FC Cincinnati 2 begins MLS NEXT Pro season this week. Here's what you need to know.

After months of talk, news releases and weighing logistics, the MLS Next Pro league begins its regular season this weekend, and FC Cincinnati 2 will play its first-ever match.

MLS Next Pro is billed as an accelerated, smooth pathway for younger players to graduate from club academies to the highest levels of the game in North America.

Players rostered by Cincinnati's MLS team can also play with academy players.

For an FC Cincinnati club that's already producing professional talent from its academy but needs more opportunities for all its players to get meaningful experience, MLS Next Pro is a valuable asset.

More: FC Cincinnati '2' confirms schedule, MLS season nears for first-team

In other parts of the world, you might call MLS Next Pro a reserve league, and that's not a new concept in soccer, although it might be new to some locals.

Here's how FC Cincinnati 2 is going to work and be productive in MLS Next Pro:

How does MLS Next Pro work?

The overarching idea behind MLS Next Pro is to develop talent. Ideally, all MLS clubs are graduating its academy players to MLS, the top division of soccer in the U.S. and Canada.

And more broadly, the hope is MLS clubs can eventually benefit from their homegrown professionals in the open, global market for talent.

But first things first: MLS Next Pro serves as a kind of on-ramp from the academies to MLS. It "completes the player pathway," as MLS officials like to tout.

There are roster guidelines and restrictions in place to help facilitate the talent development, and the mechanics of the MLS Next Pro roster can serve to develop that talent in a number of ways.

Each club’s active roster will be comprised of up to 35 players, including 24 professional players and up to 11 amateur players, all of whom are eligible for selection on game days.

Each club is allotted seven international roster spots. There is no minimum or maximum salary, nor a salary cap.

A maximum of five academy players can be on the field at a time, and and clubs execute professional contracts specifically for MLS Next Pro. Also, players from the big-league, MLS roster will drop down and make appearances for "FCC2."

That can happen in order to give younger players – prospects like the recently-signed Harrison Robledo, an academy product, or Nick Markanich, an MLS SuperDraft selection – more minutes.

A more-experienced veteran could also get some minutes with FCC2. That could occur due a logjam of players at a particular position, or a perceived lack of experience.

There will be plenty of personnel back-and-forth between FC Cincinnati's senior team, or "first team," and FCC2.

To illustrate the fluctuating nature of this back-and-forth process, when FCC2 travels for its opening match against Philadelphia Union 2, the bulk of the team will travel to the Philadelphia region directly from Cincinnati.

But after the first team plays Charlotte FC at the 75,000-plus seat Bank of America Stadium on Saturday, some players will fly from Charlotte to Philadelphia to join FCC2.

This combination of high-level prospects, professionals suited for MLS Next Pro and occasional cameos from veteran players could be roughly equated to the setup of a baseball club's farm system. MLS Next Pro is designed to achieve a lot of the same outcomes.

How does the roster work?

Update: FC Cincinnati on Friday confirmed its roster for FCC2.

Previous reporting: On Wednesday, FC Cincinnati 2 head coach and one-time FCC interim head coach Tyrone Marshall said he'd look to instill a team culture within a core group of players but there will undoubtedly be a rotating cast coming in and out of his team.

Part of this, Marshall explained, is in service to the head coach Pat Noonan's senior first team. After all, one of the main priorities of the organization is ultimately to facilitate for the team Noonan oversees, and to achieve results in MLS.

"This is a good a platform for you, a good starting point. You're not there yet, and that's why you're here – to continue working and developing," Marshall said. "Once you cross the fence and go across to the first team, that's gonna be the ultimate goal but right now it's just to humble the boys and let them know what we're about... For the first-team guys that are coming down and the guys we've signed (for MLS Next Pro), it's to start showing what their ability is about."

FC Cincinnati's announced the signings of multiple players to MLS Next Pro deals. Those players include academy products Kai Thomas, Daniel Martin, as well as Pitt product and goalkeeper Nico Campuzano, Andrew Akindele, and Avionne Flanagan, a 2021 MLS SuperDraft pick by FCC.

More contract announcements are forthcoming, club officials said, and final approval of the deals is expected soon.

When, where and whom will FCC2 play?

In 2022, MLS Next Pro will be comprised of 21 clubs. The chase for development will happen within the construct of a 24-match regular season with a postseason to follow.

Cincinnati will compete in the Eastern Conference Central Division alongside Chicago Fire II, Columbus Crew 2, Inter Miami II, and Orlando City B.

While MLS Next Pro officially kicks off its first-ever game Friday, FCC2 opens its season Sunday against Philadelphia Union 2 at Subaru Park, that club's suburban Philadelphia MLS venue.

FCC2 will play 12 home and 12 away matches, facing the other nine teams in the Eastern Conference.

The first seven home matches for FCC2 are scheduled to take place at Northern Kentucky University's NKU Soccer Complex, which is one of the leading amateur soccer facilities in the region.

FCC2 will play four matches at Mercy Health Training Center in Milford while the Aug. 14 match against Columbus Crew 2 will be played at TQL Stadium.

More MLS clubs will launch their MLS Next Pro teams in 2023. Rochester NY FC exists as the only independent MLS Next Pro club for now, but more independent clubs are expected to be introduced.

FCC2's 2022 schedule

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: MLS NEXT Pro: What's ahead for FC Cincinnati 2