2026 Ultimate Frisbee Association season

2026 Ultimate Frisbee Association season
League	Ultimate Frisbee Association
Sport	Ultimate
Duration	April 24 – August 28, 2026 (2026-04-24 – 2026-08-28)
Teams	22
Regular season
Postseason
East Division champions	New York Empire
Central Division champions	Minnesota Wild Chill
West Division champions	Oakland Spiders
South Division champions	Austin Sol
Finals
Champions	Oakland Spiders
Runners-up	Minnesota Wild Chill
Finals MVP	Walker Frankenberg (OAK)

The 2026 Ultimate Frisbee Association season was the league's fourteenth and third since rebranding as the UFA. It began on April 24, 2026 and culminated in Championship Weekend at Breese Stevens Field in Madison, Wisconsin on August 27–28, 2026. The Oakland Spiders won the championship, defeating the Minnesota Wind Chill. Oakland's win was their third, after two victories as the San Jose Spiders in 2014 and 2015, becoming the second team in league history to win three championships. Minnesota lost their second final in a row after winning the title in 2024.

Games were broadcast on the league's streaming platform, WatchUFA.tv, with one game per week broadcast for free on YouTube as part of the "Friday Night Frisbee" program.

Preseason

Following the 2025 season, the Los Angeles Aviators and the Detroit Mechanix ceased operations and left the league. Detroit's departure left the Indianapolis AlleyCats as the only active franchise that has been with the league since the founding of the AUDL in 2012. The divisions were rebalanced, with the Vegas Bighorns moving from the West to the South division. The Colorado Summit rebranded as the Colorado Apex after giving up their former name to a new NWSL team in Denver.

A larger-than-usual number of coaching positions turned over during the offseason:

• Austin replaced Steven Naji with Casey Hogg, a former player, and Joe Iannacone.
• Chicago's Dave Woods stepped down, leaving his co-coach Charlie Furse alone in charge
• Joe Durst took over in Colorado, with team executive Tim Kefalas stepping back into an assistant position.
• DC's Lauren Boyle left by mutual consent; she was replaced by Xavier Maxstadt, an assistant coach with the Breeze for several years.
• Bex Forth, head coach in Houston since their 2023 debut, announced she would not be returning; Sean McCall was appointed for the 2026 season.
• Indianapolis fired Drew Shepherd and appointed Nathan Bussburg in his place.
• Max Browski left Pittsburgh by mutual consent after four years, replaced by David Berg, Browski's assistant and a former player.
• In Philadelphia, Adam Callaghan replaced David Brandolph, becoming the Phoenix's third head coach in three seasons.
• Oakland's Caleb Merriam stepped down for personal reasons; Liam Kreiss takes his place behind the bench.
• Vegas lost their head coach Matt Bode near the beginning of the 2025 season, leaving assistant coach Dan Silverstein in charge; Ryan Courtney takes over for 2026.

Rule changes

The following rule changes went into effect for the 2026 season:

• If the defense commits a foul in the last five seconds of a quarter, they are no longer allowed to set a double-team on the thrower during the restart.
• If a defensive foul is called in the end zone but a goal is still scored, a 10-yard penalty will be added to the ensuing pull.
• A "team technical" foul (and 20-yard penalty) can be assessed on the head coach if the referees determine that there is a pattern of "behavior detrimental to the game" across an entire team, rather than any individual player.
• Officials have been directed to apply a zero-tolerance policy on jersey tugging; one-game suspensions will be awarded on any incident, including those found through post-game video review.

Regular season

Week 1

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
4/24	Houston Havoc	13	29	Atlanta Hustle
4/24	San Diego Growlers	20	22	Carolina Flyers
4/25	Austin Sol	27	26	Atlanta Hustle	2OT
4/25	Boston Glory	21	16	DC Breeze
4/25	Vegas Bighorns	12	26	Carolina Flyers
4/26	Oakland Spiders	34	11	Oregon Steel

Week 2

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
5/1	New York Empire	24	15	Toronto Rush
5/1	Salt Lake Shred	23	14	Oregon Steel
5/2	Houston Havoc	20	22	Austin Sol	OT
5/2	Philadelphia Phoenix	17	24	Toronto Rush
5/2	Minnesota Wind Chill	22	12	Chicago Union
5/2	Oakland Spiders	25	15	Salt Lake Shred
5/2	Boston Glory	22	15	Montreal Royal
5/2	Seattle Cascades	27	14	Colorado Apex
5/3	DC Breeze	20	18	Montreal Royal
5/3	Oregon Steel	18	20	Colorado Apex

Week 3

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
5/8	Vegas Bighorns	12	30	Atlanta Hustle
5/9	Carolina Flyers	31	14	Philadelphia Phoenix
5/9	Austin Sol	28	15	Houston Havoc
5/9	San Diego Growlers	16	15	Atlanta Hustle
5/9	Indianapolis AlleyCats	18	19	Madison Radicals
5/9	Toronto Rush	18	17	Montreal Royal
5/9	Seattle Cascades	16	26	Oakland Spiders
5/9	Colorado Apex	16	26	Salt Lake Shred
5/10	Oregon Steel	13	24	Oakland Spiders
5/10	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	24	32	Montreal Royal
5/10	New York Empire	25	26	DC Breeze	OT

Week 4

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
5/15	Houston Havoc	15	13	Vegas Bighorns
5/15	DC Breeze	32	16	Colorado Apex
5/15	Indianapolis AlleyCats	13	21	Minnesota Wind Chill
5/15	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	17	21	Madison Radicals
5/16	Atlanta Hustle	23	22	Carolina Flyers	2OT
5/16	Austin Sol	25	8	Vegas Bighorns
5/16	New York Empire	31	14	Colorado Apex
5/16	Chicago Union	15	20	Minnesota Wind Chill
5/16	Montreal Royal	19	21	Boston Glory	OT
5/16	Oregon Steel	12	18	Seattle Cascades
5/17	Oakland Spiders	25	15	San Diego Growlers

Week 5

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
5/23	Carolina Flyers	18	12	Atlanta Hustle
5/23	DC Breeze	14	18	New York Empire
5/23	Vegas Bighorns	17	26	San Diego Growlers
5/23	Montreal Royal	16	21	Toronto Rush
5/24	Boston Glory	28	11	Philadelphia Phoenix

Week 6

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
5/29	New York Empire	34	11	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds
5/29	Colorado Apex	24	21	Oregon Steel
5/29	Indianapolis AlleyCats	23	20	Chicago Union
5/29	Toronto Rush	18	23	DC Breeze
5/30	Atlanta Hustle	21	26	Carolina Flyers
5/30	Houston Havoc	13	24	Seattle Cascades
5/30	Salt Lake Shred	34	17	Oregon Steel
5/30	Montreal Royal	17	23	DC Breeze
5/30	Philadelphia Phoenix	23	24	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	2OT
5/30	Oakland Spiders	23	17	San Diego Growlers
5/31	Madison Radicals	20	23	Minnesota Wind Chill
5/31	Toronto Rush	16	18	Boston Glory
5/31	Austin Sol	25	20	Seattle Cascades

Week 7

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
6/5	Boston Glory	17	21	New York Empire
6/5	Chicago Union	18	16	Madison Radicals
6/5	DC Breeze	24	22	Carolina Flyers
6/5	San Diego Growlers	19	20	Austin Sol	OT
6/5	Salt Lake Shred	22	23	Colorado Apex
6/6	Vegas Bighorns	11	27	Austin Sol
6/6	Montreal Royal	14	18	New York Empire
6/6	Philadelphia Phoenix	14	17	Boston Glory
6/6	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	17	31	Carolina Flyers
6/6	Minnesota Wind Chill	23	19	Indianapolis AlleyCats
6/6	Oakland Spiders	23	15	Colorado Apex

With their first win of the season, Chicago became the seventh franchise in UFA history to reach 100 wins.

Week 8

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
6/12	Atlanta Hustle	29	14	Houston Havoc
6/12	New York Empire	15	17	Boston Glory	OT
6/12	Oakland Spiders	18	19	Minnesota Wind Chill
6/12	Oregon Steel	18	25	Salt Lake Shred
6/13	Carolina Flyers	32	11	Houston Havoc
6/13	DC Breeze	18	27	Boston Glory
6/13	Vegas Bighorns	12	34	Minnesota Wind Chill
6/13	Philadelphia Phoenix	22	21	Montreal Royal
6/13	Toronto Rush	33	11	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds
6/13	Colorado Apex	21	22	San Diego Growlers
6/13	Seattle Cascades	20	19	Salt Lake Shred
6/14	Madison Radicals	18	17	Indianapolis AlleyCats
6/14	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	22	18	Chicago Union

After winning their first seven games by an average of 11 goals, Oakland suffered their first loss of the season to the Wind Chill. However, with Colorado's loss to San Diego, Oakland also became the first team to qualify for the playoffs.

Week 9

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
6/18	Madison Radicals	19	23	Salt Lake Shred
6/19	Atlanta Hustle	27	16	Vegas Bighorns
6/19	Austin Sol	21	20	San Diego Growlers	2OT
6/19	Minnesota Wind Chill	20	16	Salt Lake Shred
6/19	Montreal Royal	25	18	Philadelphia Phoenix
6/19	Oregon Steel	22	21	Toronto Rush	OT
6/20	Carolina Flyers	27	15	Vegas Bighorns
6/20	Boston Glory	30	14	Philadelphia Phoenix
6/20	Houston Havoc	20	23	San Diego Growlers
6/20	Indianapolis AlleyCats	18	13	Chicago Union
6/20	Seattle Cascades	17	22	Toronto Rush
6/21	Chicago Union	11	15	Madison Radicals

The following teams qualified for the playoffs this week: Austin (victory over San Diego), Minnesota (victory over Salt Lake), Boston (Toronto's loss to Oregon), Carolina (victory over Vegas). Austin's overtime win, their fourth of the season, set a new record for overtime wins by a single team in a season.

Week 10

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
6/26	Carolina Flyers	21	20	Atlanta Hustle	OT
6/26	Colorado Apex	17	26	Oakland Spiders
6/26	Vegas Bighorns	11	13	Houston Havoc
6/26	Seattle Cascades	20	18	Oregon Steel
6/27	Salt Lake Shred	19	20	Oakland Spiders
6/27	San Diego Growlers	25	15	Houston Havoc
6/27	Indianapolis AlleyCats	17	21	Madison Radicals

Week 11

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
7/1	Philadelphia Phoenix	17	28	New York Empire
7/3	Colorado Apex	11	18	Seattle Cascades
7/3	Madison Radicals	18	31	Indianapolis AlleyCats
7/3	Minnesota Wind Chill	25	16	Chicago Union
7/3	Philadelphia Phoenix	17	21	DC Breeze
7/4	Salt Lake Shred	22	23	Seattle Cascades	OT
7/4	San Diego Growlers	28	18	Vegas Bighorns
7/5	Chicago Union	20	24	Indianapolis AlleyCats
7/5	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	19	26	Minnesota Wind Chill
7/5	Montreal Royal	18	17	Toronto Rush

Colorado's loss to Seattle eliminated Colorado from playoff contention, meaning that Seattle and Salt Lake qualified. DC's win plus Toronto's loss means that DC can't finish worse than third, but does not mathematically eliminate Toronto.

Week 12

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
7/10	Carolina Flyers	21	20	Austin Sol
7/10	Chicago Union	18	31	New York Empire
7/10	Madison Radicals	31	19	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds
7/10	Oregon Steel	18	23	Seattle Cascades
7/11	Atlanta Hustle	20	22	Austin Sol
7/11	DC Breeze	28	17	Philadelphia Phoenix
7/11	Indianapolis AlleyCats	24	14	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds
7/11	Minnesota Wind Chill	20	21	Boston Glory
7/12	Toronto Rush	24	30	New York Empire

All remaining playoff spots were settled this week: New York (victory over Chicago), Madison (victory over Pittsburgh), Indianapolis (victory over Pittsburgh), and San Diego (Atlanta's loss to Austin) qualified for the playoffs, although seeding is still to be determined in some cases. Austin and Minnesota, the two remaining undefeated teams, both lost a game.

Week 13

Date	Home	Goals	Goals	Away	OT
7/17	Houston Havoc	15	21	Austin Sol
7/17	Madison Radicals	21	14	Chicago Union
7/17	New York Empire	37	20	Philadelphia Phoenix
7/17	Salt Lake Shred	19	22	Oakland Spiders
7/18	Atlanta Hustle	22	24	DC Breeze
7/18	Colorado Apex	20	29	Oakland Spiders
7/18	Austin Sol	23	15	Houston Havoc
7/18	Boston Glory	25	11	Montreal Royal
7/18	San Diego Growlers	34	12	Vegas Bighorns
7/18	Chicago Union	cancelled		Pittsburgh Thunderbirds
7/18	Toronto Rush	28	17	Indianapolis AlleyCats
7/18	Seattle Cascades	22	24	Oregon Steel
7/19	Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	25	29	Indianapolis AlleyCats
7/19	Minnesota Wind Chill	23	16	Madison Radicals

Standings

Standings are first sorted by win-loss record. Ties are broken by head-to-head record, head-to-head goal difference, and if necessary, Adjusted Division Point Differential.

Central

Team	W	L	GD	Qualification
Minnesota Wind Chill	11	1	+79	First round bye
Madison Radicals	7	5	+3	Playoffs
Indianapolis AlleyCats	6	6	+10
Pittsburgh Thunderbirds	2	9	-99
Chicago Union	1	10	-61

East

Team	W	L	GD	Qualification
Boston Glory	11	1	+74	First round bye
New York Empire	10	2	+105	Playoffs
DC Breeze	9	3	+31
Toronto Rush	6	6	+27
Montreal Royal	3	9	-26
Philadelphia Phoenix	1	11	-110

West

Team	W	L	GD	Qualification
Oakland Spiders	11	1	+105	First round bye
Seattle Cascades	8	4	+24	Playoffs
Salt Lake Shred	5	7	+20
Colorado Apex	3	9	-84
Oregon Steel	2	10	-82

South

Team	W	L	GD	Qualification
Austin Sol	11	1	+71	First round bye
Carolina Flyers	10	2	+90	Playoffs
San Diego Growlers	7	5	+36
Atlanta Hustle	5	7	+43
Houston Havoc	2	10	-101
Vegas Bighorns	0	12	-155

Postseason

The first round of the playoffs was hosted by the #2 seed in each division. Division Championship games were hosted by the #1 seed. After the four division winners were crowned, teams were re-seeded based on win/loss record and goal differential in order to determine the matchups at Championship Weekend.

	First Round 24–26 July					Division Championships 7–9 August					Semi-Finals 27 August					Final 28 August
						1	Minnesota Wind Chill	22
	2	Madison Radicals	15			3	Indianapolis AlleyCats	20
	3	Indianapolis AlleyCats	17								Minnesota Wind Chill		28
											Austin Sol		24
						1	Austin Sol	24
	2	Carolina Flyers	25			2	Carolina Flyers	23
	3	San Diego Growlers	14													Minnesota Wind Chill		16
																Oakland Spiders		21
						1	Boston Glory	21
	2	New York Empire	23			2	New York Empire	24
	3	DC Breeze	15								New York Empire		21
											Oakland Spiders		27
						1	Oakland Spiders	20
	2	Seattle Cascades	20			3	Salt Lake Shred	16
	3	Salt Lake Shred	22

Minnesota v Austin's 52-goal semifinal marked the most goals scored in a playoff game since 2018, when the Dallas Roughnecks and New York Empire combined for 62 goals.

Oakland continued their record of having never lost a game at Championship Weekend.

Instead of a third-place game, Championship Weekend featured an all-star game featuring a team of players from the Western Ultimate League against a team of players from the Premier Ultimate League for the second consecutive year. The PUL all-stars won the game, 20–18.