Announcement

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 12:22 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

The NPL has announced that the NWCL will be a sanctioned league for their national championship series.... The clubs listed are in good standing with US Club soccer and have been for years......as long as they card their players with US Club the club will be a part of this league.
This means that Eastside, Wedtside and Wasington Timbers will forever be a part of this league that is unless they stop carding players with US CLUB
(NPL)

NationalPremierLeagues.com

CHARLESTON, S.C. (April 16, 2014) � In a move to maintain the Northwest�s firm position as one of the leading competitive regions in the country, the Northwest Champions League will join US Club Soccer�s National Premier Leagues (NPL) beginning in the 2014-15 season.

Representing the highest level of club competition in the Pacific Northwest, the Northwest Champions League will be comprised of qualifying clubs from two existing NPLs � the Oregon Premier League and Washington State Premier League � as well as other qualifying clubs from Washington and Idaho.

Teams will compete in U-11 through U-19 boys and girls age groups, and the competition will feature an innovative schedule to accommodate different high school seasons in the region.

�Thanks to continuous successful seasons in both the Oregon Premier League and Washington State Premier League, the timing is perfect to create an even better competitive platform in the NPL in the Northwest,� NPL General Manager Chris Baer said.

Northwest Champions League participating clubs for the 2014-15 season in the U-11 through U-14 age groups are as follows:

ASE Eastside Timbers Harbor FC Spokane Foxes FC
Boise Nationals Eugene Timbers FC Idaho Rush SC Tualatin Hills United SC
Cascade FC FC Alliance Issaquah SC Washington Premier FC
Central Washington SA FC NOVA NEU PDX Washington Rush
Crossfire Oregon FC Portland RSA Elite Washington Timbers FC
Crossfire Premier FC Salmon Creek Seattle United Westside Timbers
Eastside FC FC Spokane Snohomish United XiFA

The complete list of clubs for the U-15 through U-19 boys and girls age groups is being finalized.

Winners in the U-13 through U-18 age groups will represent the Northwest Champions League at the NPL Finals � the targeted destination for all NPL teams, where NPL national champions are crowned.

Northwest Champions League participating clubs will also have the opportunity to compete in NPL Showcases, the first of which was held for U-16 through U-18 boys, March 7-9 in suburban Las Vegas.

�Crossfire Premier competes at the highest levels,� said Crossfire Premier Director Bernie James, �including our U.S. Soccer Development Academy teams and ECNL teams, and we are excited to compete for NPL national championships. This is a competition we want to win.�

�The experience our members have received in participating in the Northwest Champions League has been fantastic,� said Oregon Premier Council President Rob Baarts. �Bringing some of the best clubs in the Northwest together to compete only makes us better.�

�This represents the next stage of development for clubs that compete in the Washington State Premier League,� said Stanley Holmes, President of the Puget Sound Premier League. �Giving all of the competitive clubs an opportunity to test themselves against the best in the region not only develops better players but will send even stronger teams to the NPL Finals.�

US Club Soccer�s Player Development Program (PDP) will also expand within the region, as the Northwest Champions League will join the Oregon Premier League and Puget Sound Premier League/Washington State Premier League in hosting PDP events.

The addition of the Northwest Champions League gives the NPL 19 member leagues across the country for the 2014-15 season.

ABOUT US CLUB SOCCER:

A National Association member of the U.S. Soccer Federation, US Club Soccer is an organization committed to the development and support of soccer clubs in the United States.
US Club Soccer offers youth and adult registration, league- and cup-based competition platforms at the recreational and competitive levels, as well as a variety of other programming, including the Olympic Development Program-sanctioned id� Program and Player Development Programs.

Through US Club Soccer, all of a club�s programs � recreational, competitive and adult � are able to be united under one organizational umbrella, creating a �members for life� culture within each club. US Club Soccer is sponsored by Nike and the Army National Guard.

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You're reading more into this than is there. Those clubs will be invited for this year only at this point.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 12:32 PM

Qualification for NWCL will continue to be through the OPL.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 01:59 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

Qualification for NWCL will continue to be through the OPL.

If this is true then how are the Timbers Alliance teams playing in the NWCL?
There must be more to it then just the OPL.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 02:03 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

If this is true then how are the Timbers Alliance teams playing in the NWCL?
There must be more to it then just the OPL.

They are moving back to OPL. Just heard it from a very reliable source.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 02:38 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

If this is true then how are the Timbers Alliance teams playing in the NWCL?
There must be more to it then just the OPL.

Because they qualified through the OPL in the fall.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 02:55 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

They are moving back to OPL. Just heard it from a very reliable source.

I highly doubt that the NWCL (Greg Ion) will limit themselves to OPL / PSPL teams/clubs only. This would severely limit the leagues credibility (& Greg knows this) by excluding some of the better teams/clubs in the Pacific NW (ex.: Crossfire Premier & WPFC which are RCL teams and TA teams which are OYSA).

Note I said "better" not "best" so no need to debate the statement. NWCL would be foolish to exclude such teams/clubs. We don't need any more league divisions as this only hurts competition.

My guess is NWCL /Greg Ion will invite the top performing teams from OPL / PSPL / RCL / OYSA with the only requirement being that they are members of US Club Soccer.

If not, this will be just another second rate league in my opinion.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 03:06 PM

Your opinion

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 03:07 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

I highly doubt that the NWCL (Greg Ion) will limit themselves to OPL / PSPL teams/clubs only. This would severely limit the leagues credibility (& Greg knows this) by excluding some of the better teams/clubs in the Pacific NW (ex.: Crossfire Premier & WPFC which are RCL teams and TA teams which are OYSA).

Note I said "better" not "best" so no need to debate the statement. NWCL would be foolish to exclude such teams/clubs. We don't need any more league divisions as this only hurts competition.

My guess is NWCL /Greg Ion will invite the top performing teams from OPL / PSPL / RCL / OYSA with the only requirement being that they are members of US Club Soccer.

If not, this will be just another second rate league in my opinion.

The league will be limited to PSPL, OPL, and select WA, ID and BC clubs. Crossfire, WPFC, FC Nova, and a few others are included. OYSA clubs are not.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 03:08 PM

As posted in another thread:

Here's the logic as it's been told to me by a person involved with the PSPL.

The NWCL has always been sanctioned by US Club Soccer. Starting this year it will also be run directly by US Club Soccer as a truly regional league. The plan is to gradually morph this from a 2 weekend tournament into a regional league that could be a replacement for, instead of a supplement to, fall leagues for the top teams in the region.

The PSPL and OPL are US Club Soccer sanctioned leagues. They both openly support the values and mission of US Club Soccer and, in turn, US Club Soccer will ensure that they are represented in NWCL (possibly over-represented) and that they will be allowed to decide which teams represent them in NWCL.

The RCL, while nominally a WYS (US Youth Soccer) league, is in all reality a DoC-run US Club type league operating within the WYS structure. WYS knows that they have to allow the top RCL clubs (Xfire, WPFC, Eastside, SU, etc.) to operate this league without interference or risk losing the league to US Club Soccer. The RCL will soon be divided into "tiers" with the "big clubs" occupying "Tier 1" and the smaller clubs placed in lower tiers. This will ensure that teams from smaller RCL can not move up to compete with the "tier 1" clubs, further reinforcing the monopoly these top clubs have on premier soccer in Washington. At the same time, all of these top clubs dual-register almost all of their teams with US Youth Soccer and US Club Soccer. US Club Soccer would love to pry these clubs away from WYS and are therefore very willing to allow RCL teams to compete in the NWCL.

US Club Soccer has only just started to make inroads into Idaho, with the awarding of an ECNL franchise to FC Nova last year. They also have significant support within the Boise Nationals club. If you look at recent NWCL events, you'll see that the Idaho participants come from these two clubs. Idaho Youth Soccer does not select which teams will participate in NWCL. Those teams are directly invited by NWCL based on these US Club Soccer "affiliations".

As for BC, there are several DoCs at the various BCSPL clubs that are former Canadian National team players and friends / associates of Greg Ion (former Cdn National team player and organizer of NWCL). Allowing BC teams into NWCL also adds a little bit of "international flavor" to the event and makes it easier to market as a true "Northwest" regional league. There are problems because the Canadian clubs use birth year age cutoffs but this is slowly being corrected by US Club Soccer. Most NPLs now use birth year cutoffs for boys teams U15 and up, PSPL included.

The reason that teams from OYSA will not be invited after this year is two-fold: 1) OYSA has always been vehemently anti-US Club Soccer, and still is. 2) US Club Soccer wants to support the OPL to ensure it's offerings improve and continue to be a competitive alternative to the OYSA. OYSA has the ability to place its teams in the Far West Regional League if it wishes while OPL clubs have not been given that option.

In summary, US Club Soccer is growing very rapidly in the NW and is looking to support it's leagues (PSPL and OPL) and leagues/clubs that it would like to get into it's fold (RCL tier 1, FC Nova, Boise Nationals). They now sanction over half of the clubs in Washington, including all but 2 clubs in Eastern Washington. They are also growing quickly in western Washington as non-RCL Puget Sound clubs realize that they can get better competition in the PSPL than they can in WYS district leagues. Obviously, US Club Soccer has lost about half of Oregon over the last year but they are determined to maintain what they have and work to pull back as many clubs as possible from OYSA (likely not including TA clubs of course). Allowing OYSA teams to participate in NWCL would undermine their efforts and the efforts of the remaining OPL clubs in Oregon and therefore will not happen.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 03:21 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

As posted in another thread:

Here's the logic as it's been told to me by a person involved with the PSPL.

The NWCL has always been sanctioned by US Club Soccer. Starting this year it will also be run directly by US Club Soccer as a truly regional league. The plan is to gradually morph this from a 2 weekend tournament into a regional league that could be a replacement for, instead of a supplement to, fall leagues for the top teams in the region.

The PSPL and OPL are US Club Soccer sanctioned leagues. They both openly support the values and mission of US Club Soccer and, in turn, US Club Soccer will ensure that they are represented in NWCL (possibly over-represented) and that they will be allowed to decide which teams represent them in NWCL.

The RCL, while nominally a WYS (US Youth Soccer) league, is in all reality a DoC-run US Club type league operating within the WYS structure. WYS knows that they have to allow the top RCL clubs (Xfire, WPFC, Eastside, SU, etc.) to operate this league without interference or risk losing the league to US Club Soccer. The RCL will soon be divided into "tiers" with the "big clubs" occupying "Tier 1" and the smaller clubs placed in lower tiers. This will ensure that teams from smaller RCL can not move up to compete with the "tier 1" clubs, further reinforcing the monopoly these top clubs have on premier soccer in Washington. At the same time, all of these top clubs dual-register almost all of their teams with US Youth Soccer and US Club Soccer. US Club Soccer would love to pry these clubs away from WYS and are therefore very willing to allow RCL teams to compete in the NWCL.

US Club Soccer has only just started to make inroads into Idaho, with the awarding of an ECNL franchise to FC Nova last year. They also have significant support within the Boise Nationals club. If you look at recent NWCL events, you'll see that the Idaho participants come from these two clubs. Idaho Youth Soccer does not select which teams will participate in NWCL. Those teams are directly invited by NWCL based on these US Club Soccer "affiliations".

As for BC, there are several DoCs at the various BCSPL clubs that are former Canadian National team players and friends / associates of Greg Ion (former Cdn National team player and organizer of NWCL). Allowing BC teams into NWCL also adds a little bit of "international flavor" to the event and makes it easier to market as a true "Northwest" regional league. There are problems because the Canadian clubs use birth year age cutoffs but this is slowly being corrected by US Club Soccer. Most NPLs now use birth year cutoffs for boys teams U15 and up, PSPL included.

The reason that teams from OYSA will not be invited after this year is two-fold: 1) OYSA has always been vehemently anti-US Club Soccer, and still is. 2) US Club Soccer wants to support the OPL to ensure it's offerings improve and continue to be a competitive alternative to the OYSA. OYSA has the ability to place its teams in the Far West Regional League if it wishes while OPL clubs have not been given that option.

In summary, US Club Soccer is growing very rapidly in the NW and is looking to support it's leagues (PSPL and OPL) and leagues/clubs that it would like to get into it's fold (RCL tier 1, FC Nova, Boise Nationals). They now sanction over half of the clubs in Washington, including all but 2 clubs in Eastern Washington. They are also growing quickly in western Washington as non-RCL Puget Sound clubs realize that they can get better competition in the PSPL than they can in WYS district leagues. Obviously, US Club Soccer has lost about half of Oregon over the last year but they are determined to maintain what they have and work to pull back as many clubs as possible from OYSA (likely not including TA clubs of course). Allowing OYSA teams to participate in NWCL would undermine their efforts and the efforts of the remaining OPL clubs in Oregon and therefore will not happen.

^^^^^^^^^^^^
If true, what a second rate league this will be. It is well known in WA that the PSPL is a second tier league and some have argued that the OPL is as well. So combining two second tier leagues is exciting? Not.
The NWCL was interesting because it allowed teams, regardless of their political affiliations, to compete when otherwise they couldn't (other then ad hoc meetings at summer tournaments). By NWCL becoming exclusionary it takes much of the allure away. Just another second rate league now ... nothing special and quite boring.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 03:23 PM

^^^^^^^^
Not to mention that Crossfire and WPFC will be putting their B teams in the NWCL. There first teams are ECNL.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 03:23 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

^^^^^^^^^^^^
If true, what a second rate league this will be. It is well known in WA that the PSPL is a second tier league and some have argued that the OPL is as well. So combining two second tier leagues is exciting? Not.
The NWCL was interesting because it allowed teams, regardless of their political affiliations, to compete when otherwise they couldn't (other then ad hoc meetings at summer tournaments). By NWCL becoming exclusionary it takes much of the allure away. Just another second rate league now ... nothing special and quite boring.

What's second rate about it? The only clubs excluded are the OYSA/Timbers clubs. Top RCL, BC, ID, PSPL and OPL clubs will still be involved. OYSA clubs can play FWRL if they wish, especially since they are all convinced that everyhing US Youth Soccer is SO much better than US Club Soccer...

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 03:24 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

^^^^^^^^
Not to mention that Crossfire and WPFC will be putting their B teams in the NWCL. There first teams are ECNL.

At U14 and above. However, their B teams are every bit as good as Oregon A teams.

**Unregistered** · 04-16-2014, 03:25 PM

Originally posted by Unregistered View Post

^^^^^^^^^^^^
If true, what a second rate league this will be. It is well known in WA that the PSPL is a second tier league and some have argued that the OPL is as well. So combining two second tier leagues is exciting? Not.
The NWCL was interesting because it allowed teams, regardless of their political affiliations, to compete when otherwise they couldn't (other then ad hoc meetings at summer tournaments). By NWCL becoming exclusionary it takes much of the allure away. Just another second rate league now ... nothing special and quite boring.

What would OPL be second tier to? Certainly not OYSA. To CalSouth DSL, sure.