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Real Monarchs placed in Group C of USL Championship return to play

(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) The Real Monarchs celebrate their USL Cup Championship, during their championship parade at Lynn Crane Park in Herriman, Wednesday, Nov. 20, 2019.

The Real Monarchs were placed in a group with three other teams Thursday as part of the United Soccer League Championship’s return to play.

The Monarchs, who won the USL Championship title in 2019, are in Group C along with the Colorado Springs Switchbacks, El Paso Locomotive and New Mexico United. The Monarchs lost their only game of the 2020 season.

Teams will play 16 regular season games before the postseason starts in October. The league was split into eight groups based on geography. If a team already played games before the shutdown, the number of games played are subtracted from 16.

The top two teams from each group make the single elimination playoffs.

The USL’s top division is scheduled to return July 11 after being suspended in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The league announced its 2020 schedule format Wednesday, as well as its playoff format.

The schedule itself will be releases at a later date.