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NASL hits U.S. Soccer with antitrust lawsuit after Division II status revoked

The North American Soccer League announced on Tuesday it has filed a federal an antitrust lawsuit against the United States Soccer Federation in Brooklyn federal court.

The filing of the suit comes two weeks after U.S. Soccer denied the NASL's application for Division II status for 2018.

The division structure is intended to provide a set of minimum requirements for a league, including number of teams, geographic distribution of teams, market size of a team's city, stadium capacity, as well as the minimum financial requirements for team owners.

The USSF had given the NASL -- which began in its current incarnation in 2011 -- numerous waivers over the years, and after the NASL lost four teams following the 2016 season, the USSF granted the NASL provisional Division II status in early 2017, provided it met certain conditions.