NorCal NPL Club Application Procedure

Application Instructions

Any club applying for membership in the NorCal National Premier League (NPL) must complete the application pre-screening. Clubs that pass the pre-screening will be sent the full NorCal NPL Club application on March 1st. Any clubs that do not qualify based on the pre-screening can apply once they meet the minimum requirements. For questions regarding the application or the application process, please email Jason Drury at jdrury@norcalpremier.com.

NorCal NPL Pre-Screen Application

Rationale

The aim of the National Premier League is to provide a national level league competition for those clubs seeking to develop motivated players for college soccer.

NPL “Academy” Clubs must provide coaches with high level credentials, commit to a year round competition, provide additional training hours per week, and college assistance programs for players striving to play in college or beyond.

The administrative and technical requirements are set higher for NPL Soccer Clubs, for they have committed to focus to develop players for college soccer.

While some wild card entries are accepted each year, the NPL competition is primarily comprised of designated NPL clubs who are guaranteed a spot to the 14 or 15 age groups every year. From this point on promotion and relegation is used to determine the divisions of play.

The National Premier League utilizes primarily regional divisions of play but concludes with a National Championship comprised of NPL winners from across the country.

NPL Club membership benefits include additional and early access to coaching courses, closer consultation in the annual planning and the ability to compete for an NPL National League Championship.

Timeline

The NorCal pre-screening application will be posted year round. Clubs that pass the pre-screening will be sent the full NorCal NPL Application. The deadlines for said application are as follows:

• Pre-Screen Applications – Open year round
• Clubs Passing Pre-screening will be sent application – March 5th
• Full Application Due – March 15th
• NorCal NPL New Club Review – March 15th – April 15th
• Club Acceptance/Rejection – May 1

IN ORDER FOR AN NPL CLUB APPLICATION TO BE CONSIDERED A CLUB MUST MEET THE FOLLOWING MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

• Director of Coaching with minimum of USSF “B” or equivalent
• NPL aged coaches with minimum coaches license of USSF “C” or equivalent
• A minimum of 2 Boys or 2 Girls teams that are currently playing in the NPL
• Minimum of 3 years participation as club in NorCal Premier Soccer

Once a club meets the above criteria, NorCal will send the full NPL club application by March 5th to get more information from each new club applicant. The following criteria will be considered when accepting new clubs:

• Competitive Level of Teams
• Coaching Staff Level
• Players Produced for National Team, Professional, College, PDP
• NorCal Club Participation Percentage
• Administrative Standards
• Technical Guidelines
• Number of NPL clubs in Region

Please note: NorCal Premier’s NPL Club Committee will evaluate club applications using the following objective and subjective measures.  Based on that evaluation the Committee will make a recommendation to the NorCal Premier Board of Directors and the Board may accept or deny Club NPL Application at their sole discretion.

MEMBER CLUB REQUIREMENTS

Teams

If a club is accepted as a NorCal NPL member club, that does not guarantee that all the clubs teams will be accepted into the NPL competition. Around 20-24 teams are accepted into the NPL competition per age group.

Standards and Guidelines

Each National Premier League Member Club will be expected to abide by the Member Club Standards and Guidelines set forth by the National Premier League, and all policies of the National Premier League.

We reserve the right, at any time in our sole discretion, to: modify, suspend or deny membership into the NorCal NPL with or without notice. You agree that we shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any rejection, suspension or discontinuance of your membership should we deem such appropriate.