Riverhounds release 2025 schedule

Photo courtesy Ed Thompson

The USL Championship and the Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC announced its 2025 regular season schedule on Thursday.

The 2025 campaign will include a 34-game slate that includes both USL Championship regular season and — brand new this year — USL Jägermeister Cup group play matches.

The Hounds have reached the playoffs in all seven seasons under head coach Bob Lilley, and his eighth year at the helm in Pittsburgh will begin with two straight road matches: Saturday, March 8 at North Carolina FC and Saturday, March 15 at San Antonio FC.

In fact, the Hounds will start the season with five of its first seven matches on the road.

The 17-match home schedule will kick off on the final two Saturdays in March with two familiar Eastern Conference foes. Hartford Athletic will kick off the Hounds’ 13th season at Highmark Stadium on March 22, and Birmingham Legion FC will be the opposition on March 29.

Other highlights on the regular-season schedule include the return of the Hounds’ traditional Independence Day home date, a Friday, July 4 contest against New Mexico United before the City of Pittsburgh’s fireworks.  This will come in the heart of what will be a lot of time spent on home turf, as the Hounds will play eight of 10 matches at Highmark from June through August.

The schedule winds down with the Hounds alternating away and home matches on Saturdays through September and October, wrapping up with an Oct. 18 road trip to Monterey Bay FC and an Oct. 25 regular-season finale hosting Phoenix Rising FC.

Mixed into the schedule are four Jägermeister Cup group play matches, as USL Championship teams participate for the first time in the inter-league cup competition. The Hounds will visit Detroit City FC (April 26) and host Rhode Island FC (May 31) in their first two matches before meeting a pair of USL League One teams for the first time, hosting Westchester SC (June 28) and visiting Portland Hearts of Pine (July 26).

Additional matches will be added to the schedule for the Hounds to compete in the U.S. Open Cup and if the Hounds advance to the knockout rounds of the Jägermeister Cup. Match times, TV schedules and home game promotions will be announced at a later date.

The dedicated Jägermeister Cup weekends will be featured in the last week of each month. The USL Jägermeister Cup includes all 38 professional men’s clubs competing in a World Cup-style tournament throughout the regular season with the Jägermeister Cup Final taking place on Saturday, Oct. 11.

The 2025 USL Championship regular season will see the league split into Eastern and Western Conferences with 12 teams in each conference (see below for conference alignment). Each club will play its conference opponents in a home-and-home series for 22 games and then play eight matches against the opposing conference – four home, four away – to make up the 30-game regular season schedule.

The 2025 season will welcome Lexington Sporting Club to the USL Championship after the side competed in USL League One the previous two seasons. The club’s recently completed 7,500-seat soccer-specific stadium will make its USL Championship debut on opening weekend as Lexington plays host to Hartford Athletic on March 8.

Pittsburgh Riverhounds 2025 schedule

March 8     at North Carolina

March 15    at San Antonio

March 22    Hartford

March 29    Birmingham

April 12    at Charleston

April 19    at Loudoun

April 26    at Detroit**

May 3       North Carolina

May 10      at Louisville

May 17      at Colorado Springs

May 24      at Rhode Island

May 31      Rhode Island**

June 7      Detroit

June 14     at Indy

June 21     Tampa Bay

June 28     Westchester (USL1)**

July 4      New Mexico

July 13     Loudoun

July 19     at Detroit

July 26      Portland (USL1)**

July 29     Miami

Aug. 2      Rhode Island

Aug. 9      Orange County

Aug. 16     Charleston

Aug. 23     at Birmingham

Aug. 30     at Tampa Bay

Sept. 6     at Oakland

Sept. 13    Louisville

Sept. 20    at Hartford

Sept. 27    Las Vegas

Oct. 4      at Miami

Oct. 11     Indy

Oct. 18     at Monterey Bay

Oct. 25     Phoenix

 

** – Denotes Jägermeister Cup matches

 

2025 USL Championship Conference Alignment

Eastern Conference

• Birmingham Legion FC
• Charleston Battery
• Detroit City FC
• Hartford Athletic
• Indy Eleven
• Loudoun United FC
• Louisville City FC
• Miami FC
• North Carolina FC
• Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
• Rhode Island FC
• Tampa Bay Rowdies

Western Conference

Colorado Springs Switchbacks FC

• El Paso Locomotive FC
• Las Vegas Lights FC
• Lexington Sporting Club
• Monterey Bay F.C.
• New Mexico United
• Oakland Roots SC
• Orange County SC
• Phoenix Rising FC
• Sacramento Republic FC
• San Antonio FC
• FC Tulsa