Around the world soccer (football, futbol, calcio, voetbol) uses FIFA and FA (Football Association) designated “divisions” to classify where clubs stand in the hierarchy of the scene. Generally these divisions are of less use in the United States where promotion and relegation up and down the “ladders” is not in practice. Still, we can get a general idea of ‘levels’ by using “First Division, Second Division…etc…terminology to discover and understand Washington state’s numerous clubs. (This wiki is also helpful, though some divisions are estimates as US Soccer has not officially declared all levels.)
goalWA.net has created the graphics below to show how the “STATE” of soccer looks in 2013, so far.
1. Major League Soccer 2. North American Soccer League 3. USL PRO 4. Premier Development League / Pacific Coast Soccer League / National Premier Soccer League
1. National Women’s Soccer League 2. W-League 3. Women’s Premier Soccer League
1. Professional Arena Soccer League / Major Indoor Soccer League 2. Premier Arena Soccer League
- AC Seattle
- Adult Leagues
- Arena Soccer
- Arlington Aviators
- Bellingham United
- College Soccer
- Emerald City WPSL
- futbol
- Issaquah WPSL
- Kitsap Pumas
- Localized
- Marysville Ruckus
- North Sound SeaWolves
- NWSL
- Pacific Coast Soccer League
- Premier Development League
- Seattle Reign FC
- Seattle Sounders FC
- Seattle Sounders Women
- Snohomish Skyhawks
- Sounders U23s
- South Sound FC
- Tacoma Stars
- Tumwater Pioneers
- USL PRO
- W-League
- WA News
- Washington Crossfire
- Wenatchee Fire
- Women's Soccer
- WPSL
- WSA Rapids
goalWA.net Archive 
NASL and USL pro are the same division
….the leagues should not and i think are not considered superior to the other. for god sakes… all the teams played each other in USL1 & 2 a couple of years ago until some teams decided to split on USL and create NASL once again. How on earth could they be considered a better league if they all came from the same “original” league
It’s not about “better” as much as about investment and labeling. US Soccer says NASL IS “second division,” and MLS is “First.” USSF has laid out guidelines for NASL after the messes of recent years,including that investors must have a personal worth of at least $20 million. That makes a BIG chasm between USL Pro and NASL in terms of wealth and investment.
As far as I know USSF has not officially listed “divisions” after First and Second. However, USL PRO is higher than PDL and others in part because the players are pros / paid.
Does it mean that every USL PRO club is better than every PDL club? Nope. We don’t have Pro/Rel so will might never know, outside of the occasional US Open Cup match / upset.
Oh, I guess 1-3 are sanctioned by USSF officially.
1. MLS
2. NASL
3. USL-PRO
(my primary concern is with NASL and USL Pro being considered 2nd division and 3rd division respectively) BUT it looks like the order of the divisions comes down to how much money the investors have… of course this is america, capitalism rules. 🙂 Divisions signifies “better” play to most (including me), but i agree here in America things are different and that play between PDL, NASL, PASL play is probably very similar BUT this depends on the PDL region you choose from..must look to how many play-for-money opportunities there are in area, if not many, then PDL tends to be better in that area… just my opinion
SIDE NOTE: i wrote an blog post on Sounders website about how Zach Scott deserve to be paid better then a public school teacher especially since they seem to be putting a lot of faith in him this year, and I think he has a lot of life left in him. AND they took it down!!! Booooo
I’m not sure why but this blog is loading extremely slow for me.
Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end?
I’ll check back later on and see if the problem still exists.