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USL Championship unbalanced schedule announced

USL Championship

We will see a 2020 USL Championship unbalanced schedule, as eight regionalized groups will play a 16-game regular-season slate, followed by single-elimination playoffs.

Championship clubs will be divided into eight regionalized groups with each team completing a 16-game regular season. There will be five groups made up of four teams, and three groups made up of five teams to cover the 35 member clubs of the Championship.

The regular-season games will be played over 13 weeks, concluding on the weekend of October 2-4. Games completed prior to the season suspension in March will be counted and included in the schedule, with teams that were active on the opening weekend of the season having 15 games remaining in their schedule.

Each team’s schedule will be made up of 12 games from within its own group, with the remaining four games to be played against teams that fall within a similar geographic region. Through this, each team placed in a four-team group will play its four fellow group members three times.

Teams will be initially scheduled to play a balanced schedule of eight games home and away in regular season. However, the Board of Governors has also approved the ability for clubs to play an unbalanced amount of home and away matches, if necessary. For example, if a club is experiencing difficulties with venue availability due to the impact of COVID-19 in their community.

The 2020 season will conclude with the top two teams from each group in the regular season advancing to the 2020 USL Championship Playoffs, producing a field of 16 teams overall in a regionalized single-elimination bracket. Group winners will be paired with Group runners-up in the round of 16 with home advantage being determined by record for the remainder of the bracket.

Photo courtesy Memphis 901 FC.

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