United States Youth Soccer Association
The United States Youth Soccer Association (U.S. Youth Soccer or USYSA) is the youth affiliate and member of U.S. Soccer, the governing body for soccer in the United States. US Youth Soccer includes 55 state youth soccer associations, one per state except for California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas, which each have two state associations.
US Youth Soccer is a non-profit organization whose stated mission is to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of America's youth through soccer at all levels of age and competition; to make soccer fun; and to instill in young players a lifelong passion for the sport.
The US Youth Soccer membership is divided into four regions, each with a Director elected to the board.
Contents
Regions
The US Youth Soccer membership is divided into four regions for the purpose of competition. The regions are essentially East (Region I), Midwest (Region II), South (Region III) and West (Region IV).
National Championships
eight teams from each gender age group in the U-15 through the U-18 age groups qualify for the National Championships - the gender age groups four regional champions and the top four eligible teams from US Youth Soccer National League in each that are not teams representing their region at the US Youth Soccer National Championships In the U-13, U-14, and U-19 age groups, the four regional champions in each gender enter the competition.[1]
Regional Competitions
Each championship has 16 teams divided into four groups. The winners of the groups qualify for the semi-finals, and the winners of the semi-final matches qualify for the finals. Regional Champions in the Under-13 through Under-19 boys and girls age groups advance to the National Championships.
National League
The US Youth Soccer National League competition is for the nation's top teams in the Under-15, Under-16, Under-17 and Under-18 boys and girls age groups, consisting of a total of 16 teams, split into two divisions, per gender age group. The top team from each of the two divisions gender age group advances to the US Youth Soccer National Championships.[2]