USL League One is an incredibly hard league to predict. Star-studded, expensive rosters are no guarantee of success, and the tendency for the USL Championship to poach the division’s best players has made consistent winning that much harder. Entering 2026, the introduction of five expansion clubs has made the landscape even more difficult to gauge.
For the first time ever, Backheeled will be covering the ins and outs of League One throughout the new year, but where do teams stand with a month until kickoff? I’m ranking all 18 clubs to help find out.
The “Players’ Shield Favorites” Tier
1. Athletic Club Boise
Predicting that an expansion team will run the table falls firmly into “famous last words” territory, but Boise’s progress ahead of the 2026 season has been nothing short of remarkable. In every sense, they’ve mitigated the typical pitfalls that plague first-year clubs.
