US Club Soccer Northeast Girl’s NPL

2013-14 League Structure

NPL Mission Statement

The NPL provides a national competitive developmental platform:

(i) focused on long-term player development;

(ii) for the country’s top soccer clubs, allowing consistent, meaningful high-level games appropriately scheduled with higher training-to-game ratios;

(iii) that allows players to be scouted and evaluated by U.S. Soccer National Staff and Technical Advisors;

(iv) that is designed and structured by the clubs, based on the needs of the clubs; and

(v) that provides an avenue for qualification for the NPL Champions Cup.

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2012 NPL Champions Cup

The first NPL Champions Cup was held in July 2012 in Waukegan, IL, and included winners from NPLs all over the country.

The championship matchups showed the NPL Champions Cup to be one of the top competitive events in the country:

U-13: Dallas Texans (Champions) / PDA (Finalists)

U-14: FC Dallas (Champions) / New York Red Bulls (Finalists)

U-15: Sockers FC (Champions) / New York Cosmos (Finalists)

U-16: St. Louis SG (Champions) / Massapequa (Finalists)

U-18: Chicago Fire Academy (Champions) / MPS (Finalists)

2013 NPL Champions Cup Participants

Boys Girls

Seventeen different NPLs will send teams at various age

groups and genders to the 2013 NPL Champions Cup.

Northeast Girl’s NPL Members (12)

North Division Stars of Massachusetts (MA) Scorpions (MA) Connecticut FC (CT) SoccerPlus (CT) East Meadow (NY) Albertson (NY)

South Division PDA (NJ) Match Fit (NJ) Penn Fusion (PA) World Class (NJ) FC Bucks (PA)

**** Divisions can be adjusted based on participating clubs if necessary ****

National Championships

League Winner: The winner of the Northeast NPL at U13 – U18 will qualify for the NPL Champions Cup – the NPL National Championship.

Cup Competition: Teams may participate in a variety of cup competitions throughout the year, including National Cup Regionals to compete for qualification to the National Cup - Finals. In addition, and if interest exists, additional “State Cups” can be created within each state.

U-13 and U-14 Format

Total Weekends from Labor Day through November 17: 12

Total Weekends from March 15 through May 31: 12

League Games:

Play All Teams (Home and Away)

11 games in Fall and 11 games in Spring

TOTAL GAMES Per Year: 22

U-15 through U-18 Potential Format

Weekends available in December: 2

Weekends from March 15 through May 31: 12

League Games:

Play All Teams In Division (Home and Away) (10 games)

Play All Teams Cross-Division (Home or Away) (6 games)

TOTAL GAMES: 16

League Format Notes

Participating age groups: U13, U14, U15, U16, U17/U18

Where possible, NPL games will be scheduled to “mirror” the ECNL Northeast Conference schedule. This allows: Player movement from team to team Additional exposure for NPL players

Where facility or logistics prevent “mirrored” scheduling, the NPL games will be scheduled separately.

All clubs should have teams in all age groups, or at least 4 out of 5 age groups, to facilitate scheduling.

Similar to ECNL, all teams must meet minimum competitive standards within the league to insure high quality competition.

Additional Programming

Player Development Program (PDP): A Northeast Girls NPL PDP will be held 1 time per year to bring the top players across the league together for 1 day of training and competition, where they can also be evaluated for id2 camps and other opportunities.

Showcase: US Club Soccer is currently evaluating the feasibility of operating a U16-U18 NPL Showcase in February or March to allow teams from NPLs across the country to compete and showcase players.

National Premier Leagues

Next Step: Commitment

To commit to the Northeastern NPL as outlined in this presentation, email:

Chris Baer (

Commitments must be made by April 5, 2013

National Premier Leagues