When you join the Southern Ohio Amateur Association, you become part of several different groups.  You belong to worldwide FIFA.  You become part of US Soccer, of the United States Amateur Soccer Association and of the SOASA.  Affiliation with these groups, in addition to other benefits, gives players and teams the opportunity to participate in many different programs, competitions and events.

The USASA manages two nationwide programs.  The Select Team Program and the National Cups Competition.

The Select Team Program:  All member state associations are eligible to field men’s and women’s select teams to participate in regional and national select team activities.  States conduct their own program to qualify and choose select teams.  Those state select teams advance to regional men’s and women’s competitions to determine both the best state select teams and to select a pool of individual players for qualification for the National Amateur Teams.

The teams who win the regional select team tournaments receive an expense paid trip to Ft. Lauderdale for the George F. Donnelly Cup to determine what state association has the best select team.

The individual players selected to the regional player pools form teams who spend a week with USSF National Teams at the USASA Soccer Festival.

Both of these programs provide an excellent showcase for the national team coaches to view the best players in the country for inclusion in the National Teams program.

National Competition:  The USASA conducts annual competitions to determine national championships for both men and women amateur soccer players in open competitions (AMATEUR CUPS), as well as for Under-20, Under-23, Over-30, Over-40 and Over-50 players.  USASA now features a national coed championship tournament as well.  USASA also participates in the qualification process for the United States Soccer Federation Open Cup tournament, the longest and most prestigious soccer tournament in the country.

Any premier level USASA team is eligible to participate in our national championship tournament.  Competitions begin at the state level and advance through regional elimination tournaments to bring four teams in each competition to a national championship weekend event.

Tournament of Champions: The Midwest Region of the USASA conducts a competition called the Tournament of Champions.  It is a regional event usually held the last week of July.  It is hosted by one of the 14 states that make up the region.  To qualify to go to the Midwest Region Tournament of Champions a team must:

 Men’s Open Division – Win the state championship (The Ohio Cup)
 from among the state’s league champions or be the runner up in
 the Ohio Cup competition.

 Women’s Open, Men’s Over-30, Women’s Over-30 Divisions – any league
 champion is eligible.

There is no national Tournament of Champions tournament.

Founder’s Cup: The Southern Ohio Amateur Soccer Association conducts this event annually on the last weekend in June.  Every team in the state is eligible to participate.  The location of the Founder’s Cup usually rotates among the three leagues.  The number of entries accepted depends upon the facilities available.  The competition is in a World Cup format.

The Founder’s Cup is also used as an occasion to honor an individual from the host area who has contributed a great amount of time and effort to the betterment of the game.  The tournament is the one time when teams from all over the state are able to test themselves against teams from other leagues.  It has become a social event as well.  The players and their families enjoy the annual opportunity to renew friendships.