CLUB HISTORY

The Villages SC is a USL League Two team located in The Villages, FL.

In 2008, we began as a youth club providing competitive and recreational soccer to youth players in our community. We have steadily grown our programs and in 2015, we held our first annual tournament, The Villages Cup, during the 3-day, Labor Day weekend.

In 2016, the addition of the USL League Two team to our club family was a realization of a dream. One that fits perfectly into our mission which has been and will continue to be to promote the growth of, and appreciation for, the game of soccer in an environment that promotes teamwork, sportsmanship, and mutual respect.

In 2019 we opened The Villages SC Complex. We hosted our first “home” game on June 8, 2019, we won 4-2 against FC Miami City. 

Since our inaugural year, we have made four playoff appearances as well as earned a spot in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup each year. 

In 2023 we announced we would be joining the United Premier Soccer League so that we could play year-round and keep a solid group of local players and be better prepared for opportunities such as the Lama Hunt US Open Cup and incredible Friendlies that continue to come our way. We play in the Florida Central Conference.

First USL League Two Season: 2016
USL League Two Playoffs Appearances: 2016 (Top Sixteen), 2018 (Top Four), 2019 (Top Sixteen), 2021 (Top Fourteen)
USL League Two Titles: Southeast Division Champions (2016, 2019, & 2021), Southern Conference Champions (2018)
USL League Two Awards: Executive of the Year: Anderson DaSilva (2018),  Best Photography (2018)
US Open Cup Appearances: Second Round (2016, 2019 & 2022), First Round (2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, & 2022) for more information on our US Open Cup Appearances Click Here
First UPSL Season: 2023

Ownership

About USL League Two

The proven developmental leader in North American soccer’s evolving tiered structure, USL League Two (formerly the PDL) features 74 franchises in four conferences throughout the United States and Canada,including 18 clubs that are owned and operated by a professional club, or that hold a partnership with a professional club. League Two has proven to be an important stepping-stone for top professionals now playing throughout the world, with more than 70 percent of all selections in the MLS SuperDraft since 2010 having PDL experience, including 66 selections in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft. The League Two season consists of 14 regular season matches for each team, seven home and seven away, and provides elite collegiate players the opportunity to taste a higher level of competition while maintaining their eligibility. In addition to league play, League Two teams compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup as well as various exhibitions.

USL League Two Season

The USL League Two regular season takes place during the summer from early May to mid-July. Each team plays a 14-match schedule against its respective divisional opponents, seven at home and seven away. In conferences with three divisions, each division winner, plus the highest-finishing second-place team in the conference, advances to the playoffs in the conference semifinals. In conferences with two divisions, the top two teams from each division advance to the conference semifinals. The playoffs occur in late July, with each conference champion advancing to the national semifinals and the winners of those matches advancing to the League Two Championship in early August.

Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup

USL League Two clubs also compete in the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, entering in the first round of the competition. The League Two participants in the historic tournament are determined by standards set forth by the U.S. Open Cup Committee, with each division winner (or the highest-placed U.S. club in the event a Canadian-based club wins a division) having priority, and any remaining teams determined by at-large bids as laid out by the committee.

Eighteen clubs from League Two competed in the 2018 edition of the Open Cup. Three League Two clubs, the Ocean City Nor’easters, Mississippi Brilla and FC Golden State Force, advanced to the third round by defeating professional teams, with FC Golden State Force advancing past a pair of USL Championship sides to reach the Fourth Round where it squared off with historic Major League Soccer club the LA Galaxy.

Dating back to 1914, the U.S. Open Cup is the oldest cup competition in United States soccer and is among the oldest in the world. Open to all affiliated amateur and professional teams in the United States, the annual U.S. Open Cup is a 100-plus-year-old single-elimination tournament.

In a nutshell, the U.S. Open Cup is very similar to domestic cup competitions popular throughout Europe, South America and the rest of the world. Cup competitions, which usually run concurrent with a country’s league season, are open in the early stages to any club that qualifies, giving local amateur teams a chance to compete against the best teams a country has to offer.

In 1999, the U.S. Open Cup was renamed the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup to honor the long-time soccer supporter and pioneer. Hunt, who died in 2006, was one of the sport’s first major ownership figures in the United States and is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

United Premier Soccer League

The United Premier Soccer League was started in Santa Ana, California by Leonel Lopez, with 10 teams, today about 400 clubs are competing nationwide, and the Premier Division for Spring 2022 has 255 clubs competing for 32 places in the National Playoff Bracket to become National Champion.

The league occupies the 4th tier of the US Soccer pyramid, just below the three professional tiers in the pyramid. The league operates year-round, comprising two seasons each calendar year, with the Spring season beginning in March and ending with national playoffs the first weekend in August, and a Fall season with play beginning in September with national playoffs the first weekend in February. The league prides itself on openness, inclusion, and accessibility.