Hartford Athletic’s United Soccer League season will finally start next month, kicking off a planned 16-game season spread over 13 weeks.
Last week, the 35-team league announced the length of the schedule and the eight-group format into which the teams will be divided.
Hartford Athletic will be in Group F, along with Loudoun United FC, New York Red Bulls II, Philadelphia Union II and Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC.
July 11 is the league’s tentative opening day. Team schedules have not been announced, and it has not been determined if fans can attend games. Last week, the state allowed Stafford Motor Speedway to have fans but attendance was capped at 25 percent capacity. Hartford’s Dillon Stadium holds 5,500 fans.
The USL previously had been divided into two conferences, but groups were set to minimize travel during the pandemic. There will be five groups of four teams and three groups of five, with the season ending the week of Oct. 2-4.
Of the 16 games, 12 will be played within a team’s group — Hartford will play the other four Group F teams three times each — and four will be outside it.
As of now, teams will play eight games at home and eight on the road, though that is subject to change.
The top two teams from each group will qualify for the single-elimination USL playoffs, with group winners playing group runners-up in the first round. The 16-team bracket will also be structured by region. Home-field advantage in later rounds will be determined by team records.
Games played before the USL suspended play on March 12 will be counted toward a team’s record. Hartford is one of three league teams that did not begin play.
Three of the Group F teams played on March 7. Red Bulls II fell 1-0 to Tampa Bay while Philadelphia and Loudoun played to a scoreless tie. Pittsburgh also hasn’t started play.
Also last week, the USL announced a change to its substitution rule for the rest of the 2020 season.
Normally, a team is allowed three substitutions. But the league, following a decision made by the International Football Association Board in May, upped that limit to five.
Teams will have three opportunities to make substitutions to keep the flow of the game intact. Substitutions made at halftime do not count towards that total.
