The U.S. Professional League System for 2022 EXPLAINED | Salaries, Attendance, Levels, etc.
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About Me
Name: Matt Sheldon
Age: 29
Height: 6' 0"
Weight: 170 lbs
Nationality: USA
Job: Professional Soccer Player
Current Team: Charleston Battery
Current League: USL Championship (USA 2nd Tier)
Last Team: FC Tulsa
Previous Teams: Tulsa Roughnecks, Waterside Karori FC, Saint Louis FC, Orange County Blues, SG Kinzenbach
Position: RB/LB/RM
College: UC Davis (D1) - กีฬา
It still baffles me how there are no promotion or relegation. completely takes away what's great with sport
The system is designed primarily to line the pockets of Don Garber and friends. Therefore any growth needs to be controlled so they can take their share of any revenue made. An open system won't be allowed for as long as the greedy are in charge
How is pro/rel great for the sport in the US? I’m not sure you understand sports culture in the US.
@@fthamma Multiple reasons.
1. Pro/rel creates more of a meritocracy for clubs and players.
2. It makes lower leagues feasible because there is something to play for.
3. It makes all divisions more competitive year round
4. It creates a lot more teams and more academies, many more free to play academies will start as they have incentive to grow players.
5. Players are way less likely to fall thru the cracks as there is a built in safety net of clubs at all levels to play on.
6. It allows players who are not college material and not on a pro team to continue playing football seriously.
7. It creates organic sport culture as you can actually have local teams where ever there is demand for one. And like really local not 1-3 hours away.
So you need more reasons? Or is the Billionaire owners more one side investment being 100% safe more important than all of that
@@rq7284 There is still no chance pro/rel is feasible right now.
1. The step up in quality from USL to MLS is too high especially depth in a full season.
2. Lower leagues have the US open cup to play for and their own league championship.
3. Not really just the bottom teams in MLS will actually have to try not to go under.
4. Watch the video you commentated on. Also Free to play academies, good luck with that.
5. There are plenty of teams a player can play for in and outside of the US. If you are good enough you’ll play somewhere.
6. If you aren’t good enough for d1 soccer good luck making it pro.
7. I don’t think the casual fan would care to support their local club as much as you believe. Most of my friends would root for Barca, Bayern, Man U, or PSG. Before supporting their local club.
@@fthamma Not sure about the quality gap being that big. But regardless, anytime a USL team is allowed to move to MLS they just spend more money and are usually competitive enough.
2. Our lower leagues below pro are Summer leagues for college kids, and those players don't play Open cup
3. It's called having parachute payments and stuff. You don't just make it the wild west with no infrastructure. And sometimes clubs fail, but I'd rather have thousands more and risk losing one or two.
4. I watched the video. How many free academies are there? I'm saying you can increase that number 10 fold with pro rel
5. I play in Europe, I am aware there are teams to play for. But it's not that easy to get paperwork to come over here, and not everyone is financially able.
But shitty summer leagues where no one gets scouted is not really producing players. It's just a crutch
6. Again I didn't play D1 and I play in Europe, you don't really understand how football works
7. Yeah not everyone supports their local, but you definitely won't if you don't even have the option. On the contrary I've seen communities in the US show up to lower league games in good numbers when the team has an organic connection. Again talking nonsense
0:00 Intro to the soccer pyramid in America
0:53 Shoutout to Halt's Boots for providing new cleats for upcoming season
1:37 MLS the Top Division of US Soccer
2:27 USL Championship the Second Division of US Soccer
3:04 USL League One the Third Division of US Soccer
3:33 NISA the Third Division of US Soccer
4:26 MLS Next Pro brand new Third Division of US Soccer
5:28 UPSL and NPSL: Non-Sanctioned Soccer Leagues
5:54 Major Arena Soccer League and NISL
They should really do a system with relegation and promotion to increase the competitiveness amongst players and clubs. It would be a lot better also for fans. Hopefully one day🙏⚽️🔥
Imagine all the underdogs coming up Bc of the motivation to maybe get promoted. Man the game would be so much better & a good opportunity for players
@@christianyarros9066 they would have no choice
@@tonyponce6196 exactly
@Xavier Laneuville Why would they have no choice? They literally own the team. The league is run by owners. If you were an owner that put millions of dollars into a club, under no circumstances would you risk your team being relegated. The owners would never agree to this - it’s naive to think that “competition” and “the love of the game” would force owners into a relegation system.
@@christianyarros9066 that’s the sad part. Soccer shouldn’t be about money. That’s why the US sucks compared to Europe.
Great video! I agree that the consistent change in the pyramid makes it less interesting to follow and harder to understand the system. I played varsity high school soccer, club soccer, JUCO soccer, and then NCAA D2 soccer in 2022. I had no idea about these teams/leagues that can give you exposure to semi-pro/pro teams in these leagues. I graduated college in 2023 thinking I was done playing soccer. I found these leagues and practiced with a good NPSL team this past summer. Now I joined a UPSL team trying to work my way up the pyramid. Good work on this video!
Q/A: what was the moment in your career where you realised there was levels to this sh*t? It could be a time you played against a really good winger and he gave you a tough game or a really good teammate of yours having a great performance?
Can we just appreciate all the work Matt puts into these videos so we can be more knowledgeable and informed on these 🙏
Lies again? Match Facts
I'm 49 yrs old, played D1 soccer in the early 90s at St. John's. Big time school. But no MLS or pro league to shoot for at the time, so we focused on our degrees. However some players kept chasing the dream (whatever that was at the time) and continued to play. I remember by the late 90s while I was making over $100K working for my company in media/advertising, some of my former teamates were at Metrostars ( now Redbulls) making like $30K. I felt bad for them, funny enough. While the leagues have come a long way, most soccer players in the US should focus on, at best, getting a free college ride and finishing their degrees. Hard to make money as a soccer player. Matt does a great job laying out for you younger cats what you're up against.
I was making more than a pro soccer player back in the 90s and I was just a file clerk for a law firm.
Man whenever Matt posts it just makes the day so much better.
Just great content! You give such good tips and advice to young players and everyone really appreciates it! thanks, matt👍
These videos recently have been hella helpful‼️
For those saying that the teams in lower divisions do not have much to play for because there is no pro/rel, I do not agree with that. The US is different than other countries because we have sports here that are more popular than soccer is here. Also we have a lot of big markets. There is a reason why the MLS wanted a team in Miami. Miami is a big market. Orange County SC won the USL Championship last year, and they have been able to sell their players for good profits. The motivation for teams in lower divisions is to make profits, and one of the ways that they do that is by developing and selling players for profits. Recently, Orange County SC has transfered Kobi Henry to Ligue 1 club Stade de Reims. Before that, Orange County SC trsnsfered Aaron Cervantes to Scottish giant Rangers FC in 2020, and Ronaldo Damus was transferred to Swedish club GIF Sundsvall this past January.
Great content. Thank you for putting all this together
This is excellent man great job!
Really helpful matt!
Great and straight forward 💥thanks
Great vid!
Every time Matt make a video it’s always just makes my day.
Learning every time when he makes a videos
Been subscribed since New Zealand days! Great vid Matt
WOW that was a really nice video I really enjoyed it
Thanks!
This is insightful
Keep grinding bro!
Q/A who were some of the best players you've played with or against throughout your career and where are they now. Perhaps you could give us an insight to how good you thought they were.
Hey bro ur doing a great job bro
New subscriber here... Great video. Simple and easy to understand. Wonder if you have a similar video on the other non-professional leagues like UPSL all the way down to youth programs. Thank you.
Thank you
In the US, players are promoted and relegated so that the teams in each league can have the financial stability required in a system that values competitive balance. MLS chose that system in part because the open system used in the past was seen as the reason the NASL collapse. It also has proven to be a very stable system that promotes league growth.
Great video Matt, can you please how the MLS Draft works?
I love this video
Thanks! now it's more clear to me. I was born and played in Italy for a long time. I've been in the US for more than 12 years now, and my son plays club soccer... so I was trying to get my mind around this convoluted and overcomplicated system we have in the US... Hopefully, it will look more 'civilized' and rational soon.
Q/A: Can you explain the MLS draft and how it works?
Building An Amateur Soccer Nation by Bill Marth, great read on the Soccer Pyramid!
Tell ‘em Ric from The Parsippany Football Club sent you 🙏🙏
Let’s keep this ball rolling!! ⚽️⚽️⚽️
I played for the NPSL North Alabama SC team as keeper and we went up against Chattanooga. We lost 2-0, but I was happy with the result. Considering we were technically an amateur team and they were is NISA when we started playing them. Too bad I can't play for them this year since I blew out my knees
Shit man.. How those knees doing now?
Keep it up though!
Time to work with the nature
Would be interesting to see CPL vs USL championship teams
Hey Matt silly question, why do you like the Vapor 11’s so much? Lol wish you the best with your new club!
Can you do a video on Summer League e.g USL 2, NPSL and UPSL
Thank you so much for making this video again! It almost needs to be a yearly thing with the way the pyramid changes so often
Just when I think I've got a good video idea, the GOAT uploads...
LOOLL
As a Brit who is confused about the American League system you have been helpful
Good day
Pls can you do a video on how the football system in north Cyprus is and how to get a trial in north Cyprus
Love you sir from Nepal ❤❤
I remember when the MLS started. Bench players were making less than $30k a year. Now minimum is $63k.
$63k is worth less now due to inflation
I do as well. I had a few friends in the league in the late 90s. I laughed at their salaries, sadly. Most quit by 26 years old. Got real jobs or went into coaching.
@@christianyarros9066 63k is actually worth something. That's about $33 an hour if it was a real job. $33 an hour for playing a sport you love? Where do I sign up.
@@luisgarcia373 The problem is you only can play for so long before age catches up with you. then you have to try and get a job in another field, and in America being a long-term pro athlete means you get shunned from most other careers because you need a college degree plus work experience in that field.
It would have been dope to see a Semi Professional League in this Pyramid as well. NISA Nation which is right below NISA only has around 12-15 teams if I'm not mistaken.
How do players in 2nd and 3rd tier typically handle things like health insurance and saving for retirement?
Lol. Obamacare. Most have 2nd jobs or secondary income. The majority are done playing before 30 years old. You kinda realize by a certain age if you're gonna make money or not. Most get real jobs or become high school or college coaches. Still a nice life.
@@ReelGreezy Follow them on facebook, they post there usually
@@ReelGreezy you can check out their website. it is written on that. Do some.research
@@ReelGreezy Allahu akbar* . A pronoun is written by a capital letter.
They can't. Most of them actually are worse off playing soccer than if they went to university and got a job in another field. Those playing are doing it for the love of the game for a few years until they move on to another career.
Did your Prehab workout with you on your tik tok live!
Would it be possible to get an updated video
I really like the playoff idea at the end of a season tho but also it would be really harsh on the team in 1st to win the whole thing
Pro/Rel can never happen with MLS clubs owning lower level teams unless they have reserves games and an MLS2 which is not part of the pyramid. Like in the Premier League how they have PL2 which is a primarily youth but you can have couple reserves or something like that but its not part of the pyramid
First comment love Ur videos. Keep it going king. Imma make it pro BC of U
The battery is still a sick name for a team
Here’s a random question for the Q+A:
Will you finish your college degree after your career is done, even if you just do it all online?
My local club is in USL championship. DEFEND 210 BABY!
Basically if your not in MLS then start looking for a 9-5 job pretty fast.
lolllllllllllllllll, you are funny bro but you are correct, but would you work for 9-5 for $27000 or play soccer for the same amount?. would you like to wake up in the morning and go to the job you hate
@@nemuelpaiva3738 well id work for the 27000 because when I'm 37 il.still.have that job, when I'm the same age in football terms, im a dishwasher.
Thank you. I was really unware of how football leagues are structured in the US.
Def not setup for pro rel. But it would be nice to have a playoff match between the bottom mls team and top usl team to see who would get in the mls for starters.
That’s called the Open Cup
Nice video bro but in the thumbnail stands 2020 instead of 2022
Greetings 🖖🏼
Become Elite you should do a video on exactly why the US Soccer pyramid is so unstable. Why do new leagues come in and other leagues drop off? Why do teams move around all the time?
$
Because football/soccer in the US did not had a fully professional national league until 1996 when MLS had its 1st season. The only exception being the original NASL in the late 1970s.
In addition, MLS itself was considered a young and unstable league until Beckham came to America . The league was still mediocre quality wise until 5 years ago.
The USL Championship solidified itself as the 2nd division only after the 2nd NASL died out in 2018.
The sport is simply young regarding professional play here in the States and we are still developing a proper soccer pyramid.
@@kenw7287 don’t get why they don’t just adopt the systems they use in Europe
@@Gratefully- Because not every country in Europe have the same pyramid structure. You have countries like Malta or Luxembourg where there is only 1 tier of fully professional football. On the other hand, you have Italy and Germany with 3 tiers of fully professional football.
Also the organization is different between countries. In England., the leagues are organized by distance at the lower tiers. In Germany, the leagues are organized by state/province at the lower tiers.
@isaiahjones2933 MLS can't fund all of that yet. But it's getting there with MLS Next Pro. Eventually there will probably be 3 divisions with just MLS, USL for fringe MLS players, and MLS Next Pro for youth players
There will never be pro rel in the upper levels of football/soccer in the U.S. when it costs an initial $350 mill to just join the league and MLS itself being single entity…. We may see it in lower leagues possibly at some point.
@Become Elite, I want to try out for usl but live in a rural area and don’t know how to get involved, any tips? I’m a few hours from Charleston I wouldn’t mind trying out for your team to be honest
I got a question, what if I wanted to play pro football in a different country, can I still be eligible to play for the United States team? 🤔
hello guys, where can I do a trial to play in a usl championship? I live in minnesota, I'm from france.
I will appreciate your answer. 🤙🏼🙏🏽
Hey Mat, do you know if there is a signing bonus for any of the leagues, like they do in Europe
😂😂
Yes, majority of MLS players will have a signing bonus worked into their contracts and a minority of USL Championship and USL League 1 players will have a signing bonus although it's pretty small. Half of my USL contracts I've gotten have had signing bonuses.
I have the DFB b liscence, which league can I coach at?
So you’ll be playing Charlie Dennis next season as he plays for Oakland roots?
It's crazy how there is 3 different division 3 league's. Personally I wish it was 1 league with 4 conferences to reduce travel costs etc.
Where can I find a second or 3rd division team?
is it smart to try MLS next pro league
Promotion and relegation would do AMAZING things for US Soccer.
Is there a new visit fro on this topic?
Y el fútbol de womens?, saludos desde Perú
I feel like the introduction of MLS next pro will make a path for a relegation/promotion system in the USL/MLS👀
How?
@@duaneswaby622 Now if they do a promotion/relegation system there won’t be two teams of the same organization (for example: Atlanta UTD and Atlanta UTD2 in the same league)
That wasn’t what was holding it back though. MLS owners just don’t want the possibility to lose revenue by being relegated.
No it won’t. MLS Next Pro is for MLS reserve teams, it’s not a league for pro/rel at all
Relegation will not work in the USA. There are limited fan bases, TV & other media will refuse to provide any coverage and until there is a sufficient culture like that in other parts of the world (perhaps in 20-30 years) implementing relegation would mean the death of the American leagues. At the present, MLS depends entirely on wealthy individuals and media coverage to allow it to exist. If you are a fan from Europe, and you have interest in, say American lacrosse, how do you start a league where only a handful of people care about the sport, hardly any billionaires or millionaires want to fund your teams, and where the local media have no interest in covering your game? Right now, unless the local team is doing well, the local fans do not support it thru bad times which means with relegation a team does not get a chance to be better, it would just fold and within a couple of years the entire league. This has already happened several times already and MLS & the USL are so far, thanks to no relegation, been able to survive and grow.
You can be ppg in the 3rd dev, I got payed for every game I was called up for even if I was benched.
hey, saw a graphic I made!
vapor 11s and matt name a better boot player combo
can you make a video on how to train alone when you have no team please. Like how could a weekly schedule be
yeah
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you forgot usl league 2
Where stands NPSL ?
Hi Matt! Do you know anything about the womens pyramid?
What is better USL or NCAA???
Thats what im tryna figure out
Mans was laughing the entire way through that promotion
Wouldn't the MLS consider MLS Next a second-tier league instead of a third-tier league? Considering many of those teams used to play in USL Championship, it seems like a convincing argument can be made that it really is a second-tier league in direction competition to USL Championship. Am I missing something?
It doesn't matter what the MLS argues. The league system is determined solely by the USSF and the USSF has declared for 2022 that the USLC is the second tier and MLS Next Pro will be in the third tier. It might change in the future, but it's up to the USSF not the MLS.
Almost all the current MLS Next Pro teams are reserve teams meant for developing homegrown/youth talent. I mean the Borussia Dortmund II team plays in the German 4 division. Its not really relevant to youth development imo.
To me it doesn’t matter what Tier the MLS next pro is considered to be. It is a reserves league and unless the reserves teams were inserted in the pyramid through pro/rel like in Germany or Spain it is a bit irrelevant to determine the Tier for this. In England the reserves teams are not part of the pyramid. It is like trying to determine where are the U18 teams in the pyramid or the U16 teams. They are youth/development football and the reserves teams tend to be U23 or U21 depending on the country.
Do you get paid enough?
What’s the median salary for usl?
It describes from 2:23 on, but those numbers are only estimated.
Anywhere from 1000-3000$ per month
@@nicholasbertocchi9697 is usl considered to be pro or semi pro
What happened to the USL League 2 or PDL?
I think he forgot to mention it. As far as I know the USL-2 is planning to play a 2022 season. I’ve seen game schedules posted on their website.
Sheldon also should do a video where he describes the women’s pyramid because that’s a whole separate thing. I’m not sure why he doesn’t talk about women’s soccer other than that he’s a man and most of his audience are men. But we do have professional women’s soccer too.
Do you think the NISA league will survive? Even with the rise of MLS Next
NISA is 10 teams 2022
Hi bro
Less goo
Does anyone know where the USL league 2 ranks?
they arent considered a professional league, they are technically considered to be a semi professional league.
Tier 4
Some NCAA guys also play in USL2 as this is, with NPSL the best league below professional level.
I can wait for promotion relegation in us soccer
Jetro willems on thr copa90 youtube channel
USL league 1 and MLS next pro are definately a level above nisa tbh
Yeah, for the most part, that's what I've generally seen (there's always exceptions), but the USSF is the one who officially determines the pyramid system.
Not really, Detroit city played in NiSA last year and with barely any new signings they’re holding out pretty well in USLC so far, also two NISA teams beat USLC teams this year in Lamar hunt cup. From watching usl league one and nisa teams in the open cup this year there’s not much difference with usl league one being only slightly better.
@@lilwyneblows777 got almost a whole new roster.
@@lilwyneblows777 I am from Detroit and you are very wrong. The entire roster was almost brand new and significantly better.
Maybe Scottish clubs like Glasgow Celtic, Glasgow Rangers, and Aberdeen should join the MLS? Or even some other big European sides. Maybe in a European Conference where they play Eastern American sides and European sides to qualify for the playoffs.
Well it's not that easy since they are come from Different Confederation . Unless :
1. The USA move to UEFA .
2. Or Celtic / Rangers / Aberdeen Build satelite club in MLS like Japan Did in Singapore / red Bulls In many country .
3 . MLS Build satelite club in Scotland , BUT they must start from Lowest division like another new Formed club .
As somebody who comes from England, when I see the set up of football in the US you seem to have it back to front. One of the reasons that football has been going so long in England are the grassroots teams. These are the leagues and teams where the fans actually play, this is where their love for the game comes from and where their dreams start. I may be wrong but I just don't see this in the US where it all seems to an outsider that the whole thing is driven by the college system and money. The US must be missing out on thousands of kids who will never go to college so once they leave High School they are lost.
Actually, the US is lucky we have MLS even with its franchise no relegation mode. Until 2014 soccer or football was regularly attacked by our politicians, media, etc. as "sissyball" watched only by unpatriotic citizens who should stripped of their rights and deported. Think I am making this up? Google "soccer is a sissy sport". in addition, American media despises soccer because there are no ad breaks, so the only way to grow the sport in the US was to adopt the billionaire owner franchise system with no relegation and a hard salary cap. Even without relegation in the last 30 years the follow leagues have folded: The American Soccer League (twice), the National Association League, the North American Soccer League (twice), the United Soccer League, & the USSF Division 2 Professional League.
Q&a- explain the us league system women
Probably not fair as majority of his viewers are males and most would rather him make another video… not hate to female sport but just being real
@@nicholasbertocchi9697 i mean ig, but it would be nice cuz there isnt a female soccer player like his channel
I’m not a female but I think Matt shoutout to Veatriki Sarri a female pro in England and Katie rood
bring back nasl
Bull SQUAT!!!! my daughter wasn't a star player in high school!! Score maybe 4 GOALS all senior season. She's now playing D2 soccer!!! The high school Coach put the players on a scouting website which got her highlights viewed. Not many highlights!!! She's more of a vocal leader, defensive mid player. Grades and hustle. Got her noticed...!!
Check your thumbnail its wrong
Tell him what's wrong
If USL can get pro-reg between their leagues I could see them either pressuring MLS into joining the pro/reg system as the pemier American league or surpassing MLS one day if MLS refuses to adapt
You realize not having relegation is much more sustainable right? Look at how the best teams in europe tried to create a super league. Closed leagues are what the game is moving towards.
Relegation will not work in the USA. There are limited fan bases, TV & other media will refuse to provide any coverage and until there is a sufficient culture like that in other parts of the world (perhaps in 20-30 years) implementing relegation would mean the death of the American leagues. At the present, MLS & USL depend entirely on wealthy individuals and media coverage to allow it to exist. If you are a fan from Europe, and you have interest in, say American lacrosse, how do you start a league where only a handful of people care about the sport, hardly any billionaires or millionaires want to fund your teams, and where the local media have no interest in covering your game? Right now, unless the local team is doing well, the local fans do not support it thru bad times which means with relegation a team does not get a chance to be better, it would just fold and within a couple of years the entire league. This has already happened several times already and MLS & the USL are so far, thanks to no relegation, been able to survive and grow.
@@RedMan-yx2pzsustainable for as long as the fan base is happy with a closed system. A closed system is bad for youth player development. It is a centrally planned league with little real competition. In an open system there is more inequality (based on many variables) but that freedom generates a creative destruction process that improves the whole system / football pyramid as a whole.
@@RedMan-yx2pzhaving no relegation means the owners get richer and don’t have to attract any talent to thier teams they don’t have to scout or put any effort smh that’s why Europe is better than us at futbol and South America
You gotta feel for that guy making $63k defending against Vela making $6 million. Now that alone would drive me to make a fool out of him on national TV.