Lane United Football Club and the United Soccer League announced on Thursday the club acquired rights to expand into the USL League One and USL Super League franchises.
The expansion marks Lane County’s first professional football club, which would allow the club to operate teams in multiple leagues within USL, including a semi-professional men’s team in USL League One and a professional women’s team in the USL Super League.
“Lane United FC and Eugene, Oregon, have tremendous potential to become a professional USL expansion club and market,” USL COO and Chief Real Estate Officer Justin Papadakis said in a press release.
According to the press release, Lane United Football Club and the USL have worked together the past 18 months on establishing a professional club through the community’s participation as well as conversations with potential partners, investors and local officials.
Lane United Football Club was originally founded in 2013 and has served as a pre-professional league with teams in USL League Two for men, a 2023 expansion team in the USL W League for women, and USL Academy.
“We announced our women’s amateur team that’s going to be playing this summer and had really good response to it,” Lane United Football Club Managing Director Dave Galas told The Register-Guard. “So, we expect the response to be even bigger and better, especially with the World Cup happening right now and the Women’s World Cup coming this summer.”
The USL is split into three men’s leagues: the USL League One serves as a Division III semi-professional development level, right under Division II USL Championship and Major League Soccer.
For 2023, the league will have 12 teams across 10 states participating in a 32-match regular season followed by playoffs. All League One teams compete for the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup as part of an officially sanctioned professional league.
In 2024, two new expansion teams will be added in Spokane, Wash., and Santa Barbara, Calif., as well as others over the next four years.
The USL Super League launches as a new Division II professional women’s soccer league in August while the USL W League serves as a semi-professional women’s soccer league.
The league looks to operate with 12 teams and will have its season start in August with playoffs and a championship in June 2024, including a mid-season winter break.
“Competing at the professional level would give our club and our community a year-round national platform,” John Galas, head coach and sporting director for Lane United Football Club, said in the press release. “The USL has a proven track record of developing young players and giving them the chance to play professionally for their hometown club.
“To see that here, and to be part of a team that represents Lane County and Eugene nationally, would be a dream come true for so many people.”
