DETROIT — Today, the USL Championship announced its schedule for the 2026 season, which will commence on Saturday, March 7, and conclude on Saturday, Oct. 24. The 34-week regular season will see Detroit City FC play 30 regular-season contests and four group-stage games in the 2026 Prinx Tires USL Cup.
Detroit City will once again play in the USL Championship Eastern Conference, joined by Birmingham Legion FC, Charleston Battery, Hartford Athletic, Indy Eleven, Loudoun United FC, Louisville City FC, Miami FC, Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC, Rhode Island FC, Tampa Bay Rowdies, and USL Championship newcomers Brooklyn FC and Sporting Club Jacksonville.
For the Prinx Tires USL Cup, Detroit City is placed in Group 4, alongside USL Championship sides Indy Eleven, Lexington SC, and Louisville City FC, as well as USL League One sides Fort Wayne FC, Forward Madison FC, and Union Omaha. The seven group winners and one wild card will move on to the knockout stage. The second-placed team with the most points in group play gets the wild card; if there’s a tie, the first tiebreaker is the number of goals scored. The Quarterfinals begin Wednesday, Aug. 13. The Semifinals will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 9, and the final will be the weekend of Oct. 2-4, 2026.
MARCH 2026
Despite the league season starting on March 7, Detroit City’s 2025 season will begin on March 14 with a home match against USL newcomer Brooklyn FC. For the first time since DCFC joined the USL Championship, its first game of the season will be at Keyworth Stadium. Detroit City will travel to Indianapolis on March 21 to face Indy Eleven, and then DCFC closes out March with a home match on the 28th against Charleston Battery.
APRIL 2026
In April, Detroit City travels to Rhode Island on the 4th. Following that match, Detroit City will host newcomers Sporting Club Jacksonville for the first time at Keyworth on April 11. Detroit will then travel to Pittsburgh for an Eastern Conference Semifinal rematch on the 18th, the club’s final match of the month, with a bye week in the final weekend of April.
MAY 2026
May will see Detroit City start at home with an Eastern Conference Quarterfinal rematch against Louisville City on the 2nd. DCFC will then play four of the next five matches away, beginning with a trip to Hartford Athletic on the 9th. The club will then kick off Prinx Tires USL Cup action on the 16th at USL League One side Forward Madison FC. Detroit will briefly return home for a midweek match against Miami FC on Wednesday, the 20th, before finishing the month with games at Loudoun United on the 23rd and Charleston Battery on the 30th.
JUNE 2026
June will begin with Prinx Tires USL Cup action at Keywoth on the 6th, as Detroit hosts Lexington FC. Detroit will play its second midweek match of the season on Wednesday, the 10th, as it hosts Western Conference side El Paso Locomotive FC. Detroit will then travel down to Jacksonville for the first time, playing the return fixture against Sporting Club Jacksonville on the 13th. Detroit City closes out the month once again in the Prinx Tires USL Cup at home, hosting Louisville City for the second time this season. Detroit’s final bye week of the season will take place on the weekend of the 27th.
JULY 2026
Detroit travels to Birmingham to face the Birmingham Legion to start July, with a rare Thursday game on July 2nd. The final weekend of Prinx Tires USL Cup Group Stage action comes on July 11th, as DCFC travels to Indiana to face USL League One newcomer Fort Wayne FC. Detroit closes the month with back-to-back home games, hosting Indy Eleven on the 18th and Las Vegas Lights FC on the 25th.
AUGUST 2026
August begins with a two-game road trip for Le Rouge, starting on August 1st at Miami FC, then traveling to Tulsa on August 9th. Another two-game homestand sees Detroit City hosting Loudoun United on the 15th and Tampa Bay Rowdies on the 22nd before heading on the road and returning to the scene of the stunning 2025 USL Championship Playoff upset on the 29th, as Detroit City plays Louisville City FC.
SEPTEMBER 2026
A five-match September sees Detroit City start at home against Hartford Athletic on Labor Day weekend, before its only west coast trip of the season on the 12th at Sacramento Republic FC. Two more home matches in September will see DCFC host the last two USL Championship winners: Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC on September 19th and Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC on September 26th. September closes with the final midweek match of the year, a road trip to Brooklyn FC for the first time on the 30th.
OCTOBER 2026
The final month of the season features Detroit City facing all Eastern Conference teams as they approach the playoffs. Detroit’s last two home games of the season are against Birmingham Legion FC on the 3rd and Rhode Island FC on the 10th to conclude the 2026 home schedule. Detroit City travels to play Tampa Bay on the 17th and will wrap up the 2026 USL Championship regular season on the 24th at Louisville City, marking their fourth match against each other this season.
More information on single-match tickets, rosters, and kickoff times will be announced at a later date.
For more information about Detroit City FC, follow us: @DetroitCityFC on X, Facebook, and @detroitcityfootballclub on Instagram.
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