The United Soccer League, home to Utah’s Real Monarchs, will undergo a rebranding of its divisions after the 2018 season, the league announced Tuesday.
The league currently has two tiers — USL and USL Premier Development League — and had planned to add the USL Division 3 in 2019. The three tiers will be renamed to USL Championship, USL League One and USL League Two, respectively.
The three tiers will be renamed to USL Championship, USL League One and USL League Two, respectively.
The Real Monarchs will play in the Championship league, which will be the next highest division under Major League Soccer. The Monarchs are the minor league affiliate of Real Salt Lake.
The restructure will make the USL similar to how some international soccer leagues are structured. The English Premier League, for example, is the top league in England. Under it is the English Football League, which is broken up into three divisions: The Championship, League One and League Two.
The change is in an effort to move the game in America forward by doing what it can do to create "a structure similar to what the professional leagues overseas have,” a league source said.
The USL announced earlier this season that three teams will move to its new third division from it second division. Those teams are Toronto FC II, the Richmond Kickers and Orlando City B, which did not play in the 2018 season.
