MENLO PARK, Calif. and TAMPA, Fla. June 18, 2026 — The United Soccer League (USL) today announced an expanded, league-wide partnership with Kitman Labs, the world’s leading performance intelligence company, to deploy its Performance Medicine Solution to clubs competing across the USL Championship.
The multi-year agreement represents a significant investment by the USL in elite medical infrastructure, reinforcing the league’s commitment to player health, welfare, and performance as it continues to raise professional standards. Through the partnership, every USL Championship club will utilize iP:Intelligence Platform, Kitman Labs’ enterprise-grade operating system. The technology is designed to aggregate, unify, and activate medical and performance data at scale, helping clubs make smarter, data-informed decisions at every level of the organization.
“Investing in league-wide Performance Medicine technology is a critical step in how we continue to raise standards across the USL,” said Paul McDonough, President and CEO of the United Soccer League. “As the league grows and prepares for the launch of USL Premier, it’s essential that our clubs and players are supported by a consistent foundation for athlete care and performance. This partnership reflects our long-term commitment to establishing high standards across the professional pathway and ensuring every club has access to the same level of support, today and into the future.”
The USL is preparing for the launch of USL Premier, its Division One men’s professional league, with the expanded agreement ensuring Premier clubs will utilize the same Performance Medicine platform as the USL Championship. As the USL enters this next chapter, the league has prioritized technology that supports not only competition, but player health, performance, and long-term development.
By standardizing Performance Medicine across all current and future Championship and Premier clubs, the USL is enabling:
- Consistent, league-wide medical workflows and documentation, while preserving club-level configurability and regulatory compliance
- Integrated collaboration between medical, performance, and technical staff, ensuring decisions around training, rehabilitation, and return-to-play are informed by a complete, connected view of the athlete
- Operational efficiency for practitioners, reducing administrative burden and increasing time spent on athlete care and development
- Comprehensive, high-quality datasets, creating a foundation for league-wide injury surveillance, benchmarking, research, and long-term innovation
This expanded partnership builds on the league’s successful adoption of Kitman Labs technology in the USL’s Division I professional women’s league, the Gainbridge Super League, where Kitman Labs is now entering its second year as the league-wide Performance Medicine provider.
“We’re proud to expand our partnership with the United Soccer League and support the USL Championship at this pivotal moment in its evolution,” said Stephen Smith, Founder and CEO of Kitman Labs. “The USL has been clear in its ambition – to invest in its players, raise standards, and compete on a global stage. By committing to a league-wide Performance Medicine platform, the USL is setting a benchmark for how modern leagues can use integrated intelligence to protect athlete welfare, unlock performance insights, and build a sustainable future for the game.”
At the core of the partnership is Kitman Labs’ Performance Medicine Solution, delivered through iP:Intelligence Platform – the only platform natively built to integrate medical records, physical performance data, training load, availability, and contextual information into a single, continuously updated intelligence layer. With more than a dozen league-wide Performance Medicine deployments launched in recent years, Kitman Labs has become a trusted partner to leagues seeking to establish consistent, scalable standards for athlete health and medical intelligence.
About the United Soccer League (USL)
Founded in 1986, the United Soccer League (https://www.uslsoccer.com/) is built around independent, community-rooted clubs and a competitive structure that creates opportunity and rewards ambition. The USL impacts more than 200 communities across 45 states and is the first and only organization to provide a complete youth-to-professional pathway for both men and women under one structure.
The USL oversees multiple men’s and women’s leagues across the professional and pre-professional levels, including the newly announced USL Premier (Division I), the USL Championship (Division II), USL League One (Division III), USL League Two, the Gainbridge Super League (Division I women’s professional league), and the USL W League.
With the introduction of USL Premier, the USL’s men’s professional system will become interconnected through promotion and relegation, where performance on the field determines movement between divisions. USL Academy and USL Youth support player development and youth engagement, creating a fully integrated soccer ecosystem.
Through long-term media partnerships across CBS Sports, ESPN, TUDN, and Peacock, the USL is one of the most accessible soccer platforms in the country, bringing professional soccer closer to fans nationwide.
About Kitman Labs
Kitman Labs is the world’s leading sports science and performance intelligence company. The company powers iP:Intelligence Platform, the advanced operating system used by the largest and most innovative leagues, teams, and governing bodies in elite sport.
Kitman Labs’ software solutions—Performance Medicine, Performance Optimization, Coaching & Development, and League Operations—are designed to optimize performance, enhance health and longevity, reduce injury risk, and drive operational efficiency and value. Kitman Labs works with more than 2,000 teams, leagues and federations across 26 countries, including the NFL, Premier League, MLS, NWSL, WSL and NCAA.
Kitman Labs is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in Dublin.
Media Contacts
United Soccer League
Laura Fontanills
Laura.Fontanills@uslsoccer.com
Kitman Labs – International
The PHA Group
