Club Resources

The NorCal National Premier League (NPL) is an open league consisting of designated NPL clubs and Wild Cards. NPL clubs consist of clubs that have met competition, technical/coaching, administrative, disciplinary, and player production standards over several years of NorCal membership.

The benefits of becoming an NPL club include:

BECOMING AN NPL CLUB
A club can be considered an NPL club in the following 3 ways:

• NPL Boys and Girls Club
• NPL Boys Club
• NPL Girls Club

New and current NPL clubs must meet the following criteria in order to remain or become an NPL club:

• Competitive Quality

• • Must have 3 teams qualified for the NPL of a given gender to be an NPL club for that gender.
    • Current NPL clubs will be placed on probation for 1 season if they fall below the 3 team gender requirement to start the next NPL season. If by the following season the club does not qualify 3 NPL teams they will no longer keep NPL Club status in that gender.
    • For DA boys clubs that do not have full-DA status (ie U17 and U19) their U14 and U15 teams will count towards their 3 team requirement.

• College Player Production

• • To keep NPL status for a specific gender, current NPL clubs must be placing a minimum of 5 players over 5 years into 4-year college soccer programs.
  • The new club’s clock will start once they are accepted as an NPL club.

• Technical

• • Have a DOC with a USSF ‘B’ license or equivalent, a USSF ‘C’ working towards a ‘B’, or show commitment to improving the current license level on a yearly basis while also attending an annual “Norcal DOC Seminar”
    • If there is a DOC change the club will have 12 months to reach this requirement.
    • The club must have an average of a USSF C license (or equivalent) for their NPL teams. NPL coaches must meet the minimum of USSF D license requirement.
    • Must take part in the NPL club visit.

• Administrative

• • The club must have attendance at 2 mandatory NPL in-person meetings a year.
  • Club must have no lower than 80% rating on Game Day Items
  • Club must have no more than 20% of games with a Poor referee rating
  • Club must have no more than 20% of games with a Poor field rating
    1. 1. For b, c and d if the club falls below the requirement in one category, the club will be placed on probation for 1 year and must meet the rating for the next year.

• Sportsmanship

1. • Clear policy of expected behavior of all club members
   • Must pass a PAD review process
   • Absolutely no incidents of violence towards referees or spectators

A club may apply to become an NPL club at any time by filling out the NPL Club Pre-Application to make sure the club meets the NPL club requirements. A club that does not meet the requirements will not be considered. If your club meets the above criteria please fill out the NorCal NPL Pre-Application

Once a club meets the above criteria, NorCal Premier’s NPL Club Committee will meet with and further evaluate the club.

WILD CARD TEAMS

Wild Cards are teams from non-NPL clubs and are still eligible to participate in the NorCal NPL by winning the State Premier Championship division (U14-U17), qualifying via the NPL Qualification Event (U13-U17), or making the NorCal State Cup Finals (U13-U17) in the highest Cup division.