 Bermuda Hogges Owners IslandStats.com United Soccer Leagues announced the official alignment for the upcoming 2010 USL Premier Development League season, unveiling the conferences and divisions for the 68-team league with the Bermuda Hogges/BFA Under 23 Team playing in the Eastern Conference Mid Atlantic Division.
The Hogges are in the Division along with BFA Technical Director Derek Broadley’s former club Reading United (Formerly Reading Rage).
The Mid Atlantic Division is as follows: Hogges, Carolina Dynamo, Central Jersey, Hampton Roads Piranhas, Ironbound Express, New Jersey Rangers, Northern Virginia Royals, Ocean City Barons, Reading United, West Virginia Chaos.
The conference and division alignments remain the same as 2009 with four conferences each containing two divisions of at least six teams. The clubs also remained relatively in place from their 2009 alignment with the exception of the Eastern Conference, which saw the three New Jersey clubs switch to the Mid Atlantic Division with four more northerly-based franchises entering the Northeast Division.
The four new Northeast Division teams are part of a group of nine teams that will make their PDL debut this season, three of whom are returning USL clubs. Former PDL club Vermont Voltage, returning from a year off due to stadium renovations, is one of trio along with former USL Second Division sides Hogges and Western Mass Pioneers.
New franchises in the conference are led by the MPS Portland Phoenix and two new expansion sides in Albany, NY and Central Jersey. The three other first-year teams will be the previously announced Dayton Dutch Lions and Fort Lauderdale franchises along with a team returning in Rochester, MN.
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