Agreement between GotSoccer and US Club Soccer terminated

By Joe Dougherty, Potomac Soccer Wire Youth Editor

The most popular youth soccer ranking system in the United States has ended their practice of ranking events hosted by US Club Soccer on par with those hosted by rival US Youth Soccer. The move could strongly influence which tournaments many teams will attend.

Last week, US Club Soccer and GotSoccer also "mutually agreed" to end a five-year relationship in which GotSoccer provided tournament scheduling software under contract for each of US Club Soccer\'s regional and national tournaments.

"Our relationship with GotSoccer has been on a year-by-year basis," said Greg Hutton, Director of Media and Public Relations for US Club Soccer. "While we have valued that relationship, we are at a point where US Club Soccer has decided to go in a different direction."

Gavin Owen-Thomas, the former Maryland youth soccer coach and founder of GotSoccer, said US Club Soccer’s change of web site provider was not the reason for a change in how GotSoccer will weigh US Club events, but rather a reversal of a previous policy of treating the competitiveness of US Club events on par with Regional and National competitions hosted by US Club rival U.S. Youth Soccer.

"They will not be given equal standings with USYSA [United States Youth Soccer Association] regional and national events," Owen-Thomas told Potomac Soccer Wire in an email. "We have always been uncomfortable with the pay-in versus play-in policy for qualification to US Club Soccer regional events.

"Going forward any USSF affiliate must conform to the qualification standards used by USYSA. That is, state championships used as qualifying events for regional championships," he said.

Like its older counterpart, US Youth Soccer, US Club Soccer sanctions youth club tournaments and sponsors state cup, regional and national championships. However, those events are not as rigorously structured as an elimination format from top to bottom. Unlike the U.S. Youth Soccer format, teams are not required to win at the state level before playing in a regional event. However, the only way to Nationals is still the same in both structures – by winning at the regional level.

However, Hutton beleives US Club Soccer\'s format is just as competitive, “It is true that our state cups do not have a direct link to our National Cup (albeit the results are taken into consideration for seeding purposes), but there is a very good reason for this – because of the wide variety in competitiveness from state to state.  Our model allows the best teams from an area to compete for a regional championship – as opposed to the ‘one from each state model’ in which case some of the best teams may not be able to compete at the regional level.”

Before the US Club Soccer-GotSoccer separation, the US Club Soccer state, regional and national competitions were considered equal to US Youth Soccer-sponsored tournaments. This proved vital to US Club Soccer member teams, whose overall Got Soccer rankings were directly influenced by their participation in these tournaments.

In an email to PSW, Hutton said US Club Soccer -- national affiliate member of the United States Soccer Federation with members throughout Maryland, Virginia and Washington DC – was concerned that the software that tournaments use to schedule their events weighed more than the competitive level of the participating teams.

"With regard to tournament rankings, we feel that any objective national ranking system must be based on the quality of the competition as opposed to whose tournament software system is being used," Hutton said. "We are confident that US Club Soccer\'s regional and national events rank favorably on a competitive basis with US Youth Soccer\'s competitions."

Owen-Thomas said that US Club Soccer\'s tournaments became less competitive in recent years.

"Our ranking of the tournaments on par with [US Youth Soccer] was an internal one and was initially justified in the early years, at least at Regional level," he said. "But over the last two years US Club events were increasingly weakened as they entered more and more independent teams irrespective of their quality."

State, regional and national rankings have become increasingly important for some teams in recent years. When submitting their applications to some of the nation\'s elite tournaments – such as Richmond Strikers\' "Jefferson Cup" and the renowned "Dallas Cup" – teams often emphasize their rank in the GotSoccer ranking system in order to be considered for a tournament\'s top flight.

For U16 and older teams, getting into the top bracket of an elite tournament can play a significant role in whether those teams are seen by college coaches looking for top recruits.

Several area teams are among the nation\'s top-ranked, according to GotSoccer rankings. For example, VSA Heat Blue U14 girls team is the top-ranked team in Virginia, Region I and fifth nationally. The MSC Dragons U19 boys team is ranked first in Virginia, Region I and second nationally.

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Editor’s Note: How big is GotSoccer? Here are some stats forwarded to PSW by Owen-Thomas.

Tournaments Ranked:
USYSA State Cups: 56
USYSA Regionals: 4
USYSA Nationals: 1
US Club Regionals, National Cup and Showcase events: 14
Other Tournaments: 757
Total:  832
Events using GotSoccer software: 438

Leagues:
Leagues Ranked: 47
Leagues using GotSoccer software: 15

Boys teams Ranked:
U12: 1585
U13: 2437
U14: 2306
U15: 1854
U16: 1498
U17: 1468
U18: 1144
U19: 769
Total Boys Teams: 13,061
 
Girls teams Ranked:
U12: 1577
U13: 2332
U14: 2249
U15: 1850
U16: 1399
U17: 1241
U18: 1093
U19: 675
Total Girls teams:  12,461
 
Total Teams Ranked:  25,477

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Joe Dougherty is a long-time player, coach and soccer columnist in Northern Virginia. He played his rec and travel soccer with Braddock Road Youth Club, where he also coached and served as tournament director. Joe also coached with McLean Soccer Club, Great Falls Soccer Club and VISTA. He currently coaches the VSA Heat (rising) U13 girls team. Joe has written frequently about soccer in The Connections Newspapers and Journal Newspapers, and is excited to be a member of the Potomac Soccer Wire team. He lives in Haymarket with his wife and three kids, two of which play travel soccer with VSA. The third is a budding gymnast aiming to follow in Paul Hamm’s footsteps. Joe has a USSF “C” license and holds the NSCAA National Diploma. Joe can be reached at joedoc@potomacsoccerwire.com