Amateur Megalomania

In light of the recent success of the FIFA World Cup in terms of American TV ratings, I thought I’d pass along a multi-part Soccer Primer to the faithful readers. This is my attempt to do what I can to promote US Soccer, so just humor me.

PART ONE – US CLUB SOCCER

There are many club leagues in the US, the “American Soccer Pyramid” looks like this:

Major League Soccer (MLS) – The Premier League of American Soccer, it is run by the U.S.S.F. (the United States Soccer Federation)

USL – 1st Division – Run by a separate organization, the United Soccer Leagues (Semi-pro)

USL – 2nd Division

USL – Premier Development League

National Premier Soccer League

Pacific Coast Soccer League

Unlike other European leagues, there is no relegation or promotion of clubs between leagues.

The USSF runs MLS, which is recognized by the world as the Premier League in the US. The USSF is affiliated with FIFA and falls under the umbrella of the FIFA conference called CONCACAF (Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football). The other US club leagues are run by the USL, which is also a member of the USSF.

COMPETITION

The MLS is the ultimate American league. There are 12 teams in two conferences. Every year there is a playoff and the MLS Cup is awarded to the winner. Each MLS team also has a reserve team that competes in the Reserve Division.

Every year there is also the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open tournament. This one is exciting. Every club in the US, including all teams from the USL divisions and any amateur club associated with the USSF or USL can participate. Many rounds of qualification are played, with clubs getting round byes depending on their league. So the USL 1st Division teams get later round byes. The cool thing is that the MLS teams also compete. So what usually happens is some USL 2nd Division or other amateur club could end up playing a MLS team at some high school field in Michigan (happened this year). Also, just recently, the biggest upset in US Open history just happened when an amateur club beat Chivas USA in penalty kicks.

Since the MLS is run by the USSF, which is a member of CONCACAF, the top two MLS clubs are invited to play in the annual CONCACAF Champions’ Cup. The Champions’ Cup is played against top club teams in the American, Mexican, Central American and Caribbean domestic leagues. This would be like the Steelers playing against the Argonauts of the CFL in a tournament. The winner of the Champions’ Cup is invited to play in the FIFA Club World Championship against the club champions from the eight other FIFA Confederations (Europe, Asia, etc.).

The runner up in the Champions’ Cup gets invited to play in the Copa Sudamericana (South American Cup) as a guest club. The winner of the Copa Sudamericana Cup plays the winner of the Copa Libertadores (ANOTHER South American club tournament) for the Recopa Sudamericana title.

So, if you follow a MLS team, you could theoretically watch your team:

1.) Play in the MLS, win the MLS Cup.

2.) Play in the US Open, win the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup.

3.) Play in the CONCACAF Champions’ Cup against other domestic clubs from the CONCACAF region, win the Champions’ Cup.

4.) Play in the FIFA Club World Champions’ Cup against other international club winners and win that.

5.) OR, play in the Copa Sudamericana Cup, and win that.

6.) And then play in the Recopa Sudamericana tournament and be crowned the South American Super Cup winner.

And that’s just the domestic club level.

NEXT – U.S. Men’s International Team and Competition!

Filed under: Grab Bag