In an effort to provide more meaningful matches and build cross-league competition, NorCal is proud to announce the creation of a new event—NorCal League Cup. Kicking off this upcoming weekend in Davis, the League Cup will feature matches in the U15-U19 age groups between teams from across four leagues—NorCal’s ECNL Regional League, NorCal NPL, ECNL squads, and MLS Next clubs. The events runs over the course of Fall and Spring Seasons, with matches played at three of NorCal’s major events—League Cup Opening Weekend, Fall Showcase, and Spring Showcase.

In our inaugural season, we have 188 teams from 57 clubs across 4 leagues all competing for champion titles.

“This is a major initiative that highlights our desire for teams from different platforms to earn the opportunity to play each other,” said NorCal Director of Competitions Daniel Chamberlain. “There is such a high value in all of the teams from these leagues gaining experience playing in knockout competitions. Most high-level teams don’t earn these opportunities enough through just league play–we know that that those types of games are an important part of player and team development.”

“Additionally, in club soccer, we’ve gone away from having direct competition with many of our neighboring clubs, who may participate in different leagues–while national leagues often provide a great level of competition and organization, teams are missing out on playing sides located just a few miles away,” Chamberlain added. “The League Cup aims to help address this issue, and the issue of a lack of knockout round games, by providing a cross-platform competition where the best can play the best, regardless of which league they are in, and high-level teams can experience knockout cup competition within their season, which is a valuable part of player and team development.”

The new competition will also help improve the quality of matches at the NorCal College Showcases, which are hosted each spring and fall at a central location.

“The League Cup will provide more meaningful games at the NorCal College Showcases so that college coaches can see players playing in competitive games rather than friendlies,” said NorCal NPL Commissioner Kelcey Chaidez. “The majority of the feedback that we’ve received from college coaches is that they’d prefer watching players play in these types of matches whenever possible.”

HOW IT WORKS

The event will begin with a three game group stage where each team is seeded based on their performance from the previous season. The first two matches will be played on August 16 and 17, hosted at NorCal’s Opening Weekend at Davis Legacy.

From there, the third match will take place on November 15 for the boys and November 22 for the girls at the NorCal Fall College Showcase. This ensures that any team that participates in the League Cup will earn an automatic berth at said Showcase. Those who are eliminated will still play in a friendly match the following day.

After the third match, the top team from each group, plus the top two second place finishers will advance to the quarterfinals. Those will be held on November 16 for the boys and November 23 for the girls, also at the NorCal Fall College Showcase.

Teams winning their quarterfinal games will earn an automatic berth in the NorCal Spring College Showcase, which will host the semifinals on May 16 and the finals on May 17.

For the full League Cup schedule, click here.

For more information on the League Cup, click here.