For the fifth straight season, Detroit City FC has qualified for the USL Championship playoffs.
DCFC (14-6-8, 2nd in Eastern Conference) beat Rhode Island FC (11-11-5, 7th in Eastern Conference) 1-0 in a USL Championship match on Saturday, Oct. 11, at Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck. The win clinched a spot in the USL Championship playoffs for DCFC, as the club has made the USL playoffs in every year since joining the league in 2022.
The first-round match will occur at Keyworth Stadium at some point between Oct. 30 and Nov. 1, with opponents and match times to be determined following the end of the USL Championship regular season. DCFC has two regular season matches left on its schedule, with road matches against the Tampa Bay Rowdies (Saturday,
Oct. 17) and Louisville City FC (Saturday, Oct. 24) still left to play.
Tickets for the playoff match will be available for sale to the public on Oct. 15, with the club offering supporters priority access before that date. This will be only the second home playoff match in DCFC's USL history.
Forward Darren Smith scored the game's only goal on a strike in the 56th minute that gave Smith his 14th goal of the campaign. Smith is tied for second in the league in goals behind El Paso Locomotive forward Rubio Rubin (16 goals).
DCFC is currently second in the Eastern Conference with 50 points and has an outside shot at finishing in first place. Should Le Rouge defeat first-place Tampa Bay (55 points) and fifth-place Louisville City (40 points) in its final two games, with Tampa also losing its final two games, DCFC will hop the Rowdies and finish the season in first place. DCFC can finish no lower than third place, and if it finishes in second, it will mark the best regular season finish for the club among its five USL Championship seasons.
The USL playoffs feature 16 teams, eight from each conference, in a single-elimination tournament to decide a champion. DCFC has two Round 1 exits and two quarterfinal exits in its USL playoff history, with the team pulling off a 1-0 upset of top-seeded Louisville City FC in the 2025 playoffs before bowing out in the quarterfinals to Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC.
Need to catch up on the news during your lunch break? Sign up for our Sports Briefing newsletter to get daily summaries of Detroit sports!
You can reach Christian at cromo@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit City FC clinches playoff berth with win over Rhode Island FC
