Soccer Alliance AZ

My understanding is that they will have their own state cup. The top teams will be in NPL I assume, irrespective of whether they were in APL or ASL1/2. On the girls side this kind of works, on the boys side esp. from U15 forward less so.

E64, as explained to me and on what I've seen publicly from RSL & Rising, are composite teams created per game. On the E64 blurb it says you can play whoever you want, up to a different team for every game, just get the roster in on time. So, I don't think there are any E64 teams as such, and the clubs will make them up as they go along.

"Elite 64 clubs can tailor their player pools from game to game based on the needs of their player development model. There are no limits on the number of players a team can use throughout the seasonal year within the Elite 64 competition."

Bizarrely, E64 is under the USYS banner, so I wonder if ASA will try to pressure their parent org to kick these clubs - I would if I were them. Keep in mind that being in E64 does give you access to ASA's state cup.

nl_elite_64_overview_1-17-22.pdf (usysnationalleague.com)

"It is encouraged, but not a requirement, for any team that does not qualify for Champions Cup via the Elite 64 pathway, to do so by participating in their State Association’s Cup competition."

 

So far 45% est or more of boys playing in ASA State Cup will play in the SSAZ State Cup next season not ASA's

85% est or more girls playing in ASA State Cup will play in the SSAZ State Cup next season not ASA's

Each enhanced state cup to include pathways into US Club Soccer’s National Cup

Check out the tryouts page of ASA and that will be your competition if your Club is listed there

ECNL or ECRL are separate animal and always has been

 

Wow.. quite a bit of fear mongering there.

They make it sound like they are the only organization capable of oversight and providing insurance. They affiliate with USYS and the new league affiliates with US Club Soccer. Both provide similar services and frameworks. I especially like the "and won't be able to compete for state, regional and national championships" Complete lie. They will but for a different league and the new league allows travel across state lines without "permisssion".

We are not the first state to do this. US Club Soccer runs leagues all over the country.
https://usclubsoccer.org/npl-member-leagues/

Link to FAQ from US Club Soccer.
https://usclubsoccer.org/about/faqs/

P.S. When the others tell you about their “pathway,” keep in mind that most college, professional, and national team players come from US Youth Soccer (USYS) programs.)

- Really? I don't think you realize who is in NPL. - In Socal any club that has MLS/ECNL/GA/DPL is in the SoCal NPL league and not USYS. If you go back in time maybe when ODP was relevant that would be true but not now. In Cali NPL - all the Surfs, Legends, Albion, Liverpool, LAFC, CDA Slammers, Blues, Pateadores, City SC.. i can go on and on.

http://socalsoccerleague.org/club-directory

good brief description stolen from a Washington club

USYS vs US Club

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE?
Navigating the world of competitive soccer is difficult, especially if you are unfamiliar with the landscape. With a little guidance, we will try to help you understand the two largest governing bodies for competitive soccer in the United States - United States Youth Soccer (USYS) and United States Club Soccer (US Club).

It is important to understand that both USYS and US Club fall under the United States Soccer Federation (USSF). The USSF is the official governing body of soccer in the United States as recognized by soccer's international governing body, FIFA.

United States Youth Soccer (USYS)

Their Mission - US Youth Soccer is a non-profit and educational organization whose mission is to foster the physical, mental and emotional growth and development of America's youth through the sport of soccer at all levels of age and competition. Our job is also to make it fun, and instill in young players a lifelong passion for the sport.

The US Youth Soccer membership is divided into four regions: East, Midwest, South and West. Fifty-five member State Associations make up US Youth Soccer with one in each state, and two in California, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Boys and girls then register to play with one of the 6,000+ clubs or leagues formed by their State Association.

US Club Soccer (US Club)

Their Mission - US Club Soccer will foster the growth and development of soccer clubs throughout the United States to create the best possible development environment for players of all ages in every club.

REGISTRATION
Washington Youth Soccer (WYS), which falls under USYS, requires that individual clubs be under the umbrella of an association. Issaquah FC belongs to the Eastside Youth Soccer Association (EYSA) along with the other member clubs listed below, each being responsible for independently registering its players.

To contrast, US Club is a National organization where registration is run online at the National level.

LEAGUES

In USYS, each state association is permitted to run their own "State League" which qualifies into the Regional League which qualifies into the National League. Each state association and regional association has different qualifying rules to advance to the next level.

US Club Soccer has local leagues, regional leagues and National leagues. The NPL, ENPL and ECNL are all national leagues run in-house or by US Club Members.

 

Was thinking about this change.

Does anyone know if players from clubs governed by AZ Alliance will be able to participate in ODP, which is a USYSA program?

Not sure how that works, but in AZ if they are not able to, that might be the end to the program, at least on the girls side.

 

ECNL is run through US Club soccer, and there is no issue with those players participating in ODP.

 

Appears Phoenix Rush and PSG have now joined SAAZ. Not sure how many girls teams CCV has left. Seeing a ton of their players joining other teams

http://soccerallianceaz.com/about/member-clubs

 

I know of 2 girls who left the 06G CCV team what ages are you seeing the defection from CCV?

Are you saying that the reason for the defection is SAAZ?

 

I know of 4 from the 07 APL team and yes.. they will not have any competition next year if they don't move.

 

CCV 06 team gained five new players. Lost only 1. If this league actually happens this next season, yes the competition for league games for ASA clubs is going to be a challenge but the new league won’t affect tournament competition. Also, the league really affecting APL competition for the 06 girls is the DPL.

 

The teams that were APL that left for the alliance plan to field teams in NPL on the alliance side. The competition is still there and available on the local level.

You say "if" this league happens, what leads you to believe that it won't?

 

Yes BIG IF,
because of referee situation. there are new MSL teams, DPL teams ETC and they all pay better than ASA leagues. I am sure Alliance is going to offer more money too but there are only so many referees, I don't think a referee should do more than 2 matches a day to be effective, going into the 3, 4, 5,6, 7 in one day you get what you get, complaints, ie.

per Alliance website, each club is responsible for a Referee Assignor, that's a problem. Current Assignors going to be able to represent the clubs in Alliance ? If one Assigner can represent each club, They will need the biggest Assignor in the Sate for that

The politics will get worse, there are no Referee Assigner certification classes available in this state, and I don't believe there will be one soon to accommodate the new Alliance plan. I don't see how the Alliance charter can accommodate each club to have a assigner with out help from outside, maybe Pro Ref or IFAB/FIFFA or US Soccer getting involved.

If Alliance can figure the referee Assigner issue and get referees, then your are taking referees away from ASA, will the Referee Association pick a side? Will the Referee Assocation pick ASA and black ball any referee going to the Alliance side? If yes, I see lawsuits and its the kids who suffer, Arizona Soccer Suffers

 

The refs do more than 2 a day now with state leagues. That's why ASA puts them in one location, so the refs can do multiple games, one after the other. They also do multiple for tournaments.

Another poster pointed out the pressure to get referees and this will only make it worse. Lawsuits would be pathetic if someone instigates them. Refs will vote with their wallets I'd imagine - as you'd expect them to.

The kids are going to suffer either way with diminished competition in both leagues. That's been the direction for a while with the proliferation of letter leagues. I don't expect it to get better, just as I don't expect the clubs to be bothered at all.

 

A 3 game set in a day is pretty standard for referees - 1 center and 2 lines.

 

How is the ref situation changing? There are likely very near the same amount of teams this year as last and likely relatively the same amount of games. The only difference I see is there will be a new league. DPL plays games, GA plays games, ECNL plays games, ECRL Plays games, Futbolito plays games, EA plays games, MLS Next plays games, ASA plays games and NPL will play games. All those leagues require refs and play at different locations around the valley. Its not like there are going to be a whole bunch of new players and teams they will just be organized differently. The amount of fear mongering around the new league is pretty over the top. I would agree that SAAZ will likely pay better than ASA just to smooth the water though.

 

Rumor mill says SAAZ pay scale is closer to ECNL which is $5-10 per game higher than ASA. Also heard it will pay cash. These are just rumblings around the ref tent, take with grain of salt.

 

☝️this.....

 

I’m just speculating like everyone else on this board. It’s seems to be a huge undertaking to get up and running in a few months, but I’m not privy to all the details or how long this has been in the works. Maybe it will happen. I do know CCV just announced its joining now too when they initially said they weren’t.

 

I've no doubt that the league will happen - it is interesting that CCV has joined. I expect they had to or they wouldn't have had any girls teams left and/or teams to play.

That said, it is all very vague, basically parents are being asked to sign up for and pay to be in a team which

• has not yet got a league place guaranteed, i.e. which one are you in
• when you are in it, who will you be playing
• how many games will there be
• played where
• and when
• officiated by who
• for how much

All very minor things , being run by a new organization (AZ clubs), who have never run a league before ... but are hiring someone or hired someone I saw, who can sort it all out single handedly!

All for the kids though, putting them first

 

ASA ref fees for 2022-23. Not sure why ASA didn't just match the other leagues. It's not like any of the leagues are paying the ref fees out of their pockets.



ECNL

 

Thanks for sharing, hadn't seen the new ASA ref fees. Those are $10 higher for centers and $5 higher for ARs, and as shown, more competitive with ECNL. Might put some upward pressure on tournament costs, some of those are paying way less (although the halves are typically shorter).