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The new franchise will be part of United Soccer League One with plans to begin competing in 2026. The team anticipates playing its home games on the new pitch at Civic Park.
Eugene may be known as a hub for college sports, but a new professional team, playing the most popular sport in the world, is making its way to town.
A men’s soccer team — known as USL Eugene — is set to begin play next year in League One of the United Soccer League, said Dave Galas, co-founder of the new franchise.
“Eugene having a USL League One professional soccer team is outstanding news,” Eugene Mayor Kaarin Knudson said in a written statement. “This means world-class talent in every match, and it completely aligns with Eugene’s international reputation in athletics. It’s huge for fans and youth soccer development, and great for our economy.”
There are currently 14 teams in League One with six new clubs joining next season, including USL Eugene.
Major League Soccer is the highest level of pro soccer in the U.S. The USL Championship league is the second tier and League One is the third tier. When promotion and relegation is instituted in a few years, USL Eugene could be on the path to move up to the second or even the first professional tier someday, Galas said.
The new Eugene team will be playing all over the country, against clubs as far away as Portland, Maine, and Naples, Fla.
With the addition of USL Eugene, the 12-year-old Lane United Football Club, a pre-professional team that played in a lower tier, is disbanding.
Players on Lane United FC were predominantly in college and didn’t get professional pay. In contrast, Galas said, USL Eugene is a fully professional club with higher standards and players on contracts determined through collective bargaining.
A women’s professional team is also planning to launch in Eugene in 2027 or 2028 under the USL League One brand.
Next season, the women’s team will continue to play in the pre-professional USL W League, the league that the Lane United women’s team currently plays in, until they fully establish the USL League One club, Galas said.
Galas said USL Eugene also wants to focus on youth development and currently has sporting director and head coach, John Galas, who is Dave Galas’ brother, scouting free agents at colleges and academies all over the world.
“The Northwest has always been a hotbed for soccer, as we saw 10-plus years ago when the Sounders and the Timbers joined the MLS,” Galas said of the Seattle and Portland pro teams. “There’s always been a lot of fan support, and I really did feel like there was a void.”
The majority investor and main owner of the team is Sat Dhinsa, an owner of home building company Vanridge Properties and Dhinsa Ventures Corp in Vancouver, B.C.
USL Eugene anticipates playing at the new field at Civic Park. Galas was also a board member of the Eugene Civic Alliance, which raised $50 million to build Civic Park — which includes the field, a new grandstand and the Kidsports Fieldhouse — after a 2015 fire destroyed the 1930s-era Civic Stadium.
The team’s preseason is scheduled to begin in February 2026. USL Eugene will play 40 league games between March and October. No players have been signed yet, but the recruitment process began on July 10.
Soccer fan Adam Smith is president of the Red Aces, a fan club for Lane United FC that has existed for the past 12 years, raising money and supporting the team at home and away matches. Smith said he is sentimental about the loss of the Lane United FC club, but is looking forward to supporting the new professional team.
“We want to build a culture for it and make sure our first year comes off as a really big success,” Smith said. “We’ve got that new place to play, and it’d be really fun to fill it up and see more community members in there.”
