El Paso Locomotive and USL Championship Unveil 2022 Season Format

El Paso Locomotive FC, alongside the USL Championship, announced today the competition structure for the 2022 season. The league’s teams will be divided into two conferences with El Paso Locomotive set to compete as one of 13 teams in the Western Conference while the remaining 14 teams will compete in the Eastern Conference.

The 2022 USL Championship season will kickoff March 11 and will see each team play a 34-game regular season schedule that will conclude on October 15, 2022. El Paso Locomotive FC’s home opener and full schedule for the 2022 season will be announced in January 2022.

Every team will play each of its conference foes twice – one at home, once away. Western Conference clubs will see the remaining 10 games be played against a combination of interconference and intraconference opponents – five at home, five away. Eastern Conference clubs will play their remaining eight games being played solely against interconference opponents – four at home, four away.

“Going into our fourth season we are extremely excited for the 2022 slate of games, both home and on the road, ” commented Locomotive General Manager, Business Operations Andrew Forrest. “We have the opportunity to get back to hosting each Western Conference team home and away as well as a healthy slate of Eastern Conference teams that we have never had the chance to play in our previous three years.  This schedule proves to be the best yet and we cannot wait for the home opener to get started.”

At the conclusion of the regular season, the top seven teams in each conference will qualify for the 2022 USL Championship Playoffs. The first overall seed in each conference will receive a bye to the Conference Semifinals of the playoffs. The bracket will be reseeded following the Conference Quarterfinals to ensure the first overall seed in each conference plays against the lowest-seeded remaining opponent. The USL Championship Playoffs will remain a single-elimination format, culminating in the 2022 USL Championship Final on a to be determined date between November 10 and November 14, 2022.

“We are pleased and eager to see the Championship in a traditional two-conference alignment in 2022,” said USL President Jake Edwards. “This regular season format increases the importance of each intra-conference match while also providing the variety and intrigue of more cross-conference matchups. The schedule footprint allows our teams time to compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup and finish the playoffs prior to call-ups for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.”

The full conference alignment for the 2022 USL Championship season is below:

El Paso Locomotive FC will kick off its fourth campaign through the USL Championship in March 2022. Lock in your seats for the entire season by visiting https://www.eplocomotivefc.com/seasontickets or by calling/texting 915-235-GOAL and continue to enjoy world-class Championship soccer at Southwest University Park.