Source: The Guardian Sport
Tony Scholes will lead the USL’s upcoming first-division league, due to begin play in 2028.Photograph: Tom Dulat/Getty Images for Premier LeagueView image in fullscreenTony Scholes will lead the USL’s upcoming first-division league, due to begin play in 2028.Photograph: Tom Dulat/Getty Images for Premier LeagueBusiness of soccerPremier LeagueUSL hires Premier League director of football for exec role: ‘He can have a really big impact’Tony Scholes will move to the US after the 2025-26 seasonUSL to start new D-1 league with promotion and relegationAlexander AbnosMon 3 Nov 2025 08.30 ESTLast modified on Mon 3 Nov 2025 08.32 ESTShareTony Scholes is moving from the most popular top-tier league in the world to the newest one, which is still two and a half years away from kicking a ball.The USL, operators of lower-division leagues in the United States, will announce on Monday that Scholes, the Premier League’s director of football, will be named president of its upcoming first division. The USL’splanned new competitionwill operate in US Soccer’s first division – the same level as MLS – andis set to start play by 2028. In his role, Scholes will oversee the launch of the still-unnamed league and participate in the USL’s implementation of promotion and relegation between that league and the USL’s other men’s professional competitions – the Championship and League One.Scholes was wooed to the US in part by USL president Paul McDonough, who said his relationship with Scholes goes back to 2013, when McDonough was an agent and brought US international Brek Shea to Stoke City, where Scholes was chief executive. Scholes left Stoke to take up his role at thePremier Leaguein 2021.Does US soccer really need four first divisions? The answer isn’t necessarily ‘no’Read more“You know, you obviously go through all the questions [Scholes has], like ‘Why would I do it? Why would I leave the best league in the world?’ And I said ‘Yeah, I don’t know why you would do it, but let’s just talk about it,” McDonough told the Guardian. “When you get to come to a new country and to launch a new league and a new system that aligns with the rest of the world, I think he’s really intrigued by that, because he can have a really big impact.”Scholes will have plenty on his plate when he starts work at the USL, which he is set to do at the conclusion of this Premier League season. The specifics of how promotion and relegation will work are still to be decided, McDonough said, as is the small matter of the new competition not yet having any teams. McDonough said he anticipates that team announcements could come by the end of this year, and that Scholes’ hire,along with investment from private equity firm Belltower Partners, could persuade potential team owners to look more seriously at being part of the upstart league.“I hope so,” McDonough said. “I do think it shows ambition, right? I hope we get better owners into Division One, that’ll be really important for us.”McDonough admitted that …
Published: 2025-11-03T13:30:36
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