | ||||||
2 |
North American Soccer League 6 U.S. teams, 1 Canadian team, and 1 Puerto Rican team |
United Soccer League 27 U.S. teams and 3 Canadian teams
Western Conference | |||||
3 | No officially sanctioned league currently at this level |
This is what it should look like:
SportsFan007(
talk) 18:33, 26 October 2017 (UTC)SportsFan007
<! COPY PASTE WIKICODE BELOW THIS POINT IF THIS GET'S USED>
Tier |
Leagues/divisions | ||||||||
Sanctioned by USSF as professional leagues | |||||||||
USSF Division I |
Major League Soccer (MLS) | ||||||||
Western Conference |
Eastern Conference |
||||||||
USSF Division II |
North American Soccer League (NASL) |
United Soccer League
[m 1] (USL) | |||||||
Western Conference (USL) |
Eastern Conference (USL) |
||||||||
USSF Division III |
National Independent Soccer Association (NISA) |
USL Division III (USL D3) (tentative name - starts in 2019) |
USASA to institute new standards
I oppose counting 8 teams from NISA even though the sanctioning lists 8 teams. At this point these teams don't exist - they have no named city and the ownership group doesn't appear to be listed yet. I propose listing only those teams that have been publicly announced. Making the change but opening up discussion here. Wikipedia principle I think applies: WP:FUTURE. We should wait at the least until they have names, if not on an official schedule. If NISA delivers on their promise that should be soon "In an announcement published Monday, NISA stated that the inaugural season will include teams in at least eight markets and that the remaining clubs are “expected to go public in the coming days.” [1] -- Trödel 23:24, 26 February 2019 (UTC)
Why were the links to the Canadian Soccer league system in the pyramids section of this page and the infoboxes of other pages (such as MLS and USLC)? I have no objection to it, I'm just curious as to why it was done. SportsFan007 ( talk) 08:51, 30 October 2019 (UTC)
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