2013 Super-20 League Overview

MISSION ST AT E M E N T


ABOUT USL

United Soccer Leagues has become the largest
organization of elite-level soccer leagues in North
America by building on the vision, commitment, and
passion of players, fans and investors. USL continues
to be a driving force in the growth of soccer in the
United States, Canada and Caribbean. USL provides
a clearly defined path for the progression of male
and female soccer players beginning at the youth
level (USL Super Y-League/USL Super-20 League),
continuing through the amateur level (USL Premier
Development League/USL W-League) and up to
the professional level, both outdoor and indoor (USL
PRO, MISL). A platform for countless players to
reach for their dreams each year, USL is devoted to
developing the sport at the grassroots level in every
community across the region.


SUPER -2 0 L E AGUE
The Super-20 League is the pre-eminent destination league for under
20 players to progress to the next level in a highly competitve
and professional environment.

As the premier U20 men’s and women’s North American amateur league, the Super-20 League provides
the platform for top 17- to 20-year-olds in the United States and Canada to compete at an elite level. While
serving as an integral part of the development system for MLS, W-League and PDL teams, the Super-20
League features teams competing in regional divisions, consisting of 8-12 regular season matches
throughout the summer months. The 2012 Super-20 season featured the MLS’ Chicago Fire, Columbus
Crew, D.C. United and Colorado Rapids.

The Super-20 League is built upon a regional-based competition model in order to limit the expenses for
each participant and club.

The season culminates with the Super-20 League Championships at IMG Academy. With more than 24
teams from across North America, the Super-20 League Championships provide collegiate coaches and
professional scouts the opportunity to recruit and evaluate players for the next platform of opportunity,
while giving players the experience of high-profile competition.

Costs:
Annual Participation Fee: $1,500
Performance Security Bond: $500
Player and Coach Registration: $20/$12
Referee Fee (paid by home team): $145/game


SUPER -2 0 L E AGUE
men’s north american footprint

DIV I SI O N AL I GNM EN T
MIDWEST
NEW ENGLAND
SOUTHWEST
SOUTHEAST
MID ATLANTIC
MID SOUTH
SOUTH ATLANTIC
NORTH ATLANTIC
ROCKY MOUNTAIN
NORTHWEST
NORTHERN PLAINS


SUPER -2 0 L E AGUE
WOmen’s north american footprint

DIV I SI O N AL I G N M EN T
MIDWEST
NEW ENGLAND
SOUTHWEST
SOUTHEAST
MID ATLANTIC
MID SOUTH
SOUTH ATLANTIC
NORTH ATLANTIC
ROCKY MOUNTAIN
NORTHWEST
NORTHERN PLAINS


&
C LUB AFFI L I AT I O N
More than 47% of MLS clubs currently utilize the proven USL
player development model in order to identify, develop and
prepare elite players for the rigors of MLS competition, with the
ultimate goal of graduation to the first team.

Harrisburg City Islanders (USL PRO)
Reading United AC (PDL)

Portland Timbers U-23 (PDL)

Vancouver Whitecaps Residency (PDL)
Vancouver Whitecaps Women (W-League)

Chicago Fire Premier (PDL)
Chicago Fire (Super-20)

Sounders FC U-23 (PDL)
Sounders Women (W-League)

Crew Juniors (Super-20)

Rapids Women (Super-20)

FC Dallas West Texas (Super-20)


U S L PRO, P D L & W -LEA G U E
CLUBS FIELDING SUPER-20 LEAGUE TEAMS

™

LADY


A IDING GRO W T H
USL Super-20 League will continue to work with the Super
Y-League, PDL, W-League, USL PRO, MISL, and MLS to
explore ways that the leagues can collaborate in a manner
that enhances the value of youth soccer in America and
aids in their growth of the sport in North America.


P L A Y ER I DENT I FI CA T ION
The Super-20 ID Player Tracking Program serves as a mechanism to identify and track elite players throughout
their seasons to allow for proper identification for current Super-20 teams as well as U.S. Soccer National
Team programs. Teams can utilize this player list to help identify and track players that could make an impact
at their club as they continue to grow and look for new talent.

Players will be tracked throughout the season by position and will be highlighted on weekly lists. These player
lists will be sent to all teams on a weekly basis and will provide a ranking system to highlight players who have
been identified throughout the season. The rankings will be calculated based on match report voting submitted
by each coach following each game throughout the season.

The USL National Technical Director will be available to discuss and evaluate players with any team that has
identified a player in which they are interested. This level of identification provides a system for teams to focus
their attention on as they plan to build their clubs moving forward.

“Having coached at all levels
and ages for US Soccer,
including MLS, the Super-20
League fills a major gap
in the pyramid of player
development. The Super-20
League affords college-
aged players an opportunity
for additional games that
will facilitate their continued
development and help
prepare them for the next
level of competition.”

- Peter Mellor
USL National
Technical Director


PLA YE R HO N O RS QuickTime™ and a
decompressor
are needed to see this picture.

Former MLS Super-20 Players
• 24 Former Super-20 players have progessed through
the ranks to ultimately play in MLS including:
• Teal Bunbury
• C.J. Sapong
• Luis Gil
• Tristan Bowen
• Connor Lade
• Players from the Super-20 League have played for the
Chicago Fire, Columbus Crew, D.C. United, Chivas USA,
Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls.

USL in the MLS superdraft
Year Number Drafted Percentage
2012 MLS SuperDraft 26 68%


JOURN E Y O F SU CC ES S
Ingrid Wells Bryan Arguez Mollie Pathman
Georgetown Montreal Impact Duke University
Unitersity (MLS) (NCAA Div I)

Super-20 League Hertha Berlin
Women’s National
(German
Team (U18)
Bundesliga)

Super Y-League
Cary Lady Clarets
DC United (W-League)
(MLS)
• Named All-American • 11th overall • U17, U20, and
Second Team pick in 2007 U23 USWNT
Triangle FC
• Big East Conference Rookie MLS SuperDraft US National Team
Member Super-20 League
MVP at age 16
of the Year • U17, U20 and (U17, U20, U23)
• 2010 Gatorade
• All Big East First Team U23 USMNT National H.S.
• SoccerBuzz Freshman of the Member Player of the
Year Finalist Kendall SC Year
(Super-20 League)
• SoccerBuzz All-American • 4-time NSCAA
Freshman First Team All American
• SoccerBuzz Mid-Atlantic • 2010 Soccer
Region Freshman of the Year America First
• Georgetown University’s Team Freshman
Female Athlete of the Year All-America at
Duke University
• Multiple
Super-20 Final
Championships
and MVP
Awards


SUPER -20 P RE M I UM T E A M SE R V I C E S &
PROFESSIONA L L E A G UE A DM I NI STR ATI O N

USL team services provide Super-20 clubs with comprehensive
operational support, fostering a professional developmental
atmosphere
Located throughout the United States and Canada, the Super-20 League provides the infrastructure, support
and competitive platform to offer soccer as an exciting, affordable, family-oriented entertainment option
for your fan-base, while developing professionals. Through USL’s unparalleled premium team services, clubs
receive centralized league support from day-to-day administration to player development platforms.

CENTRALIZED LEAGUE OPERATIONS official league website
Super-20 League teams benefit from a full-time USLsoccer.com is a state-of-the-art website
centralized administrative staff located in Tampa, featuring daily content, comprehensive statistics,
Florida, specializing in communications, creative administrative tools and video highlights from
services, new media, finance, marketing, player throughout the leagues and provides world-wide
registration and operations. exposure for USL teams.

club friendly player Registration Officiating
USL employs a full-time registrar to assist with USL provides match-day referee assignment
expediting and simplifying player and administrator through the working relationships with the U.S.
registration process. Registration is facilitated Soccer Federation and Canadian Soccer Federation.
through USLsoccer.com in conjunction with the
USL registrar.
annual general meeting
The Annual General Meeting (AGM) provides
Insurance coverage educational programming centered around team
Super-20 League registration includes general growth, best practices and industry trends aimed at
liability and secondary medical coverage for enhancing the club’s performance and experience.
registered clubs, facilities and players.
Super-20 championship
National Technical Director The Super-20 season culminates with the
Former MLS and U.S. National Team coach, Super-20 League Championship, hosted at IMG
Peter Mellor, serves as USL’s full-time National Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Through league
Technical Director, guiding team, player and league play, teams qualify for the opportunity to compete
development initiatives. for the chance to be crowned “Champion.”

usl Communications team Minimum Standards
The USL communications office is comprised of a USL minimum standards exist in order to establish
multi-person staff who boast more than 30 years a quality control mechanism which maintains
of experience. USL’s communications assets are uniformity of the Super-20 brand and operational
available to member clubs who are looking for standards, regardless of market and external
additional promotion and publicity support. factors.


USL ME D I A O U T L E T S
USLsoccer.com

The primary tool for dissemination of USL
news, the USLsoccer.com network provides
viewers with unlimited access to the latest
USL happenings. In addition, the USLsoccer.
com network includes league specific sites
and is your source for everything including:

• Rosters
• Schedules
• Scores
• Breaking News
• Blogs
• Feature Stories
• Statistics
• Video Clips
• Player Profiles
• League Standings
• Club Administration

USLsoccer.com Statistics:
• 900,000+ unique visitors
• 2.3 million visits
• 16 million+ page views


NEW M E D I A
To compliment its traditional public relations and communication initiatives, the USL Communications
and Team Services staff works closely with each team to develop and maintain successful, cutting-edge
social media platforms to help drive online presence and revenue streams. This allows each team to
more actively shape the message in the marketplace and increase recognition of USL’s leadership role in
both player development and league growth in North America. Although this will be a constantly evolving
process, the primary approach is on dual fronts:

Twitter
The USL Supe-20 League will have a Twitter page, which provides the opportunity to distribute short-form
content (short bursts of texts, images, and links) to promote what is happening throughout the league.

Facebook
This will be the conversational piece of our social media mix. The goal will be to stimulate positive discussions
about events that occur within the Super-20 League. Since Facebook has such a large user base, it will
be utilized for engaging people in an environment where they are comfortable and already spend a lot of
their time.

Unation
Unation serves as USL’s broadband broadcast channel. Providing unrestricted access to viewers,
Unation allows fans to follow their team, watch matches and share content from anywhere around the
world.


L E AGUE CHA M PI O N S H IPS
League championship events provide Super-20 League with valuable
experience in high-profile competition.

2012 Super-20 CHampionship at IMG ACADEMY

Men: Chicago Fire 3 - Columbus Crew 0
Women: Colorado Rapids 1 - D.C. United 0

The 2012 Super-20 League Championship featured 24
clubs from throughout North America, culminating with two
championship matches featuring four MLS clubs and was
streamed “live” through USL’s online broadcast platform,
USLnation.com.

Capturing the attention and participation of a wide variety
of soccer groups including elite-level players, coaches,
executives, owners and dignitaries, the Super-20 League
Championships serve as the premier event for both players
and scouts.


AFFILIA T I O N S

As the governing body for soccer in the United States, U.S. Soccer
has helped chart the course for the sport for more than 90 years. In
this time, the Federation’s mission statement has been very simple
and very clear: to make soccer, in all its forms, a pre-eminent sport
in the United States and to continue the development of soccer at
all recreational and competitive levels.

United Soccer Leagues has maintained a longstanding relationship
with US Soccer to aid the development of the sport at every level:
men’s, women’s and youth. Each USL competition is directly affiliated
with US Soccer and league executives are deeply involved in shaping
the direction and governance of the sport in the United States
through its participation on its Board of Directors, Committees, and
Task Forces.

USL PRO is also affiliated with the Canadian Soccer Association,
the Bermuda Football Association and the Antigua Barbuda Football
Association.


Abe Thompson Jason Arnold United Soccer Leagues
Director, Super-20 League Senior Director, Super-20 League 1715 N. Westshore Blvd. Suite
abe.thompson@uslsoccer.com jason.arnold@uslsoccer.com 825
Direct: 813.444.7647 Direct: 813.269.1353 Tampa, FL 33607
Fax: 813.963.3807 Fax: 813.963.3807 P: (813) 963-3909
F: (812) 963-3807
www.uslsoccer.com


2013 Super-20 League Overview

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