North American Soccer League (2011–2017)

The North American Soccer League (NASL) was a professional men's soccer league based in the United States. The league was named for, but had no connection to, the original North American Soccer League. The later NASL was founded in 2009, and began play in 2011 with eight teams.

From 2013 through 2017, the NASL used a split-season schedule running from April to early November, with a four-week break in July. The spring and fall champions, along with the two teams with best combined spring/fall records met in a four-team single-elimination tournament known as The Championship. The winner of the final claimed the Soccer Bowl trophy. While there was no promotion and relegation with other leagues, former commissioner Bill Peterson repeatedly stated that the league had an interest in introducing promotion and relegation to the pyramid.

During its seven seasons of play from 2011 to 2017, it was sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league in the United States soccer league system. In 2017, the Division II status was made provisional, as the league had consistently failed to meet the sanctioning criteria. In 2018, U.S. Soccer outright denied the league Division II status for 2018, as the NASL had not demonstrated a plan for moving into compliance with required standards. The league first postponed and then cancelled its 2018 season, pushing back its potential return to the 2020 season. Its member clubs folded or moved to other leagues, and the NASL effectively became defunct in November 2018.