USL Championship Announces 2021 Playoff Structure

Sixteen-team Playoff to take place in November

Chris Walker | Image: USL Championship

The USL Championship announced today via News its playoff structure for the 2021 season, which will feature 16 teams when the regular season concludes in the last weekend of October.

Following the announcement of the Championship’s divisional alignment in March, the top four teams from each division in the regular season will advance into a regionalized single-elimination bracket. The top two clubs in each of the Atlantic, Central, Mountain and Pacific Divisions will earn hosting rights in the Eastern and Western Conference Quarterfinals, regardless of total points.

Division winners will be matched with the fourth-place team, while second-placed teams will meet third-placed teams from the opposing division in the Conference Quarterfinals, matching up teams from the Atlantic Division and Central Division in the Eastern Conference and the Mountain and Pacific Division in the Western Conference.

Following the Conference Quarterfinals round, home advantage will be determined by total points earned, regardless of division rank, for the remainder of the postseason. The Championship season will conclude with the USL Championship Final on Sunday, November 28 with kickoff set for 8:30 p.m. ET on ESPN or ESPN 2 and ESPN Deportes.