How many semipro soccer clubs are there in the United States?

What sits below the professional leagues?

The professional tiers are small: below MLS, the USL Championship plays 2026 with 25 clubs and USL League One added five expansion teams. The volume is underneath.

The UPSL started in Santa Ana, California in 2011 with 10 teams and describes itself as the fourth tier of the US pyramid.

How many of these clubs compete nationally?

A record 146 amateur clubs from 28 leagues and 29 states entered qualifying for the 2026 US Open Cup, up from 114 the year before. The UPSL alone entered 66. Florida sent the most clubs with 23, just ahead of California with 22. The 2025 prize for the best open division run went to El Farolito SC, a San Francisco club named after a neighborhood taqueria.

Where are the Hispanic clubs?

No public dataset classifies clubs by community, which is part of the problem this article describes. What can be said is that the league structure grew out of Hispanic soccer: the UPSL was founded in a majority Hispanic city by Leonel Lopez, and clubs like El Farolito are fixtures of their neighborhoods. The states that send the most clubs to national qualifying, Florida, California and Texas among them, are also the states with the largest Hispanic populations.

How do these clubs sell sponsorship today?

By hand. A typical club has one owner or general manager who is also the sales team. Inventory is described in a PDF or a web form, prices are set deal by deal, and nobody tracks which categories are taken. A brand that wants to reach Hispanic soccer fans in ten cities would have to find, contact and negotiate with ten owners, which is why that budget usually goes somewhere easier to buy.

What would make this tier easy to buy?

Standard inventory, visible prices and category exclusivity that a buyer can check before committing. Hispanic Retail Media (HRM) operates as a sales house on that basis. A club signs a representation mandate, gives HRM the rights it wants represented with no listing fee and sets its own prices. HRM finds the sponsor and closes the deal. Production of branded material is available if the club wants it, but it is not part of every deal. The club is paid its share as soon as it approves a paid order, with HRM's commission already deducted. Brands see what is open, in which city and at what price. Clubs are onboarding now. HRM is also compiling a census of clubs in Hispanic communities, because the first step to selling this tier as a whole is counting it.