No team in the USL Championship is perfect, and the offseason is the best possible time to patch up holes and improve for the year ahead. Now, what constitutes a successful offseason is in the eye of the beholder. Some teams need a new striker, others need to double down on their marketing approach. There’s no one-size-fits-all answer.
With 2024 in the rearview mirror and the 2025 season only three months away, what’s the biggest need or most important problem to solve for all 24 clubs in the Championship? Let’s dig in.
Birmingham Legion: Up the intensity
With eight starters back already, the Legion are almost certainly running back the 4-5-1 system that left them out of the playoffs in 2024. That doesn’t mean the style associated with that shape has to stay the same – Birmingham won the ball in the final third just 2.7 times per game last year, and their offense often felt painfully slow. The Legion have settled the striker spot by loaning in Ronaldo Damus, but they need to add pieces that can quicken the tempo.
Charleston Battery: Diversify the attack
The Charleston Battery were arguably the second-best team in the USL last season, and it’s easy to highlight Nick Markanich’s 28 goals as the primary reason why. Doing so ignores the effectiveness of Ben Pirmann’s holistic system and the fact that Charleston already went to the title game in 2023 with a “scoring by committee” approach. Adding multiple difference-makers ought to be the focus rather than going all in on a single Markanich replacement.
